Hand-me-downs.

[williamsld8]

I received a box full of old razors from my grandfather shortly before leaving home for boot camp. I only just recently opened it up and actually took a look at the blades themselves. Some of them are in extremely good shape for their age, and the others are showing their age terribly.

This is the box itself.

All the razors packed in their

Lined up in boxes, except the Boker tree brand razor (the only one I can identify).

I'm assuming these are honing stones for razors, although they are EXTREMELY fine to the touch. I was wondering if anybody here knew what these were.

As you can see, some of these are in pretty bad shape. I don't know much of anything about straight razors. Should I attempt to restore these? Or are they best left in the condition they were given to me? Thank you for your time.

 

[markksr]

A truly wonderful collection made even better by coming from your Grandfather!

Those are indeed hones and may be worth a few dollars depending on the brand.

I can't stress enough that you should go over to badgerandblade.com and post this in the Straight Razor section. (There are other Straight Razor forums but I am also a member there and would really love to see and hear more of this collection.)

Again, a truly wonderful gift. Enjoy it!




PS- Yes, I am just a little jealous.

 

[williamsld8]

Well I do have an active membership over at straightrazorplace, but for some reason my browser won't load badgerandblade. I will try again but if you are a member of straightrazorplace you can find me by the same user name over there.

 

[Gollnick]

First of all, what a treasure!

Second, my single observation which may be of any value: the one with the translucent handle material.... I suspect that that is celluloid. Old celluloid is chemically unstable over the long haul. It breaks down and, in the process, releases gases which are corrosive to steel. The process is not well-understood; there's not a lot of research grant money available to study it. We don't know what triggers this decay. There is antidotal evidence that exposure to light might be a trigger; so, by taking that piece out of the dark box it has been in all of these years, maybe you might have triggered it. We don't know that, but it is possible. What we do know is that that razor should be isolated from the others and you should pay frequent attention to it to watch for signs of deterioration. Do not store that razor in a closed container and do not store it near other knives. If deterioration is observed, immediately separate the blade from the handles.

 

[williamsld8]

Wow, I thought I had inherited a box full of old razors. And by old, I thought they were just ordinary and nothing special.

 

[williamsld8]

Are you referring to the light yellow see through handle with the yellow box? Or the dark some what translucent handled one with red rust across the blade? And aside from that celluloid issue, what do you recommend I do with the rest?

 

[Kohai999]

Are you referring to the light yellow see through handle with the yellow box? Or the dark some what translucent handled one with red rust across the blade? And aside from that celluloid issue, what do you recommend I do with the rest?

Both have handles of celluloid from the looks of it...and Chuck's words on that subject are valid and as encompassing as they need to be.

What do you WANT to do with the razors....do you want to sell them?(I would be interested in the Boker)....do you want to keep them, do you want to restore them? For restoration, Tim Zowada comes to mind, although he is not inexpensive.

If you simply want to keep them, and reduce rust damage, rub vigorously with Flitz, and oil with a good oil like ZeroRust from AG Russell.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson

 

[crazyengineer]

WOW!!!

i wish I had gotten those, among all blades, my favorites for collecting are straights and you my friend hit jackpot.

Badger and blade has already been said, but you may also want to post them at http://straightrazorplace.com/forum.php

they can also help you a lot, i am a member there to, and would love to see what is said about them by people who know more than i do.

and like markksr said, i am very jealous.

whatever you do though, make sure to never sell these. i wish i had something like this from my father or grandfather......

closest thing that i have is a pool cue in shape that is too rough to use

edit: i just read that you are a member at straight razor place, did you pos them there? if you did, i have to track it down now.

better yet, can you post a link to it here if you did?

 

[williamsld8]

http://straightrazorplace.com/beginners/75748-grandfathers-razors.html#post864440

crazyengineer, That's the link to my post over in straightrazorplace. I basically did the same there, just posted the URL to this post so they can take a look over here and then formulate their insight/opinions.