A few weeks back a couple guys at work stumbled on the fact that I'm a wet shaver and they became interested. I've successfully converted two of them and two more are showing signs of interest. It's a wave of wet shave delight around here now! Anyway one of the guys was talking to his dad about it and the old man mailed him some vintage razors he had around the house from way back in the day. I figured you enthusiasts would be interested so here we go: This first one is a straight from Simmons & Howe Inc, St. Louis, MO. Along the side of the blade is inscribed "Keen Kutter". The box says "Quality Wilbert Guaranteed". This straight has markings on the shank indicating it's from "Wyeth's Warranted Cutlery" of Germany. The box indicates "Wyeth, St. Joseph, MO". And on the blade is inscribed "Wyeth's Optimo". Here is a sweet vintage open comb with razor case, blade case and some old Gillette Blue blades (not pictured). The set.
:signs154 Love the sun box on that old Gillette. Wonder if it would clean up well with some metal cleaner or if you would even want to remove the patina?
Shep snapped these pictures the other day at work, I brought them in and he's pimping them out... nice. If anyone knows anything about these blades, I'm curious of their ages. I shave with the open comb everyday, its real nice for a newb I guess.
So are these straights going to get honed? How would the "newbies" be educated on their use? Strops? Or are these for you, Shep?
Unless I whack him over the head and steal them, I won't be doing anything with them. They belong to neanderthal...the new guy. They do need to be honed and stropped however neither of which we know how to do very well when it comes to razors. We're gonna come up with a plan....
The straight razor marked Simmons and Howe is actually marked Simmons Hdwre. for Simmons Hardware Co. of St. Louis, Mo. One of their house brands was "Keen Kutter" and can be found on a variety of items. They were a huge manufacturer and distributor of hardware until the 1960's I believe. Congratulations.
