Thread: My Great Grandfather's Kropp

Hi Ladies and Gents,

I'm new to the forum! Hope you don't mind a South African joining in.

I got my interest piqued the other day when reading an article about straight razors, and started chatting to my father about it, and this morning, after a sleepless night for preparing for an exam, he handed me a little box with my Great Grandfather's Osbourne, Garrett & Co. 'Kropp' contained inside it.

I'm quite psyched about it. I will post photo's of it as soon as I have it in a neat condition (considering it has 50+ years worth of dust on it).

I'm really glad I decided to sign up, although I can't do much other than chat. Unfortunately living in ZA has it's limits. I found out today a whetstone would cost me one-fith my salary, and ever since Gillette made it's debut in ZA, all the old folks tossed out their straight razors, so finding an antique to serve as a "project razor", would be harder than finding a chicken with teeth!

Welcome! i think you´ll find the guys on here very accomodating and friendly, don´t worry about the current condition, post pics before you get going at it yourself, if you haven´t worked on one before you could do more harm than good. Great beginners section on here that gives walkthroughs on cleaning etc

Where might I find that? In the wiki? All I did for now is put some retoring oil on the plastic scales to give them some life and just gently wiped all the dust feom the blade with a microfibre cloth and ear buds(a.k.a. Cutips)

This should get you started

Category:Blade Restoration - Straight Razor Place Wiki

I would suspect it would need a honing too, maybe send off to one of the guys here, there's quite a few, hopefully some of the guys will chip in with details

Like I said in another thread:

Yeah, that would be a great option, only problem is I live in South Africa, and if that razor hits customs, it would be flagged as a weapon and be destroyed, and if not, the bloody baboons would mistreat it so badly, Glen would recieve it in a million pieces...

Have you spoken to customs about it? it might be worth asking, thats if you don't have a definitive answer already. the uk is also very strict about this kind of stuff but they get in ok. Over here virtually anything over three inches is considered a lethal weapon and technically illegal without a permit.

Originally Posted by RazorFang

Hi Ladies and Gents,

I'm new to the forum! Hope you don't mind a South African joining in.

I got my interest piqued the other day when reading an article about straight razors, and started chatting to my father about it, and this morning, after a sleepless night for preparing for an exam, he handed me a little box with my Great Grandfather's Osbourne, Garrett & Co. 'Kropp' contained inside it.

I'm quite psyched about it. I will post photo's of it as soon as I have it in a neat condition (considering it has 50+ years worth of dust on it).

I'm really glad I decided to sign up, although I can't do much other than chat. Unfortunately living in ZA has it's limits. I found out today a whetstone would cost me one-fith my salary, and ever since Gillette made it's debut in ZA, all the old folks tossed out their straight razors, so finding an antique to serve as a "project razor", would be harder than finding a chicken with teeth!

Welcome and I hope you did well in your exam after a sleepless night.

Lightly oil your Kropp, for some reason razors that have been fine
sitting in the dark rust when discovered. I suspect that it is a quality
shaver if the Kropp razors I have are any measure.

Post pictures as it is. No need to tidy it up.
The before and after pictures tell a richer story
when all is done and said.

There are others in ZA that are fans of
straight razors on this forum so keep an eye out for
a local member that can help you hone your
blade correctly.

Given the apparent expense of whetstones
to you consider sending the razor out for the
initial honing. With the correct statements
and documentation you should be OK with
customs. Do insure it as stuff does get lost
on international shipping.

Sending an old razor out is a bargain for the
first tune up. The professionals often have
a set of hones from coarse to astounding finishers
that together are expensive as heck.

Maintaining a correctly sharpened blade is
a much simpler task so the initial expense is
less.

So tell us what you shave with now...
The blade is only part of the solution.

Welcome to SRP, RF!

After reading through the posts here, I've got a couple ideas for you. They may or may not work depending on your ability to access resources in your area.

First, post up pics of your razor and share them in the "Family Jewels" thread under razor clubs. We'd love to have it join the club!

Second, use the "community" link in the menu bar above to search for members in your area (there are members from all over the world, and there may be someone near you (or easier to get things to and from) if you can do a little searching. This could get you any number of helps, from strops, to stones, to honing, to hands on guidance.

Third; High grit wet/dry sandpaper can be picked up here in the US at most automotive parts stores and auto-body shops. If you haven't tried looking there you might get lucky. Car repair and paint work require the same tools in SA as they do here. Further, the grit ratings here in the US are about half what an equivalent stone would be rated at. Example: 500grit wet/dry sandpaper is roughly equivalent to a 1k stone, but cuts faster as the abrasives are more consistent and concentrated. 2k yields about 4k. Adhered to a plate of glass or other perfect (near) flat surface and you have an answer to the lethally expensive whetstone issue in your area. NOT what I would recommend to a new comer. NOT the best way to go. But, it's an option.

Fourth: See if you can't get a hold of a Barber's hone. They're cheap here in the U.S., and may be affordable for you to get shipped in; but you may be able to get a hold of one in SA. Getting one would help you get over the stone/sandpaper grit obstacle. Another way that's NOT the best, but Barber's hones do have their place and are very useful for maintaining a sharpened edge if you can get one honed up to snuff for you.

Fifth: Don't give up! As they say; where there's a will, there's a way!

Peace,

Thank you for all your information.

I have started a few other threads if you would like to read them.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...imum-loss.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...-scales-2.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...compounds.html

As I have said multile times before, SA is not like the rest of the world. our car paint places dont do the quality of work that re rest of the world does. And I phoned mutiple places, and they didnt have. Saint Gobain, Bulldog abrasives, Palm Court Paints, and Alberante Autospary didnt have, but I found a guy at 3M that gave me free samples after I told him what I want to do. Altough 3M SA dont really stock it they import it for the odd customer. So with that I might be sorted. Now I am looking for brass pins. And a jewellers anvil, and I want to import some scale slabs from sheffield supply. As far as honing goes, my dad told me how he used to make his own hones using thick glass, honing oil and diamond powder(he works and a diamond polisher and cutter), so he has ample supply of diamond powder.

But what I want to get accross is, SA is in no way anythingnlike the USA or the UK. we have a very limited product range, so take my word if I say I cant find something, because I would have looked in every nook and cranny throughout SA.

Originally Posted by RazorFang

But what I want to get accross is, SA is in no way anythingnlike the USA or the UK. we have a very limited product range, so take my word if I say I cant find something, because I would have looked in every nook and cranny throughout SA.

For what it's worth, I have several friends who grew up in various parts of Africa, including Johannesburg. What's more, we have guys here in the U.S. who say "I've looked all over for X and can't find it anywhere." and then someone suggests, "Have you tried S-Mart?" and low and behold S-Mart is just down the road, but the thought never occurred to look there. This is particularly frequent with high grit sand paper.

I know it's frustrating when it seems as though people aren't listening to what you're saying, but you're asking for help from the collective experience, and the collective experience is that guys don't always know where to look or all of the nooks and crannies out there.

Best of luck.