Thread: Help needed to identify a razor I dont remember buying

Hello everybody,
hope you've all been good. i have just received a razor i dont remember buying at all, infact i havent even seen it yet, no paypal transactions, no email conversations regarding sale, no record of purchase whatsoever. being new to straight razors this one seems a little strange to me, the grind is too hollow and i dont know if it is a poorly restored vintage or a poorly made pakistani/chinese razor. it doesnt have any stamp on the tang or any labels but the blade says "compliments of washburn & moen co". now i dont know if it was made by washburn or owned by someone working at the company or if it was falsely etched. the bevel is plain wrong and it looks like it came off a 1k or less stone. a few pictures.


sorry if the images are poor. any help is most appreciated!

Originally Posted by moehal

Hello everybody,
hope you've all been good. i have just received a razor i dont remember buying at all, infact i havent even seen it yet, no paypal transactions, no email conversations regarding sale, no record of purchase whatsoever. being new to straight razors this one seems a little strange to me, the grind is too hollow and i dont know if it is a poorly restored vintage or a poorly made pakistani/chinese razor. it doesnt have any stamp on the tang or any labels but the blade says "compliments of washburn & moen co". now i dont know if it was made by washburn or owned by someone working at the company or if it was falsely etched. the bevel is plain wrong and it looks like it came off a 1k or less stone. a few pictures.


sorry if the images are poor. any help is most appreciated!

Well, I would have to say you have confused me with the Opening Post, but then again I'm easily confused & it's 3:30 am here, I should be in bed.

Looks like one of those haunted razors, be on your guard around it!

Nice lines, reminds of a Swedish Törnblom.

I'll revist this one tomorrow, sorry, ,,,if you get your hands on the razor in the pictures, well,, don't worry about where she came from, just clean her, hone her, then shave with her.

Good Night.

Originally Posted by Lemur

Looks like one of those haunted razors, be on your guard around it!

Nice lines, reminds of a Swedish Törnblom.

thanks...thanks alot...just what i needed. i cant stress hard enough on how that thought has filled my brain...im gonna chain it up and lock it..

Originally Posted by Hirlau

I'll revist this one tomorrow, sorry, ,,,if you get your hands on the razor in the pictures, well,, don't worry about where she came from, just clean her, hone her, then shave with her.

Good Night.

thanks, i appreciate it. sleep well! thanks to lemur, sleep is something i cant think of atm, but who needs to sleep anyway...

Looks plenty legit to me!

Washburn & Moen Co was owned by Ichabod Washburn and his son in law, Philip Moen. The company was founded in 1851 (although Washburn was making wire since 1831), taken over by American Steel & Wire in 1899, which in turn was taken over by US Steel in 1901. Ichabod was a wire maker, who went through a blacksmiths apprenticeship at the age of 16. He was also a church deacon, who set up (with John Boynton) a school for mechanics - Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science in 1865. Ichabod had a stroke and died 10 months later on the 31st of December 1868. Philip Moen died in 1890.

Strangely, the company made mainly barbed wire (principally Gliddon Barbed Wire and Waukegan Barbed Wire), plus piano wire, telephone wire and the wire used to produce the supporting frame for crinoline skirts. They had their own rolling mill which produced wire rod and a double Siemens furnace. The wire mill - the Waukegan Works - was along the shore of Lake Michigan.

There was a book published by them in the late 1800s called "The Washburn & Moen M'f'g Co: Makers of Iron, Steel and Copper : Wire Drawers and Galvanizers : Sole Makers and Patentees of the Popular Waukegan Barbed Fence Wire" so I suppose it is possible that they produced the steel from which these razors were made. They were probably given as gifts to investors, business advertising and workers.

The engraving looks right to me, too.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Looks plenty legit to me!

Washburn & Moen Co was owned by Ichabod Washburn and his son in law, Philip Moen. The company was founded in 1851 (although Washburn was making wire since 1831), taken over by American Steel & Wire in 1899, which in turn was taken over by US Steel in 1901. Ichabod was a wire maker, who went through a blacksmiths apprenticeship at the age of 16. He was also a church deacon, who set up (with John Boynton) a school for mechanics - Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science in 1865. Ichabod had a stroke and died 10 months later on the 31st of December 1868. Philip Moen died in 1890.

Strangely, the company made mainly barbed wire (principally Gliddon Barbed Wire and Waukegan Barbed Wire), plus piano wire, telephone wire and the wire used to produce the supporting frame for crinoline skirts. They had their own rolling mill which produced wire rod and a double Siemens furnace. The wire mill - the Waukegan Works - was along the shore of Lake Michigan.

There was a book published by them in the late 1800s called "The Washburn & Moen M'f'g Co: Makers of Iron, Steel and Copper : Wire Drawers and Galvanizers : Sole Makers and Patentees of the Popular Waukegan Barbed Fence Wire" so I suppose it is possible that they produced the steel from which these razors were made. They were probably given as gifts to investors, business advertising and workers.

The engraving looks right to me, too.

Regards,
Neil

wow, that is plenty of information, thanks! so it is a pre-1900's razor..

It's no mystery why you don't remember buying it...
It's compliments of Washburn and Moen.

Originally Posted by HNSB

It's no mystery why you don't remember buying it...
It's compliments of Washburn and Moen.

hah..are you suggesting RAD