George WostenHolm & Sons Thread

Discussion in 'Straight Razors' started by DaltonGang, Jun 28, 2017.

  1. Mr. Oldschool

    Mr. Oldschool Johnny Dangerously

    This one was sent to me by mistake and the seller didn't want it back. I don't blame them, there's no way I'm touching my face with the poor, tired old razor:
    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
    hard to make out the writing but it says 1890 Mont. soooo Montana maybe?

    And my beloved Monkey Tailed Wosty:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    This one would qualify as a rat too, with all that Devil's spit. Shaves like a dream!
     
  2. BillD.

    BillD. New Member

  3. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    I like those scales.:happy088:

    BTW, wander over to the Welcome Section, and introduce yourself.
     
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  4. Timwcic

    Timwcic Well-Known Member

    A pair of Wostys that have been in the den for a few years. They are modern compared to the chopper cousins

    BED9AA0D-45A7-4637-B1FB-E4487D66EF71.jpeg 7F5FBB04-47FD-433D-A8A5-E4DEE8CA2768.jpeg A887F9EF-88FA-4C89-A91C-5EE7466916B9.jpeg 9463799D-1643-447D-AB5F-906C5438CF71.jpeg
     
  5. Benoit Poulin

    Benoit Poulin New Member

    Hello gentlemens,

    Name's Benoit. Long story short I'm leapin in small restorations because i enjoy it mainly, also to have razors to chose from. I've felt upon this wostenholm that needs a bit of love. As i was searching for informations around, i noticed the razor is quite rare, i haven't seen the like from strazor's history page on the company or here. HolyRollah has posted a picture of a very similar blade, the 13/16 NW BN. I'm curious about it's history, or it's production origins. I know the company had some issues, so i would like an evaluation.

    Key features: Straight tang (unlike the old curved top tangs found on most sheffields made). Carved scales with maple leaves on each sides of the writings.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
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  6. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    BED1C64B-054F-418A-97D9-2A09E661008C.jpeg

    Big ol’ chopperesque blade, very nice shaver and shape that you don’t see often, appears to be original. Photographed from the right angle, it’s very striking visually.
     
  7. jerald smith

    jerald smith New Member

    I have one almost identical but it's a French point and can't find any evidence of it. and says picture is to big
     
  8. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    Wow, I've forgotten about this thread.
     
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  9. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    Edit the picture to less than 1mb in size. It should download.
     
  10. Mike-R41

    Mike-R41 Well-Known Member

    The one foreign YouTuber loves these. He’s the old guy with the Russian accent and wears glasses.
     
  11. neiasden

    neiasden Member

    assumingOTE="HolyRollah, post: 1274140, member: 9778"]Depends mainly upon two factors: condition and rarity. There are plenty of well-worn 5/8" size wostys to be found on eBay that often can be had for less than $40. But one needs to be careful: Many of these razors are over-honed or suffering from a bad case of rust. This may impact the actual use (and value) of the razor as an actual shaving instrument.[/QUOTE]
    what are signs of, over honing? I know very little but I assume a lot. LOL I can guess at what I think I should be looking for, but I would rather somebody that knows explain it to me as if I am a 5-year-old LOL thank you I enjoy reading your comments
     
  12. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    what are signs of, over honing? I know very little but I assume a lot. LOL I can guess at what I think I should be looking for, but I would rather somebody that knows explain it to me as if I am a 5-year-old LOL thank you I enjoy reading your comments[/QUOTE]

    Sit back, don't get into a hurry, and listen to what a lot of fellow members here tell you. This is one of the most knowledgeable and helpful forums around, for Straight Razor advise.
    First, you need to know the different parts of a Straight Razor, and what they are called.
    As for "Over Honing", a worn down " Spine" is the first, and biggest sign. Other signs are a misshapen blade, and an unnatural blade width(too narrow for that model).

    .
     
  13. neiasden

    neiasden Member

    Sit back, don't get into a hurry, and listen to what a lot of fellow members here tell you. This is one of the most knowledgeable and helpful forums around, for Straight Razor advise.
    First, you need to know the different parts of a Straight Razor, and what they are called.
    As for "Over Honing", a worn down " Spine" is the first, and biggest sign. Other signs are a misshapen blade, and an unnatural blade width(too narrow for that model).

