Thread: 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?


It came in this original box but the box says warranted. The razor dont say warranted.
Comments?

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?


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.

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?


It came in this original box but the box says warranted. The razor dont say warranted.
Comments?

Thanks for any help.

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.

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

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.

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.
Like yours there is no wedge at the heel of the scales. They are just somewhat raised in the molding.

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.
Seriously though I've never seen the buggy whip but I did get this one in the same lot with the other one.

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.

Too bad it's worn off on one end.