A gift...

Sxot

Sxot

New Member
Artisan Producer
Joined
Feb 1, 2016
Location
Nth QLD
I've been talking to my Dad about wet shaving since I started in Feb with DE's. Before wet shaving, I used an electric. My father did the same as did his father from whenever electrics first became available. So, Dad has shown an interest and we have learned together. So we've been talking about straights and I asked if he remembers his Dad using one which he doesn't. He watched the Mystro Livi videos and the like. So, naturally when I bought a straight I told him about it and he's checked in on me since. It was Monday I received the blade and sent him a picture.

So today, Wednesday I get a message from Mum; "I bought you a straight razor made in Germany. It's really old, in good condition with a bone handle". I think this could be an awesome thing, a nice Solingen blade or it could be a pile of rusty worthlessness. She sent me another message confirming it was "Made in Solingen" and she would email an picture. I'm really nervous at this point and it takes me an hour before I look. I really don't want to tell her "Thanks but that blade is unusable and not worth restoring". I'm really tickled pink she bought it for me, but I have no idea what it is or if it's going to clean up to usable state or not. Seems to have quite a bit of corrosion on it but maybe it's not that bad and is just staining? For sure the etching will be lost? In the end if I can get it to look nice, using it isn't actually required. Then again, she is going to ask me if I have used it yet but I could bluff with something about needing to send it for honing. I guess I will have to wait until it gets here to find out.

Should I hit it with some autosol and see how looks or just send it to @Mark for evaluation? What do you guys think of it in the mean time? Maybe this picture is enough to tell it's not worth working on?

Etching says "Magnetic Platypus - Extra Hollow Ground"

Mums_Razor.jpg
 
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Whether a user or a looker - cleaned up it will be great and a wonderful gift!

Congrats
 
Mark1966 said:
Whether a user or a looker - cleaned up it will be great and a wonderful gift!
Congrats
Click to expand...

You are right. I would be very happy to put it on display with my other shaving gear. It's Aussie, it's possibly quite old, and the bone scales are very cool. Just that mum is very sensitive so if it's not possible/worthwhile making shave ready I need to be careful how I say it.
 
Too nice to shave with ...
 
Sxot said:
I've been talking to my Dad about wet shaving since I started in Feb with DE's. Before wet shaving, I used an electric. My father did the same as did his father from whenever electrics first became available. So, Dad has shown an interest and we have learned together. So we've been talking about straights and I asked if he remembers his Dad using one which he doesn't. He watched the Mystro Livi videos and the like. So, naturally when I bought a straight I told him about it and he's checked in on me since. It was Monday I received the blade and sent him a picture.

So today, Wednesday I get a message from Mum; "I bought you a straight razor made in Germany. It's really old, in good condition with a bone handle". I think this could be an awesome thing, a nice Solingen blade or it could be a pile of rusty worthlessness. She sent me another message confirming it was "Made in Solingen" and she would email an picture. I'm really nervous at this point and it takes me an hour before I look. I really don't want to tell her "Thanks but that blade is unusable and not worth restoring". I'm really tickled pink she bought it for me, but I have no idea what it is or if it's going to clean up to usable state or not. Seems to have quite a bit of corrosion on it but maybe it's not that bad and is just staining? For sure the etching will be lost? In the end if I can get it to look nice, using it isn't actually required. Then again, she is going to ask me if I have used it yet but I could bluff with something about needing to send it for honing. I guess I will have to wait until it gets here to find out.

Should I hit it with some autosol and see how looks or just send it to @Mark for evaluation? What do you guys think of it in the mean time? Maybe this picture is enough to tell it's not worth working on?

Etching says "Magnetic Platypus - Extra Hollow Ground"

Mums_Razor.jpg
Click to expand...

This picture tells me just about everything, cosmetically it could do with some work, but look at the spine. The hone wear is very heavy especially towards the toe. I generally tend to stay away from razors that show decades of daily use as such because they need a lot of work and carry no value due to the heavy wear. In saying that it's not impossible to improve it cosmetically. Sand it down with W/D using oil, start from around #400 and finish as high as you can possibly go and follow up using metal polishing compound on a cloth just for the purpose of practicing, it will come in handy in the future as you start collecting razors.
 
Found out today this razor was owned by the sellers father, a Barber in Brisbane. This is one of his shop blades - hence the amount of hone wear.
 
Sxot said:
Found out today this razor was owned by the sellers father, a Barber in Brisbane. This is one of his shop blades - hence the amount of hone wear.
Click to expand...

I have a razor, strop and hand hair shears that belonged to my FiL's grandfather who was a barber. Would never use any but great and precious heirloom.

While this doesn't have the same family connection the provenance is nice to know and makes it even more special and too good to use ;) IMHO
 
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