Tuckmar, old razor.

[Galeocerdoshark]

Hi everyone,

A good friend of the family gave me this old razor yesterday. He gave it to me because he knew I was into knives (although I know absolutely nothing about razors, that's why I'm posting here). He still had two others (one of them was very nice, also from Solingen, like this one) but he wanted to hold on to them a bit longer. They originated from the father of his uncle, who was a barber back in the day. His uncle is at the moment in his nineties, so I guess all of them do have some ago to them. All of them were rusted, and so was this one. I took most of the orange rust off, cleaned and oiled this razor. Ready for some pics! (extensive cleaning to get the orange rust out of the letters that are stamped on the blade will be for later on).

First, the details:

On the handle it says Tuckmar or Tückmar. One side of the blade states "Bartputzer Modell - 1930" while the other side states "Welt Schutz Solingen", "Dreistern" and "Ruf Marke Germany".

From a little of gogleing, I found out that they were actually produced in between 1930 and 1940 (please correct this if it's wrong!).

I don't know many other things about it, so I'd like some additional information on it.

Pics:

The handle is a bit bent, sadly.

Nice hollow grind:

Thanks for looking, info would be appreciated!

 

[unit]

that looks nice.

I love shoulder-less designs like that, and I am sure that one sings!

I cannot tell you much about the model, but I will assure you that the scales can be re-pinned and straightened. Weather or not you take the patina off the blade is up to you.

Nice piece!

 

[Galeocerdoshark]

that looks nice.

I love shoulder-less designs like that, and I am sure that one sings!

I cannot tell you much about the model, but I will assure you that the scales can be re-pinned and straightened. Weather or not you take the patina off the blade is up to you.

Nice piece!

I guess it'll shave just fine with the patina still on it. Adds character too.
I e-mailed the person who I got this from to ask if I could clean up the others as well. If he lets me, I'll take some pics of them too.

I'm definitely interested in getting the scales straightened, I might have a hard time finding someone who is capable of doing so, though.
The search continues!

Thanks for the kind comment!

 

[defaultuser]

Score! I don't know much about it either but it looks in awesome shape. Do you plan to have it honed and use it? I wouldn't worry about the scale bend.

 

[Galeocerdoshark]

Score! I don't know much about it either but it looks in awesome shape. Do you plan to have it honed and use it? I wouldn't worry about the scale bend.

I'm planning on getting the stuff I need to sharpen it. In Antwerp, the city I'm currently attending university in, there is a shop that sells all kinds of shaving tools so they'll probably have what I need. When it's sharp again, I will attempt to shave myself with it. It will be a new experience, since I've never shaved with this kind of razor. Thanks!

 

[defaultuser]

Do you know the Straight Razor Place forum? There's tons of information there (honing, stropping, shaving, products, etc).
Personnaly, I would not attempt to hone an old razor, and I consider I'm pretty good at sharpening knives. There's a lot more into it than it looks like. Have fun!

 

[unit]

Do you know the Straight Razor Place forum? There's tons of information there (honing, stropping, shaving, products, etc).
Personnaly, I would not attempt to hone an old razor, and I consider I'm pretty good at sharpening knives. There's a lot more into it than it looks like. Have fun!

This is good advice.

Honing razors is not something that just anyone can do. I'm not saying you can't, but going from knives to razors is a step about the size of going from lawn mower blades to collector knives....and you are going to put this edge to your face!

 

[Galeocerdoshark]

Thanks for being worried and for the advice guys. I wasn't going to put the razor to my face tomorrow or something, haha. As I said, I'm planning to go to that store to get some advice, maybe purchase some things and spend a lot of time reading. I might buy a cheaper straigt razor to start practicing straight razor-shaving and sharpening/honing/stropping/whatever it takes.
Thanks for the advice people, really appreciated.

 

[unit]

Thanks for being worried and for the advice guys. I wasn't going to put the razor to my face tomorrow or something, haha. As I said, I'm planning to go to that store to get some advice, maybe purchase some things and spend a lot of time reading. I might buy a cheaper straigt razor to start practicing straight razor-shaving and sharpening/honing/stropping/whatever it takes.
Thanks for the advice people, really appreciated.

Fantastic plan! I would add one suggestion.

Have this razor, or some other, honed professionally so you have a benchmark for comparison for your honing, and a proper tool to learn shaving with. If you are going to learn straight shaving, PLEASE do not inject variables that will make the process more difficult than it needs to be (i.e. a honed razor that you are not 100% confident with). Start with a VERY well honed blade and you will stand a much greater chance of developing the passion that we have.

I offer this advice as someone who did it all wrong...and I now speak with the wisdom that comes from learning the hard way

There are some GREAT videos out there on honing razors, that will supplement your reading search "gssixgun honing" on YouTube...that guy is good, friendly and very helpful

 

[Galeocerdoshark]

Thanks unit, I really appreciate the advice! I'm guessing a whole new world might be opening up, but I'll take it nice and slowly ;-)