    .[/QUOTE]
    I completely agree with you. I have been taking a break from making scales, by hand with a jeweler saw LOL my fingers have finally healed from all of the cuts which is why I switched from blades to scales LOL but I can see which ones are fully engaged and knowledgeable
     
  14. neiasden

    neiasden Member

    Sit back, don't get into a hurry, and listen to what a lot of fellow members here tell you. This is one of the most knowledgeable and helpful forums around, for Straight Razor advise.
    First, you need to know the different parts of a Straight Razor, and what they are called.
    As for "Over Honing", a worn down " Spine" is the first, and biggest sign. Other signs are a misshapen blade, and an unnatural blade width(too narrow for that model).

    .[/QUOTE]
    you wouldn't happen to have pictures would you? LOL I think I know what you were talking about because the first couple I bought just to practice on had spines that frowned but I didn't even know what a frown or a spine was at that time but I do know all the parts of the razor. finally
     
  15. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    OK, I’ll give it a shot.

    First, over honing is usually a term used when a razor has been honed in a way that creates thin unstable metal where the bevels meet, the apex. Some of the terms for this unstable metal are burr, fin, foil edge. I think what we’re talking about here is just ‘worn out’, lol. And there are varying degrees of wear.

    How much wear is tolerable depends on what you’re looking for. If you want a collectible razor, one with much wear won’t cut it, it reduces the value quite a lot. If you want a user for shaving or testing edges, you may well look for razors with some wer to get the price down.

    The temper of the steel varies as you go up the blade toward the spine, and I typically won’t buy a razor that’s going to end up narrower than the original width by 1/16” to 1/8”, even for a user or test razor. I do get some in lots and they usually hone and shave OK, but you can tell that they’re stiffer than full width razors.

    So what does ‘too much’ wear look like? Start by looking at the spine.

    Figure A shows a frown and the wear on the spine that corresponds to it.
    Figure B shows a wear pattern probably caused by a barber failing to lift the toe when sharpening the razor. Barbers are taught to never lift the razor off the hone, and if they don’t let up on the pressure at the toe when switching sides, this is what you get.
    Figure C shows a pattern of wear that results when the honing was actually pretty decent, the stabilizer is not honed or honed much, so a heel hook results after time.

    The first picture shows a real-life example of ‘C’, and it also has a pronounced frown blended in to it. This is one that was sent to me to hone and is the result of a noob using knife pressure on a razor. Look at the spine wear, the dark band at the spine that’s about 3/16” wide. When new, it was maybe 1/32” wide - this much spine wear would be a deal killer for me at any price unless I needed the scales, lol. Look how the pattern of spine wear is an inverse shape of the edge. The red line shows about how much metal must be removed to get a straight edge, then the heel must be heavily reprofiled. A rule of thumb when you see spine wear this wide is that width roughly corresponds to how much blade width you’ll lose making it straight again.

    The second picture shows an real life example of ‘B’.

    Most razors showing these patterns more than very slightly will require enough metal removal to the point that I would probably not buy them. Scott specializes in fixing up these kinds of razors and does an excellent job of it, so don’t think that my thought apply to everyone.

    088E815B-FF16-4B43-96F7-9A26B350205F.jpeg C8DE0414-BD89-4F06-9DC6-028ECE162F64.jpeg 549500FF-64F3-4B05-B078-8D7F7CAD64F0.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2022
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  16. neiasden

    neiasden Member

    there are thorough answers and then there is yours LOL unbelievable. I actually understand most of what you're saying the diagrams are excellent and I see now that those are exactly what I got to start with LOL I do have some nice ones too I just had no idea what I was looking at I referred to it as the nose curves down LOL. thanks to you guys I will probably figure it out
     
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  17. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    Welcome @jimmie - you’ll get there and we’ll help!
     
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  18. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    I can fix some, if they still have enough meat on their bones. It isn't fun, and I have to be really bored, with a lot of time on my hands.
    What was the word I liked to throw around, a few times? Cathartic. I believe others, including you, @Steve56 , have used it too.

    .
     
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