Morely vintage straight, clover steel from Germany. Scales are straight, no cracks, closes straight. 9/16" depth, half hollow ground. Vintage Wagner strop, says imported from Manchuria? Leather is supple still, canvas side is in good condition.
I'll get better pics later, any particular pics to take to get a good evaluation of my buy? I paid 10 bucks for the razor and 15 for the strop
THe old strop looks usable. The canvas is actually linen. LOL Even though it looks like a piece of old fire hose. As for the razor? Looks good from here. Close ups of the edge will help more than anything else at this point. When considering a vintage razor for purchase and use, in addition to what you mentioned above, look very closely at the edge itself. Rust/corrosion etc is not your friend. The heavier the grind, the more rust you can have but if it's a hollow ground, the edge is so thin that it may be rendered pretty much unusable without having to grind it so far back up into the blade that blade geometry can end up being messed up. Light red rust usually isn't much of a problem. The rust that looks like old spider's webs (filiform corrosion) is particularly damaging. All that being said, asking lots of questions as well as handling LOTS of old razors will teach you what you need to know. You're on the right track.
I always see the blade depths expressed in 8ths, is calling this a 9/16" blade proper? Or calling it 14mm better?
I know almost nothing about str8s but that looks like it's in pretty good shape. Nice find and good price too!
9/16" is permissible. Razors are historically measured in 8ths but it doesn't really matter. That one probably started out as a 5/8, as I've yet to see one get larger with use. From what I can see from your pics, the razor looks like it can be made usable. It will need some serious time on a hone to clean up the edge but it looks like it will clean up. Everything I've read or heard says Morley's are great shavers. Here's link to some information on the maker of your razor. http://www.strazors.com/index.php?id=176&doc=w_h_morley_and_sons_germany_ It was part of the Kastor empire http://www.strazors.com/index.php?id=321&doc=adolph_kastor_koster_1856_1946_ which later became Camillus Cutlery in the US and Germania Cutlery in Germany. Thanks to Alex/Manah for posting the info I've linked to.
