The Torrey Razor Co.

Just got this one in the mail today. I was enterested in it because according to my research it seems to be one for the first style of tang marks they used. Straight marks and not curved plus U.S.A., not U.S. with an arrow thru it. Looks to still have original scales. There is no wedge between the scales. Just the scales are shaped thicker at the end to make up the wedge. 11/16 barber notch.

Can anyone confirm that what i have is one of the older ones? Do the oldest ones that were imported steal say anything other than USA? No numbers on this one at all.

So whats your opinion?Attachment 256451
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It came in this original box but the box says warranted. The razor dont say warranted.
Comments?
Attachment 256454
Thanks for any help.

It's an oldie for certain.
Torrey was originally a stropmaking outfit. It's earliest razors were made by Joseph Turner, a Sheffield-trained cutler, by contract in Connecticut.
Turner later moved to Mass to run Torrey.
I believe some of the earliest had this stamp?

Attachment 256455
http://straightrazorpalace.com/show-...n-history.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwi...rrey_Co.,_J._R

My research tells me 1870 to 1894. Thanks for the reply. But what about the warranted on the box? Wouldn't the razor also say Warranted? And BTW, What is Warranted? I've seen it on a lot of razor pics here on the forum.

Just trying to find out a bit more about its age. I picked it up for 10 bucks so I did good as far as I know. Even if the box is not the one that goes with the razor.

With the bakelite/hard rubber scales, I would think around turn of century.
'Warranted' means guaranteed by the maker. Could be on the box or the razor or both.
Indeed, many razors were matched to a box throughout the years.
Not necessarily the correct one.

I cannot remember ever seeing warranted on a Torrey tang, however.

Thanks you for the reply and links. I'm goi g to try and save the scales as they only have a couple nicks in them. Its nice to find this one ay such a good price and still be in good enough shape i can save it and have it last another 100 years.

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Originally Posted by Gasman

Just got this one in the mail today. I was enterested in it because according to my research it seems to be one for the first style of tang marks they used. Straight marks and not curved plus U.S.A., not U.S. with an arrow thru it. Looks to still have original scales. There is no wedge between the scales. Just the scales are shaped thicker at the end to make up the wedge. 11/16 barber notch.

Can anyone confirm that what i have is one of the older ones? Do the oldest ones that were imported steal say anything other than USA? No numbers on this one at all.

So whats your opinion?Attachment 256451
Attachment 256452
Attachment 256453
It came in this original box but the box says warranted. The razor dont say warranted.
Comments?
Attachment 256454
Thanks for any help.

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You have in your hands, one of the great american razors. Torrey made some excellent shavers. It was my first and only razor I shaved with up till 2 1/2-3 yrs. ago. That's when I found this place, and RAD kicked in.

Enjoy

PS There was this tang stamp as well.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...091ccfbd63.jpg

I seen that one too. One of the later stamps if my reserch is right. Thanks for showing. Your RAD is only 3 yrs? Hope 8 can keep mine too a minamum compared to yours. Ha. Thanks Mike

Attachment 301872Attachment 301875
I picked up one almost just like yours on eBay. I believe this one may be a little older than yours since it does not say US or USA on it.
Attachment 301873
If I'm right it was made somewhere between 1880 and 1894.
I didn't do a full restoration on it. it seemed fairly clean except for one pitted area toward the point on the backside. Someone had started to go after it with some fairly coarse sandpaper which took a little work to remove the marks from. I didn't want to get too aggressive with it so I didn't bring that all the way out. Attachment 301874
Like yours there is no wedge at the heel of the scales. They are just somewhat raised in the molding.
Attachment 301876
I bought a whole lot of 6 mainly for this razor but I'm not really in love with the way it shaves. The quarter and half hollow-grounds feel a little stiff to me. The more hollow the better as far as I'm concerned. I may need to do a little more work on the bevel though. After cleaning it up I ran 100 laps on 220, 100 on 1000 and then did the pyramid progression on the 4K / 8K then 50 laps on the 12K.

There is also the buggy whip logo for Torrey, that I have on a blade that is somewhere. Once I get home, maybe I can locate it.

Buggy whips and straight razors huh? I don't want to know that much about what he liked to do in his personal life. Sounds a little kinky to me though.:roflmao
Seriously though I've never seen the buggy whip but I did get this one in the same lot with the other one.
Attachment 301879
I haven't cleaned it up yet but it's got a lot of hone wear. The box is pretty worn too but it has some symbol on the lid that I can't quite make out. It looks like initials but I'm just not really seeing it. Cool that they saved the insert though.
Attachment 301880
Too bad it's worn off on one end.

I will have to find mine and see what it looks like today. Guessing i changed the scales...

Attachment 301885

Guessing this was one of my first half dozen restore jobs. Thanks for bringing this thread back up. It made me look thru my razors to find it.

I found a couple of my Torreys still hiding in the cigar box: only the sexiest ones make into my display case haha! (That mostly means curvy Sheffields!).
Attachment 301892
Both of mine say Worcester, Mass with the logo on the front of the tang; there is no stamp on the back side. Both are fine American shavers with interesting blade/grind profiles. Yeah, the bottom one has kind of grubby scales and the blade never got much more than Mother's and elbow grease from me-I just shave with some of them!

