Thread: Local finds - A Genco day and more

Originally Posted by Croaker

So THAT is what the Damascus blade etching looks like when it is in great condition. Simply beautiful! Mine is mostly eroded. What a nice razor.

Thank you. We haven't honed this one up yet. How does your's shave? Out of curiosity do you know anything about this razor like country of origin, mfg. or history?

No idea about the origins (googling isn't easy on both ubiquitous and multi-interpretable terms as 'silver steel' and 'damascus'), but seasoned member Izlat seems to think highly of an identical or similar razor.

Originally Posted by Oldengaerde

No idea about the origins (googling isn't easy on both ubiquitous and multi-interpretable terms as 'silver steel' and 'damascus'), but seasoned member Izlat seems to think highly of an identical or similar razor.

Thanks for looking. I wasn't able to find much either. Maybe someone else will be able to come up with some info. I should have it honed up by the end of Saturday. WE're having our Western NY meet on Saturday and I may be able to hone it there. Once I get to take her for a spin I'll post to the SOTD.

Originally Posted by Gunner777

You never know what you'll find buried in an old box and buried is right they many times are. My best find this year was a Belgian BBW/Coticule natural that appeared to never have been used and had part of the large sticker on the Coti side. $10 whole bucks for it along with a Bengall very large wedge for $10 that needed very little work to bring it back to life. Most of us didn't even know Bengall made a large wedge!
Looking is half the fun:-)

Great story Gunner. A Coti/BBW and Bengal Wedge for 10 bucks each! WOW!

I like hearing about others that make great scores in antique shops. Sometimes asking helps, sometimes it only gets in the way.

Joed I could not believe what I was seeing at first and actually wasn't sure if it was I thought. Once I posted pics on here and found I was right I was one happy camper. They are so versatile you can do all your honing on it alone with the exception of setting a bevel.

Originally Posted by Gunner777

Joed I could not believe what I was seeing at first and actually wasn't sure if it was I thought. Once I posted pics on here and found I was right I was one happy camper. They are so versatile you can do all your honing on it alone with the exception of setting a bevel.

Isn't it just the greatest feeling?! You are absolutely correct in that it can do all of your honing. It can do the bevel also if you have the time (lots of it) to spend. CarrieM and I found several soticules/BBWs, most barber hone size. We were stunned when we found the first one for a few bucks.

With the other hones I have I mostly use the coticules for finishers or semi finishers. I like the fact that it doesn't produce a wire edge. I don't use the Belgians w/ slurry too often because I feel it is dependent on how fast the slurry is diluted and that is too iffy for me. If I have the time to play around thats another story, but that doesn't happen too often. Maybe after winter sets in again I may find the time to play. Lately the blades seem to be piling up faster than I can get to them and I like to shave with each soon after getting them. I've still not been able to get back to rotating through my collection and I started in January.

After my 8k edge refinement/polishing I give my blades a quick 100 laps on the coticule. For CarrieM I stop there. She doesn't like her blades scary sharp and they shave really fine. For me and JrJoeD I give the softer steels a bunch of laps on the Escher type hones also found in local shops. Harder steels I give a quick 100 laps on the Chinese hone previously call the 12k from wood Craft.

The results after thees last hones are great but I need to be careful of my landings and not pause the blade on my skin for even an instant. I've had one or two landings that got a little more than hair.

I can tell the hardness of the blade metal by how quickly the 8k hone loads up. It's a Norton and a bit on the hard side. Softer steels will load the hone faster. I've got a Japanese hone that is a little softer and works good on the softer steel. I should use it more often.

Enjoy your coti and good luck on future finds! Hope you can find some Eshers! Look closely and take the gamble when they are only a few bucks. I almost passed up on the one in this thread if it wasn't for CarrieM. It was deeply dished and a shiny brown color from all of the crud on it. I didn't lap the sides so you may still be able to see the crud in the pics. The first one we found was also due to CarrieM's insistence. All we could tell was that it had a label.

Happy hunting!!

It's been a few weeks since the last post made to this thread. I'm surprised that nobody has asked about the tool in the upper right corner of the first picture. Anyone interested in knowing what it is? You may be surprised. Guesses are welcome.

You mean this?

Is that a honing aid laying upside down? A handled clamp into which you put an oldfashioned thick razor blade that you can subsequently hone keeping a constant angle by wheeling the whole thing over a hone?

That's what it is alright. Ron "Utopian" has one new in the box.

Yep, it's a honing tool. It has wheels on both sides and the handle angle pivots depending on which side is on the hone. I haven't tried it out yet, have any of you? Is this meant for straight razors, the safety razor blades like the Henckels in the pic or some other kind of blades? It was purchased in a different shop many miles away from where the Henckels safety set came from.