Ramapo Co Straight Razor

[Gibbs]

Found a Ramapo Co. razor at a local used store. It has Ramapo Co warranted and No. 54 on the tang. It's abot a 6/8 spike point with no shoulder, and in the orignial nice looking black scales.
The razors edge is curved in a slight smile and looked reminiscent of some of the old razors I have seen in the forums.

A little more info, hence the edit:

William Gilchrists Celebrated Razor Steel c. 1851-1861. According to Goins He is listed
in the 1851 NY Directory under commercial & domestic hardware
merchant. In 1852 he is listed as a razor maker with his home in RAMAPO, Jersey City. (RAMAPO & RAMPO may be one and the same it was very common to have dies struck with mispellings) He moved to Philledelphia in 1861 and made Bowie Knives.
Above found here: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group...e/message/2596



This same razor may be dated back to Civil war era.


Anyone ever heard of it?

 

[Seraphim]

Do a search for Ramapo, Bill Ellis did a fantastic restoration\semi-custom Ramapo. Take a look


here it is...
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=35308&highlight=ramapo

 

[azmark]

Ghastly looking things, send it to me

 

[Antique Hoosier]

A Ramapo similar to your description went unsold twice recently on eBay as the seller was asking $200 Buy It Now.

 

[superbleu]

This should be in the straight razor section. Unless you have one you are restoring. Then pics are required.

 

[Gibbs]

This one is in excellent shape, no pitting on the spine or blade and it just looks old. Scales are original and are great shape. I think he want's $25.00 for it. Maybe I can dicker him a bit lower....

 

[Antique Hoosier]

This one is in excellent shape, no pitting on the spine or blade and it just looks old. Scales are original and are great shape. I think he want's $25.00 for it. Maybe I can dicker him a bit lower....

$25.00

That is a no brainer unless there is a chunk out of the blade...

 

[Gibbs]

This should be in the straight razor section. Unless you have one you are restoring. Then pics are required.

That was a tough one to decide, here or in the razor threads. However, since you all are in-tune to doing restoration, the chances of someone with experience on vintages blades might have been better seen by the majority, in here. Make sense?

Newer, or just simpy razors recently NOS or late mode "vintage" might be more addressed in the Razor section, but, on searching Google, it does not seem to have a lot of info out there, which is kind of unusual.

 

[Gibbs]

$25.00

That is a no brainer unless there is a chunk out of the blade...

No chucnks, just smooth smiley edge on it. No chips, nor any issues with the scales (handles) either..

 

[Antique Hoosier]

No chucnks, just smooth smiley edge on it. No chips, nor any issues with the scales (handles) either..

Pull out a 10 dollar bill and buy it then Gibbs! (Have a 20 ready just in case...)

 

[Gibbs]

Well, it cost me $15.00. He had another razor there that actaully had been chromed. Unusual I thought. Oh, and here are 2 pics of the razor, now home.

And one a little closer for detail on the tang of the razor.

 

[Antique Hoosier]

Well, it cost me $15.00. He had another razor there that actaully had been chromed. Unusual I thought. Oh, and here are 2 pics of the razor, now home.

And one a little closer for detail on the tang of the razor.

You did well....

 

[Joe Edson]

I'll double your money on the spot. Who can't turn down a 100% profit

 

[Gibbs]

I honed it and shaved the right side of my face tonight. Finished up, though, with my new Dovo 6/8. I was surprised, it shaved not bad. Still a little grabby, but I may need to redo the finish hone 8K and Swaty barber hone, and then strop it some more. But it does shave.

My Great Grandfather, Jacob Johann Jenewein fought in the Civil war. It would be kind of interesting to know if this razor was around at the time he served. He was from Denzer, Wisconin.

Tempting offer... *S*

 

[Neurotopia]

Wow. Just.... wow. 15 bucks???

 

[Gibbs]

Wow. Just.... wow. 15 bucks???

Bought this Gold Bug, locally, for $3.50 and then bought another razor, a Wade & Butcher (very bad blade) for $5.00 just for the scales, so I have $8.50 into the Gold Bug (German built by A. Witte) and it's a very decent shaver. Kind of pretty scales too. I assume they are plastic.

I put the top and bottom jimps in there myself to handle better when wet.

But, yes, $15.00. And it's all original as well. Seems Qute old. I think it may have been made by William Gilchrists, who stopped making razors around 1861. So, if this is correct, it pre-dates the Civil War.

 

[Gibbs]

You know earlier I said it needed a bit more work on the edge. It got that tonight.. WOW!

Update: I cleaned the metal part, and left the scales alone. Not the best, but an improvement and the picture was just not coming out right to show the clean AND the new bevel, but here it is...

A picture showing the end, but it doesn't show that it tapers to a bit thin a little before the edge, so I wouldn't think it was a wedge, but maybe 1/4 grind?

I honed it tonight with 1K, 4K, 8K Norton wet stones and then the Franz Swaty and final with the Pike Emerald stone. BOY!! I don't know what the Emerald Pike is but it never really showed any metal or much of anything on the honing, but looking at it under the 20X it did not look like there was anything for any scratches at all in the bevel. Simply a mirror finish. I stropped it and shaved some with it, and it's quite a smooth shaver, kind of like almost nothing. Now, I had shaved earlier this afternoon, but I did not get real tight with ATG passes, and this Ramapo was a comfortable skim across the face, for where I tried it... along the side and under the jaw line. Impressive,.... most impressive.