Thread: I love the dirt mall

I love flea markets. I practically grew up in one helping my grandfather work his market stand when I was a kid. Anyway, I head off to the local dirt mall to see what I can find in the way of lather bowels, soap holders, etc. I didn't find any of that, but I did find 2 razors. One is a black handle Super Speed that just needs some clean up for $3. The other is a straight for $5. The blade says "MEDIUM SIZE HOLLOW GROUND" and the tang reads

NON*KLL
JOSEPH ALLEN & SONS
SHEFFIELD ENGLAND

The scales appear to be some kind of horn material, which is also appears to be rotting out. See the picture, there are the 2 finds, the box the razor was in, and the Super Speed I got from my pop. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with this kind of straight? The blade looks in decent shape to me, but I'm a noob... I know it needs work, and at this point I don't really know what to do with it, but i couldn't pass it up at that price. Any advice anyone could offer would be appreciated.

Joseph Allen's are great shavers, though the name doesn't have the same "rep" as some of the other Sheffield makers. Medium refers to the width of the blade, and, as with most Sheffield "Hollow Ground" razors it's about a quarter hollow or so. The stamp is actually XLL, in case you try to googe more info. That straight would actually make a great starter razor if you get her honed up.