Who's shaving with the oldest razor?

[wallacmb]

Those are all amazingly old and amazingly beautiful blades
C. Klauberg& Bros is my oldest at somewhere between

1837 & 1861.
​

I had no idea of the age until a friend asked to borrow it and i was forced to do googling



I hope this thread perseveres!

Max

 

[Thomas Martin]

Heres my oldest. Flower & Co. circa 1790.

Wow. It must be awesome to shave with a razor from a period where Beethoven was yet to compose his first symphony.

 

[daflorc]

Here are some oldies but goodies:
Packwood, 1820's-ish
Lord & Harvey, 1817-1831
W. Birks, 1787 (only record)
View attachment 380931

 

[DogHair]

Here are some oldies but goodies:
Packwood, 1820's-ish
Lord & Harvey, 1817-1831
W. Birks, 1787 (only record)

Very nice

 

[Nick Gentry]

This is a Joseph Milton wedge, very heavy I just picked up and haven't worked on yet. Only states Sheffield (no England) and no Monarch date. That puts it really early 1800s (I think as I'm new to this). Also cool shape with notch, no jimps at all and by far the heaviest blade I have. I have other wedges but none near this heavy.

Nick
View attachment 381164

 

[MarkWLXXIV]

My oldest is also my favorite razor. But I could actually use some help dating it. The razor looks to be a Thomas Warburton razor. In fact it is pictured in Lummus' article "More Old Razors" (Antiques, May 1927, p. 372 - see http://www.anwealde.com/razors/bothlummus.pdf - scroll to 6th page), and described by him as dating to 1785.

The issue I have however is that my razor looks pretty clearly stamped "Lisboa" with an "A" not "Lisbon" with an "N" which is what Lummus states was Warburton's trademark.

Does anyone know if Warburton used the "Lisboa" spelling at any point in his manufacturing history? This doesn't seem like a stretch to me, since Lisboa is the Portuguese spelling for Lisbon. Finding out when Warburton may have used this spelling would give me a more precise date of its making.

By the way, this beautiful razor is a restoration by fellow B&B member David Florczak - he did a great job!

 

[daflorc]

Say, that's a fine looking blade there, Mark Btw, thanks for those photocopied pages you linked to - I'm finally able to date this "Shepherd" accurately, thanks to you! (John Shepherd, in business 1770-1795)

 

[mdunn]

nice blade!!!!

 

[Legion]

This thread is so full of cool.

 

[mdunn]

This thread is so full of cool.

Yep - these picture threads are my absolute favorites here

 

[hawgsquatch]

I shaved with a sharpened clam shell yesterday, does that count?

Cool thread - post more pics of these awesome old razors!

You da man. I shave with a FOSSIL broken clam shell, originally knapped by Neanderthals. LOL

 

[duki92]

I am so impressed with 18th century straights.

 

[JHP]

This thread is so full of cool.

+1.

Some of these razors are as old as my country and still shaving . . . amazing.

From my observation of this and other threads, it seems that these older blades seem much more likely to have the heal honed out than the toe. Yes? Is it likely that I am doing the same to my blades as I hone them today too?

 

[daflorc]

+1.
Some of these razors are as old as my country and still shaving . . . amazing.
From my observation of this and other threads, it seems that these older blades seem much more likely to have the heal honed out than the toe. Yes? Is it likely that I am doing the same to my blades as I hone them today too?

That is just the shape they made them in back then, its not necessarily hone wear on many of them.

 

[mycarver]

Got this a while ago but it's not so much old as it may be rare. 1850 or so. I'm honing it up now to use it.
It belonged to the Marquis de Goulaine. The 11th Marquis still working the oldest family business in Europe at 1000 yrs. now. The Chateau is still in the family and construction was started in the year 970.
It has been verified by the French Heritage Collection. The history of these Papillon razors is fascinating.
This one has had painted Whale bone scales, etched blades.
I do have others in my collection that may be older but this I think is just too cool. I got it from a private collector in Palm Springs.

 

[mdunn]

Got this a while ago but it's not so much old as it may be rare. 1850 or so. I'm honing it up now to use it.
It belonged to the Marquis de Goulaine. The 11th Marquis still working the oldest family business in Europe at 1000 yrs. now. The Chateau is still in the family and construction was started in the year 970.
It has been verified by the French Heritage Collection. The history of these Papillon razors is fascinating.
This one has had painted Whale bone scales, etched blades.
I do have others in my collection that may be older but this I think is just too cool. I got it from a private collector in Palm Springs.

...wow

 

[mycarver]

Maybe not the oldest or rarest but it's unique.

 

[atlanta_hoo]

Packwood "Old English"



or



Stub-Tailed Joseph Elliot (yes that is a cracked tang)

 

[ScottinAZ]

My oldest is also a Packwood Old English. Shaved with it yesterday. Have an Old English Superior Temper due in tomorrow regnal marked from George IV. Cool old stuff

 

[kcb5150]

My oldest. Evatt Cast Steel, 1790s I'd say.