EDIT: straight razor purchases

Discussion in 'Straight Razors' started by Tomas Garcia, Jul 4, 2014.

  1. Tomas Garcia

    Tomas Garcia Member

    EDIT: seeing as I just made another purchase I felt it would better to edit my original thread to include both razor purchases.



    http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=161355558665&alt=web

    I just made this purchase on eBay, main reason I love the handle it has. Looks alike it will need a bit of TLC but that's OK...

    Big question I have is this, I am a newb with straight razors, so I don't know what I bought, or if I even got a good deal, can anyone tell me more about this razor from The pics?

    NEW: I found this double duck at the antique store, its a satin wedge with good marks (I think) on one side. The spine shows some flattening and the blade isn't the best, I bought is Cuz I heard something about the wedge being better for restored. The scales seem OK so no need to swap them. But info on whether I have made an OK purchase would be nice. I haven't put the price I paid so I cat honestly pick this one up for.


    [​IMG]


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    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2014
    oscar11 likes this.
  2. oscar11

    oscar11 Well-Known Member

    Congrats on your purchase.
     
  3. Tomas Garcia

    Tomas Garcia Member

    Thank you! I'm excited for it. I barely started the change over from the safety razor, so my technique needs to improve, but I saw this and decided it would clean up to be a really beautiful razor
     
  4. Tomas Garcia

    Tomas Garcia Member

    Yeah I'm earning my battle wounds right now lol. This was an impulse buy that I will send out to get professionally honed. But I may try a little refurbishment on my own, and if the task is too great I'll send it out to be restored. What does an average resoration cost?
     
  5. JoeB

    JoeB Well-Known Member

    Time to bring out the wetsandpaper!
    Nice Buy
     
    GDCarrington likes this.
  6. Tomas Garcia

    Tomas Garcia Member

    Thank you!

    So I'm looking all over the interweb for any imperial razor with these scales or similar, but I can't find ANYTHING. Was it not common practice to use metal for scales?
     
  7. HolyRollah

    HolyRollah BaconLord

    I would venture to guess probably more than what the value of the razor is or would be. Honing, however, is quite reasonable.
    Looking at that blade, you're in for some considerable hours of hand-sanding to get it to a point where you'll be happy with the appearance. It may polish up nicely when finished, but it will take some effort on your part to get it to that stage.
    Here's an example of hand-sanding results— starting with 85 grit and working slowly up the grit scale to 2000 grit (85, 100, 180, 200, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, then polish).
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2014
    oscar11 likes this.
  8. Tomas Garcia

    Tomas Garcia Member

    Yep I figured as much on the restore part. And I knew it was going to be a considerable undertaking to get the thing "shiny" again. But I am a patient person. Who knows if I actually enjoy the end product enough then I'll do it again!

    I saw your first restore thread and am encouraged also, I see you've been there with a very dirty blade, and I saw how it came out! Hope this one ends the same way :)
     
  9. GDCarrington

    GDCarrington Burma Shave

    It looks like you have an interesting candidate to restore.

    Paging Dr. Glen
    @gssixgun
     
  10. 3drew101

    3drew101 Active Member

    It does look like you've got your work cut out, but if you put in the time and effort its worth it. And stick with it as far as shaving goes, you will cut yourself but after a few shaves (and a lot of toilet roll stuck to your face) you'll get the hang of it. I got the bug about 18 months ago I've now restore about 150 straights and started making my own customs and I'm loving it. ;)
     
  11. DennisBarberShop

    DennisBarberShop New Member

    If you restore it yourself, I recommend investing in kevlar gloves, it WILL save you scars....if id not discovered them at a local tractor supply id have more scars than the 3 I got restoring blades prior to starting restores.
     
  12. gssixgun

    gssixgun At this point in time...

    Supporting Vendor
    I took a look at the e-bay pics, not the greatest for detail but :p

    You will want to start with a SE razor or something like that and slice away the corrosion to see what lies below,,
    Once you do that you will want to put a couple of layers of tape on the spine hone it a bit and make sure you can find Clean, Shiny, Solid steel for a bevel..
    There is no sense in proceeding any farther if the razor can't take an edge..
    The black spots can spider web deep into the metal and cause problems when honing, you will not know until you try..
    The corrosion about 1/2 of an inch form the point doesn't look great but again I am looking at e-bay pics

    The scales are referred to as Figurals, they may or may not be original to the razor, they were an option for many of the German and American razors at the time, they were also available through Barber Supply houses and could be added later..
    From what I can tell in the pic they appear to be Slick Black Celluloid, but that is just a guess from the pics,, if so be very very careful with them as them tend to be even more fragile then standard Celluloid scales because of the inherent weakness introduced by the Figural design..


    The company is well known and produced solid shavers starting in 1945, their "American Eagle Razor" is sought after
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2014
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  13. Tomas Garcia

    Tomas Garcia Member

    Wow thanks for the info! I hope the blade is salvageable but if not it was a learning experience none the less. The figuraled scales were what drew me to this piece anyway. If they can be salvaged then it may not be a total loss.
     
    gssixgun likes this.
  14. gssixgun

    gssixgun At this point in time...

    Supporting Vendor
    The question came up about the actual term "Fully Warranted"

    There are two possible meanings here for razors that I am aware of, perhaps more :p

    1. Exactly what we think of today, ie: the Razor was warranted against any defects in workmanship, back "In the Day" razors came shave ready, in fact many were touted as "Hair Tested" not the same as what we call HHT but similar (One of the razor making vids shows a demo of it) so often the razors were warranted to be shave ready also..
    See Hess razors and also Dubl Duck, both were rather proud to call their razors "Hair Tested"

    2. A Royal Warrant, which was basically a decree that allowed the Company to supply to the Crown here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_warrant_of_appointment


    My guess is the in post WW2 production of a German razor the first applies but that is only a guess not a fact...
     
  15. Tomas Garcia

    Tomas Garcia Member

    So this whole SR this g is a sickness, I went to an antique shop and found another razor. I added it to the first post. Not sure if I got a good deal so I'm asking what other ppl would pay. Its a dubl duck bresduck satin wedge.
     

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