Thread: Torrey vs. Shumate vs. Bowdin

I've been looking for a good vintage straight to restore and have found a couple of nice examples from each of these brands. However, being vintage, I cant find much information about them. Does anyone know anything about these?

There all good brands

Im sorry I dont know the models or any further information on any except for the Shumate which is one of the barber models. What would be a rough guesstimate on price I should pay considering they are fairly decent with only slight patina on the blades?

Sorry for being so vague.

Sorry we don't go into pricing on this website. Its just to subjective. You can search closed eBay auctions for similar razor to get an idea.

I have a JR Torrey which gives a great shave. A reputable brand, I read in another thread. I did have to do considerable honing and found the steel to be quite hard -- another feature attested to by others. Originally I got it on ebay for a very reasonable price, in large part, I expect, because it was far from shave ready.

I understand. I've not really found much on eBay in the way of similar razors. They are all in the $40 price range though.

If you are looking to get some blades from eBay to restore check out the auction forum some good tips on how to buy on ebay in there

These are actually in local antique stores. So I get to get a bit better of a look at them before I buy them.

Depends on what you want. Bowdins is pretty limited to smaller blades.Their wedges are great! Legendary family business! Torry was a big deal back in the day and lasted a long time. Razors from them can resemble (and were made from) old Sheffield steel by imported craftsmen, to more modern hard American steel and grinds. Shumate was basically an importer, I believe. They had fine products. In fact, Tex, Shumate was started in Austin, Texas. There are Shumates out there which bear an Austin, Texas tang stamp!

Nice! Im going to have to check out the Shumate and see if I can find any Texas related stamps on the tang. That would be a very nice touch. But it sounds like the Torrey might be a better bet of the three so far.