Thread: What would you do

I would do no more than polish it by hand. You do have to use it on your face so I like to know mine are clean enough for that. As for the scales you could leave them or make new ones (save the old) and I would lean towards new. Especially if it doesn't open and close just right. It's hard to use a razor if the edge keeps hitting the scales and ruining the blade/shave. Ultimately in the end, you and the razor will decide how you get along.

Hone it, shave with it, enjoy it...

Originally Posted by Hirlau

...probably was in a barber's rotation...

...aaargh!!!! not the numbers thing again - I hope Sharpton doesn't see this... :}

It looks to me that it was not used very much, hardly any spine wear.
I have an old Tillotson that has original patina on it, I still haven't figured out what to do with it, shine it or use it as is.
But mine has no scratches.
Yours appears to have some fine scratches, and one larger one. They could be a haven for future rust.
I personally would replicate that front scale and clean up the blade to a gloss finish.

Is your Dad concerned that fixin' it up will cause a loss in its' value?

According to the markings on the blade, just Sheffield, no England, it appears to be a pre-1890 razor. This makes it historically significant in my mind, so I'd leave it as original as possible. The wire repair looks kind of cool, to me. Let us know how it shaves.

Originally Posted by skipnord

According to the markings on the blade, just Sheffield, no England, it appears to be a pre-1890 razor. This makes it historically significant in my mind, so I'd leave it as original as possible. The wire repair looks kind of cool, to me. Let us know how it shaves.

I read the other day it means pre-1870. Can anyone clarify?

No he just liked the look of it lol he knows absolutely nothing about straights and their values, and i didnt even think about scratches and rust maybe i can clean up the bigger scratches while keeping some patina.. i will figure out what im going to do with it when i get home from school in 2 weeks.

I will definitely give any update on how it shaves the only thing tho is its not going to be for some time lol because im not going to do anything to it until im home from school in 2 weeks and then im going to have to send it to someone to hone because i dont have any stones yet (hopefully for christmas)... if anyone has any recommendations on who to send it to it would be much appreciated.

any of the guys offering their services here should be just fine

Yep - what you read was written by someone who never heard about the McKinley Tariff Act. It came part of law in October 1890. The purpose was to place a prohibitive tax on imports and part of it was that the country of origin had to stated.

Because such Acts cannot be retro-active, it did not ban goods produced or on sale before October 1890, and one would think that there was some sort of a lead-in for stocks of goods to be disposed of, so even 'pre 1890' is not factually correct, but close enough.

It was tremendously unpopular as it increased the cost the man in the street had to pay for goods and as a result it only lasted 4 years before being replaced with another Act that lowered the levies.

Regards
Neil