Thread: Should I give it back?

My Wife found this at an antique shop and got it for me. It's a small strop it's about 14 inches long 1.5 inches wide says Property of U.S. Army stamped on the bottom and Valet on the metal strip that holds the strap at the top. There's some type of grit glued to the bottom to hold on to. I put a razor in there to show some scale.

That is for use with a Valet razor, not for straights. I guess you can try, though.

Originally Posted by RayG

That is for use with a Valet razor, not for straights. I guess you can try, though.

Thanks Ray, I'll have to be on the lookout for a Valet. Interesting though that it's property of the U.S. Army. Guess they issued these at one time?

That looks like a cool find. Nice!

I have one of these from Gillette. I use it as a bookmark, which is what I bought it for. If you're seriously considering giving it back to the US Army, consider this. What on earth would they ever do with it?

the army wouldn't have a use for it. the sell equipment that is beyond FWT (fair wear and tear) to the public at a facility called the DRMO. That'd be the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office.

Originally Posted by leadduck

I have one of these from Gillette. I use it as a bookmark, which is what I bought it for. If you're seriously considering giving it back to the US Army, consider this. What on earth would they ever do with it?

No, I was just kidding. Kind of surprised the Army would use such a proprietary razor. You'd think they'd just use a simple double edge.

If you had a linen to go with it I would imagine it would work nicely. It might take a few more strokes.

Originally Posted by Miner123

No, I was just kidding. Kind of surprised the Army would use such a proprietary razor. You'd think they'd just use a simple double edge.

From my understanding, that was how Gillette made it big. At the time, King Gillette's razor was a proprietary novelty, but he sent a bunch of them to the army, and they caught on.

Originally Posted by Miner123

No, I was just kidding. Kind of surprised the Army would use such a proprietary razor. You'd think they'd just use a simple double edge.

Why not? Perhaps they got a good deal on them. (LOL)

They probably bought them in the thousands at the time to issue to officers and enlisted men at the turn of the last century so they could shave without a straight razor and they wouldn't have to buy replacement de razor blades.