Thread: Great Grandpa's Razor

Hi, I've been reading your forum and decided this would be a great place to see if I can get a little information on this old razor. It belonged to my dad and to his dad before that. I have looked on the internet for a few days now trying to find the maker. It has a name on the shank of it. But all I can make out is....S E ? G L E R. The handle I think is Hickory. Any body know about how old this is. There isn't a tang on it at all. Any help from you all would be appreciated.

I see that you got no response so far regarding your very old razor. Apparently nobody knows what to say about a razor that is so old and obviously unuseable. I really don't know what to tell you either, other than it looks to be circa mid-late 1700 to early-mid 1800.

I also see that this is your first post on the SRP forum and the lack of response is probably discouraging you. Please don't let it. Have you started shaving with straights yet. If not, would you like to get started?

This is a good forum to learn much of what you need to know about shaving the old fashioned way. Do you have any other razors?

If you have any specific questions, just post them here and sooner or later, someone will help you with the answer.

Keep trying...........

Try a pencil eraser over the name on the tang and then take a close up shot of just that area. Another thing that helps bring out the letters is to run a piece of chalk over the letters and gently wipe away the excess therefore leaving the white in the letters.
It is an early razor that has had the original scales replaced way back.

You might try lightly buffing with steel wool and WD 40, but not to harsh, Would love to get a name and research that razor ! without a doubt very old with no tang.

If you have any polish, metal polish that is, Even wheel cleaner. I've used Mother's mag and wheel cleaner. It should clean it up enough for you to read it.

Only place I can think of is Paradise Square. John Heifor made razors out of there.
Do I see the word "Lane" on the tang.
If you want Google Sheffield & you will see lots of small lanes & streets that were the hub of the Sheffield cutlery industry. Of course there were other areas like Liverpool too so it may be tough to find much info.

+1 for the Mothers Metal Polish, and the chalk sounds like a good plan.

I find that you can pick out a lot of extra detail with a jewlers loupe.

I keep a 7x and a 10x for inspecring coins I dig up before cleaning so I do not ruin a valuable piece by cleaning.

If that piece is as old sugested you may want to consider the preservation side of things, to keep it from rotting away. Neat piece of family history to have.

Jeff