Mike-You like Torreys, FR Rattler Grinds AND Wosties! If you like Ators too, you could rule the universe.

Now you've got me all excited im gonna dig out the one I have .

Probably Extremely rare to find one over here..

Eh..gotta couple. One's special. :angel:

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Arron, i got the same one on the bottom pic. Great lines!

You guys know we have a Torrey club? Torrey Team, IIRC.

I have a few...
Here is an unused Torrey!
Attachment 301901

One of my favorites. a 7/8 oldie.

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Some corn!

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Picbone..

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If the Torrey Club ever wants to make a trip to Worcester, I'd be happy to give a guided tour.

Pete <:-}

Hooboy, that would be cool, Pete! :tu

Some really nice Torreys guys. I always really like the look of the old barber notch Torreys and W&B's but I like the super hollow grounds to shave with...I'm sure there's an inuindo about women in there somewhere

I have a feeling you are going to tell us, Paul?

You kidding? My wife might be reading this.:rofl2:
Keywords: plausible deniability:ziplip:

Wise words......

I had to go deep into the catacombs to find this.
Its a 7/8ths.

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Originally Posted by petercp4e

If the Torrey Club ever wants to make a trip to Worcester, I'd be happy to give a guided tour.

Pete <:-}

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I will be driving through that way on my way to Boston next Monday. Taking my little girl back to college after a weekend visit.

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Originally Posted by Gasman

Arron, i got the same one on the bottom pic. Great lines!

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Here it is in Marblewood.
Attachment 302025

Jerry-That is beautiful (especially after my user-grade version above lol!). I haven't done any wood scales in quite a while, as I've been playing around with horn, acrylic, and paua. But the next time I do, I need to comb back through the threads and take notes on your wood-finishing technique. That almost looks shiny enough to be CA, but haven't you been using something like Mike's Tru-Oil treatment? I love a deep luster like that, especially on highly-figured woods like cocobolo and the various rosewoods, bocote, etc.

I may have to give away my tin of Formby's Tung Oil. :thinking:

I took a quick look at Formby’s tung oil. It looks like you can build a finish with it. I’ve been using waterlox for some things, recently brushes. I’ve been using 6-8 coats with a light sanding of 320 every couple of coats just to keep the finish consistent. After the pores have been filled I do one last light sanding, if your finish is flat and all pours are filled you should end up with a totally consistent looking sanding job. I apply one last coat, not heavy but not light either and let it set up for a few days then wet sand from 500-2k then you can use auto polish on a rag or better yet a buffer with a rag wheel just make sure you don’t heat up the finish if using a machine. Just don’t sand through your final coat, it may show up as a ring.

Yeah, I have used Formby's off and on for years for various wood projects, and have achieved some beautiful finishes by doing multiple very light coats in a very dry environment (here in the Southeast, that sometimes means a dehumidifier), with a lot of rubbing and polishing to bring up the shine. But nothing even close to the finishes I see Mike and Jerry getting!

But as "serious" wood finishing guys all like to say, Formby's is not truly pure "tung oil" per se (not that there's anything wrong with that), but more boiled linseed oil and various drying agents (somebody correct me if I'm wrong about that).

Anyway, I've never been too proud to learn new techniques from those who got there ahead of me!

Im prety sure those were done with CA. It was before i got into the Tru-oil. But i will have to check to be sure.
I hadnt pulled that one out in a while. It does look pretty good. I amaze myself sometimes.

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Originally Posted by Gasman

Im prety sure those were done with CA.

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Nope. Tru-oil! Not CA. Just lots of coats and sanding over and over again. I still amaze myself at times.

Tru-oil is good stuff. I did one on horn once. Worked great there too.
Seems like outback used it on some bog oak once? Slick! ;)

On horn? Enteresting. I might have to try that one some day.

The neighborhood I live in is built on property where there was a tung tree plantation over a hundred years ago I think. There are still wild tung trees growing in the woods. They have a really nice blossom. They bloom in late spring and you can see them scattered through the woods.

Edit: wild?:hmmm: actually I guess that would be ferel since tung trees are native to China.:confused:

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Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Edit: wild?:hmmm: actually I guess that would be ferel since tung trees are native to China.:confused:

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Another good choice would be invasive.

Yeah, I thought about "invasive" but they were introduced. Things like coyotes or Cuban tree frogs (I've found them here as big as your hand by the way) that made it here on their own are usually called invasive but ferel pigs or cats which were introduced are usually considered ...well... ferel. Either one would be technically correct I guess.

Around here we have dandelions, sparrows, ring neck pheasants, brown trout, rainbow trout, just to name a few.

Ones people don't usually think about as being invasive because they were introduced by mankind.

I forgot goldfish...........

Nature in its own way tends to slowly introduce new things that replace the "old" ones for whatever reason.

But I guess that mankind in part of nature.....:hmmm:

Sorry for my off topic thoughts!:D