Thread: Lookin for advice

Picked this up as my RAD has kicked in.
It is a Valet Autostrop circa 1930 (i think)
It came with 6 well used blades as well.
I have a couple of questions

1 What is the best way to recondition the strop as it is quite dry and dirty.

2 Is there any place other than ebay that I might be able to get blades for this as I'd realy like to try it out.

3 Can i restore the blades.

Your thoughts and advice is always welcome.

I've seen those before, and they are interesting to be sure.

Does it not take regular DE blades? I'd never try to use some reconditioned DE blade that is 50 years old.

Also, do you have a picture of the strop laid flat? I'm wondering if it is creased or not. If it isn't, you have a very nice item on your hand. If it is, I'm sure there is some way to make a strop to fit with the kit.

Hey, that's a real sweet find! I found another similar post here with some information about the blades:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...rop-razor.html

Also, I looked around a bit on Badger and Blade and there was a post just like this one. They were saying that its pretty hard to find replacement blades for these, but who knows? Anyway - awesome find, good luck.

Hey, if you go to Ebay nd type in Single edge razor blades there are some there. They are selling a pack of 5 sealed Valet autostrop blades for $9.99. They have listed only 9 left. Hope that helps.

Wellboy,

If you ever need a replacement Valet strop, Mr Neil Miller makes them:

Valet Autostrop Hand Made Replacement Strop in Kangaroo Leather

He would also be a good source of advice on how to recondition such a strop
Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

Some Valet Autostrops can use regular SE blades (with some minor modifications), but I don't think your model can. You're probably going to need to get NOS blades for that one.

Valets are cheap, so you may just want to pick up another model that can take modified SE blades.


Also, I hear Feather makes a blade that fits into a Valet (unmodified), but I don't know where you can get them.

The Feather SE blades may fit...my brother sent me a pic of them but I can't find it. It was from the Feather Store online....which is 100% Japanese. You may want to try to contact him...his user name is ZethLent.

I am sure you may know some of the history of this razor, some of the early models had serial numbers. Yours looks a little like the New Yorker model from abt 1929, sold for $3.98. Because of pat. rights on the blade making process and a huge lawsuit, AutoStrop merged with Gillette sometime in the mid 1930's. This info from Krumholz's Book on Gillette. As and engineer, I find AutoStrop's the most interesting of the safety razors along with the brand that used round blades.

I don't know if they will fit your model of Autostrop, but you can but the Feather SE blades from Razor Blades and More. I just read it in another forum. Like I said I don't know if they will work with the VALET cut-out model you have, I have the other model that takes modifid GEM blades.

One of the hooks that hold the had broken off, I did not realize it at the time of purchase (but shaved with it anyway...), so I went and got a 1901 GEM Lather Catcher, which shaves amazing as well.

Good luck with piecing your Autostrop set together...they are wonderful razors!

I'm never used a Valet before, but I've heard they can provide a fantastic shave. Great find