Thread: A new box of tetnus

So, I did a thing. I saw this "buy it now" box for about $10 per razor. I knew some of them looked really old, so I figured I would do those last after I get a few more learnings under my belt. But, once I got them in my hands I think they are all really old. I am obviously no expert, but by the shape I think most are 1800s. And, I think that most of them can have salvageable scales. Except the one that is so torn up I can't open it.







I figure I will hit them all with some 3M polish to try to at least get the active rust off, oil them up, and maybe stash them away until I feel a bit more confident I am not going to screw up something valuable.

Not sure why, but the photos went to 20kb when I uploaded them, so I hope they show up.

Nice.!
A few look to be of French origin

Try cutting off the active rust with a SE razor blade, before the 3M

Originally Posted by outback

Nice.!
A few look to be of French origin

Try cutting off the active rust with a SE razor blade, before the 3M

I need to look up more about the shapes vs country, but I think I know which ones you mean.

Yeah, I will try the razor first and then 3M.

Hey, if you have any guidance on any that may not be a shame to ruin, I would appreciate it. I can repost pictures with numbers for identification.

The one you absolutely mustn't touch without a lot of practice is the white one, still from the first picture.
I'd love to have a closeup of this one, because I suspect it's the true treasure of the lot.

That aside, I can confirm, a lot of them are French, made in Thiers late 1800s.

As for which one to start with, I'd advise the orange scaled one in the first picture. By far, IMHO the easiest to fully restore.
But use the second one from the top in the first picture to practice with at first, you might ruin it, but it's ok, there is not much to save anyway.

The one you can't open can still be a good surprise, judging by the scales...

Honing an old Thiers razor is not to be done by a beginner. Aside from the smile, which needs a bit of training, their quality varies a lot, and experience is needed to understand whether you did a shabby work, or worked with a shabby razor from the start.

Yeah I agree with Aggelos. That was the first one my eye went to. I'm not sure what you paid for that lot but the value of that one alone probably far outweighs it. Most are probably mid to late 1800s and one or two maybe early 1900s but that one he is referring to is probably 1700s - early early 1800s. If that one is in good shape you have truly found a treasure, a diamond amidst the rubble so to speak

My guess is they didn't know what they had. Man, where am I when these things show up? Speaking of which I hope someone here got that lot of 32 I think that had the Wade and Butcher FBU in it. probably didn't realize what he had in that either otherwise he would have sold that one by itself. It alone would have sold for more than what the whole lot sold for. I watched that lot like a hawk and wanted to bid on it but I figured it would go beyond what I was willing to pay and didn't want to drive the price up for someone who really was going to buy it.

Early 1800s is my guess, circa 1810/1820. The earlier makes were a bit different.
Looks a bit like what you'd find in a napoleonian officer travel kit.

That is a beautiful pile of entertainment.

Originally Posted by RezDog

That is a beautiful pile of entertainment.

That's one way to look at it, Rez!

Originally Posted by Aggelos

The one you absolutely mustn't touch without a lot of practice is the white one, still from the first picture.
I'd love to have a closeup of this one, because I suspect it's the true treasure of the lot.

That aside, I can confirm, a lot of them are French, made in Thiers late 1800s.

OK, so really really don't screw up that one.

The orange one, while the scales are pretty, does seem to be the cheapest of the bunch. It just had that "not so quality" feel to it. My main concern is the unpinning. I think I've successfully unpinned four out of ten without significant damage to the scales and only the without any damage to the scales. So, I think one of the first ones will be the one that doesn't open. My pinning is also weak, but that just makes it ugly and doesn't really damage it.

I'm just trying to understand better. The thing that had led me to think early 1800s is that most are wedges. I read that hollow ground started around 1850. Did it take a while for hollow grinding to be adopted? I also think the French shape threw me when trying to match style with age photos. I have not read much about French razors, so I need to do that.

I'm currently working on honing smiles. I have some funky shaped ones in my first batch that I think were caused by bad honing. Hopefully those will get me some experience on figuring out what needs to be done and how to do it.

I have taken close up pictures for you, but I will need to get back to the computer to send them.

Thanks for your help.