Beginner

[evilavatar]

So I'm a beginner to both this forum and straight razor shaving. My older brother got me into shaving with older razors and gave me a nice collection of safety razor blades and a corona safety razor. For Christmas I planned on cleaning up this straight razor and strop for him. The razor appears to be a Torrey 156 "The Barber" and I was curious and trying to get some more info on when this model was probably manufactured. Both were acquired at an antique shop near me for 30 dollars plus tax. The also had a J. Pritzlaff Hardware Company straight razor I may go back for. The scales are separated which turned me off on it, but the edge looked good and the tang is a bit longer than this one. Not sure of the width on this one as i didn't know that was an important measure of a straight razor. Any thoughts or help you can give I'd appreciate.

 

[Slash McCoy]

IMHO you overpaid. But not by too much. Depends on who hones the razor.

Notice how the blade has worn more at the toe end than the heel end. The blade has a pronounced taper. I can't tell from the pics but it looks like the foot of the stabilizer intrudes into the bevel plane. This razor has seen a lot of use and a lot of honing, possibly 30 or 40 years of inexpert honing by the same person. Torreys are great razors and great steel but yours is the result of poor honing and LOTS of it. The good news is it can indeed be made to shave, and to shave quite well. The bad news is razors like this go for between $10 and $15 on the bay all the time. For a gift, I suggest a nicer razor, with a less beatup blade. Look for one with no chips or nicks in the edge, and no frown in the edge. A frown is when if the razor is stood on edge, with the spine up, the edge is curved down at the ends, like a frowning face. Also you want one that has no pronounced taper in the edge, and no protruding heel or stabilizer, no unusual wear pattern on the edge or the spine, no cracks in blade or in scales, blade not wobbly in scales and centers decently between them when you close it. No deep pitting, especially near the edge. Such a razor can easily be cleaned up, polished nicely, and honed to shave-ready condition.

Better pics would tell us more about your razor and your strop.

 

[evilavatar]

30 dollar was the price for blade and strop (total was right under 32 with tax actually). Blade was 10 and the strop was 19.50. I've just finished cleaning up the blade and need to oil the strop but I will post more pics of both. The blade is actually in pretty good shape after I cleaned it up a little and the idea is more to get my brother interested than to get him actually shaving with that particular blade, though if it hones up well he may. The blade has no pits or jagged edges and is in decent condition, I cleaned off the small spots of surface rust and all that is left is the darker patina to it. There are not cracks to the blade or scales and the spine is in very good condition. Both sides of scale are intact and still attached to each other, but their are some small chips on one side of the scales.

added a few more pics from my phone, i'll have to wait til the weekend to use the wifes camera for better quality pics than this.