Another Great American Maker

Curtin & Clark, kansas City, MO

Curtin & Clark first started their business in 1898, St Joseph, MO. They continued to 1909 dealing in hardware, tinware, stoves & cutlery ceasing the cutlery operation in 1909. They opened a cutlery plant in Kansas City, Mo. in 1910 & continued until 1920. The Kansas City razors used the CCC trademark which is on the box on this particular razor.
This is a very nice example of one from 1910-1920 & has never touched a hone by looking at it but has been used & has a couple of rust spots on it but not bad for around 100 years old. I got it very cheap too.

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Cool razor, Steve. :tu

Steve, this razor made me think about a slot in the razor club for ' The Only One I Have Seen Club.' Not sure if the C&C you posted above is one, but a quick search of SRP does not turn up this razor. To me a category like this would be educational and incredibly interesting. It might overlap some other categories but I don't see that as a problem. I'll bet the members that have a one of a kind know it, as many of us take as much pleasure knowing about the history of a razor as we do shaving with it.
I guess there might be an asterisk for the only one I have seen anywhere or the only one I have seen on SRP. What do you think?
Anyway, +1, cool razor!

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Originally Posted by WW243

Steve, this razor made me think about a slot in the razor club for ' The Only One I Have Seen Club.' Not sure if the C&C you posted above is one, but a quick search of SRP does not turn up this razor. To me a category like this would be educational and incredibly interesting. It might overlap some other categories but I don't see that as a problem. I'll bet the members that have a one of a kind know it, as many of us take as much pleasure knowing about the history of a razor as we do shaving with it.
I guess there might be an asterisk for the only one I have seen anywhere or the only one I have seen on SRP. What do you think?
Anyway, +1, cool razor!

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Bill,
I have been into American made razors, more lately but this one, I never heard of but I did find the information in my Goins Encyclopedia of Cutlery Markings. I think it is awesome & unlike some, it doesn't say Germany on the other side of the blade. This is one of American steel also I would believe. There are a few American makers who did in fact make their own steel or used American steel. I find it interesting, especially the ones who did not import the steel from Germany. The German steel ones are always of excellent quality though. The American steel was/is of excellent quality but these days not only is American steel some of the best but others like Japan rank highly in some of the best steel in the world. Now I'm reading up on history of steel. The Wikipedia says it goes back as far as 1800 BC.

Nice razor Steve ! Thanks for sharing .:chapeau

I love the shape of that razor!


Mike

That company sold some nice pocket knives as well. Kicker is that most of their knives were made by Tidioute Cutlery Co and possibly Schatt & Morgan.

There is the possibility that their razors were also contracted out as well. If that were to be the case, I would bet money they were made and ground by American companies using American steel.

Nice razor with a great name.

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Originally Posted by Wullie

That company sold some nice pocket knives as well. Kicker is that most of their knives were made by Tidioute Cutlery Co and possibly Schatt & Morgan.

There is the possibility that their razors were also contracted out as well. If that were to be the case, I would bet money they were made and ground by American companies using American steel.

Nice razor with a great name.

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I also think that Wullie. It is in almost mint condition, aside from the small rust spot which might come out but as it is, I will leave it for now unless I am sure I can get it out. I am fascinated with the American straight razor's as I am with ones made in other countries.
I love it when I see "Made in USA".
God bless this great country.................there's a lot of great history in it!

Thanks for sharing, I want a vintage razor just need to start hitting up antique stores. I found a Geneva at a swap meet a couple weeks ago for $35 but did not pull the trigger. Don't want to waste my money on a piece that can not be restored and used. But that is a really nice razor good score for you!

I don't know what happened! I added thanks to you earlier Wullie & it was there but then my computer had some updates & after that it was gone. I'm glad I caught it.

When I started I thought old Sheffield steel was some of the best. Then I learned about Sweden steel and German razors were usually hollow ground with great steel. As I started expanding Anerican razors didn't interest me as much AT FIRST. Then slowly I started to notice a pattern with American razors. They were very geometric, high quality, and the steel took and held some of my best edges. I started researching and found that many American makers (as steve pointed out) had furnaces and ore on their property and made their own steel. Holley mfg co. Was one of them and there were others. In fact, one of Holley's claim to fame was that EVERY razor (and knife) was hand forged out of their very own steel. They resisted the newer processes like a drop forge and it is believed that this was one contributing factor to their demise as they couldn't keep up with "fast food" production but they swore that hand forged steel by master smithy's aligned the steel Fibers in a way that would aid in an extremely sharp edge. Maybe it was advertising hype. Maybe not. At any rate, I can't remember one American razor that I have had that was not excellent. I'm sure they must be out there but I haven't run into one.

American made razors are superb blades - Wolfpack restored this Challenge Cutlery, Bridgeport Conn, straight razor - great quality and a pleasure to shave with.

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Originally Posted by Phrank

American made razors are superb blades - Wolfpack restored this Challenge Cutlery, Bridgeport Conn, straight razor - great quality and a pleasure to shave with.

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I remember that razor well Andrew...it really was/is a wonderful shaver. Challenge razors from Connecticut made superb razors back in the day IMO.

Here's another example of a great American manufacturer: A pair of one of my favorites, H.M. Christensen, Brockton Mass. Quality American Steel and a real pleasure to shave with as well... ...

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Nice Mike, really nice. And the box for the pair looks perfect with them.

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Originally Posted by Steel

When I started I thought old Sheffield steel was some of the best. Then I learned about Sweden steel and German razors were usually hollow ground with great steel. As I started expanding Anerican razors didn't interest me as much AT FIRST. Then slowly I started to notice a pattern with American razors. They were very geometric, high quality, and the steel took and held some of my best edges. I started researching and found that many American makers (as steve pointed out) had furnaces and ore on their property and made their own steel. Holley mfg co. Was one of them and there were others. In fact, one of Holley's claim to fame was that EVERY razor (and knife) was hand forged out of their very own steel. They resisted the newer processes like a drop forge and it is believed that this was one contributing factor to their demise as they couldn't keep up with "fast food" production but they swore that hand forged steel by master smithy's aligned the steel Fibers in a way that would aid in an extremely sharp edge. Maybe it was advertising hype. Maybe not. At any rate, I can't remember one American razor that I have had that was not excellent. I'm sure they must be out there but I haven't run into one.

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'fast food' production sounds like it should be inferior, but it isn't. A drop forge does exactly the same as the smith's hammer. Except it does it harder. Ignoring that for a moment: all modern era steel has been rolled and forged down from large billets to normal sized bars. So by the time the bar ends up in the smith's hands, the hand forging vs drop forging makes no difference anymore, just like hand forging and stock removing doesn't really make a difference to the internal structure of the steel, especially if it is properly thermal cycled.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

'fast food' production sounds like it should be inferior, but it isn't. A drop forge does exactly the same as the smith's hammer. Except it does it harder. Ignoring that for a moment: all modern era steel has been rolled and forged down from large billets to normal sized bars. So by the time the bar ends up in the smith's hands, the hand forging vs drop forging makes no difference anymore, just like hand forging and stock removing doesn't really make a difference to the internal structure of the steel, especially if it is properly thermal cycled.

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Yeah. I don't disagree. I was just stating what I read in a Holley advertisement about hand forging versus drop forging. They said "the hand forging method properly forms the crystalline structure of the steel into the perfect cutting edge." They go on to say that a drop forge forces the structure in all directions where a human hand can direct the structure of the steel and align it into a superior cutting edge. Could very well be advertising hype. Maybe not. At any rate it is what Holley mfg co was saying. Not me.

As far as preferences go I do personally prefer hands on/hand made versus factory bulk production and every short cut comes with a cost.

Nice find! Their 4 C's logo like pictured below is often confused with Cattaraugus Cutlery Co... or perhaps the one that actually manufactured them...
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Thanks Martin. It is a maker I have never seen before or if I did, it was long before I was really into American makers, like when I first got interested in straights. When I first started out, I was looking at the W&B'ers mostly until my friend down the road told me to look at others as well That was when W&B'ers
were cheaper than they are now but I still see some go for a decent price because apparently the vulture's either got distracted at the last minute or they didn't see it.