Heirloom Users Club

[maclean3]

Great story, I'm glad you found his razor. I've got my step-dad's straight that belonged to his father before him and it's something I'd never sell.

You got a screaming deal on the adjustables, my '59 Fatboy is my favorite DE (and I paid way more than $10 for it). I've gone to using straights almost exclusively these days but yesterday was a very bad, stressful day so I decided to use the Fatboy on 6 with an IP - still a BBS shave.

 

[Klinker]

The vintage mug was my Dad's. It's at least 75 years old. The crystal and silver perfume decanter belonged to my grandmother. A true antique, it's more than a century old.

​

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

Was your Dad given the mug by someone so he would remember them? And that decanter is stunning!

Stan

 

[Klinker]

Hi,

Was your Dad given the mug by someone so he would remember them? And that decanter is stunning!

Stan

I don't know where it originally came from. By the time I was aware of him shaving, he was using Palmolive brushless shaving cream.

 

[Tanuki]

The vintage mug was my Dad's. It's at least 75 years old. The crystal and silver perfume decanter belonged to my grandmother. A true antique, it's more than a century old.

View attachment 943513 ​

Two beautiful heirlooms. That decanter is incredible.

OK, I will finally write up a post about living with my grandfather’s Old Type. It will be nice if this thread perks up a little. I keep it on my watch list.

 

[Tanuki]

My mother gave me her father’s Gillette NDC Old Type in the mid 1970s, so many years ago that I have forgotten the occasion. Born in 1883, her father passed away in 1961. He shaved with that razor for perhaps 35 years or more.

My parents were of the generation that left the farm and small town behind. After my father’s WW2 and Korean service was finished, they moved to a suburb of a big midwestern city. We lived hundred’s of miles from the home place, but as I remember my grandfather, he was always clean shaven and very well dressed for church on Sunday. Of course, the farm house had both indoor plumbing and electricity by then.

I also have the copper wash boiler that was used to heat water for cleaning clothes, dishes, and for the family’s Saturday night bath for all the years until central heating, indoor plumbing (including a flush toilet), and hot water (out of faucets) got installed. Central heat never did make it to some of the six bedrooms, which still featured ewers and wash basins (but not chamber pots) during my youth. I like to imagine my grandfather getting a little hot water out of that copper boiler to get a hot shave a least a few days out of the week. Did he ever shave with cold water at the master bedroom washstand? I wonder if he sometimes treated himself to a shave at the barbershop on the weekly Saturday shopping trip to town.

I converted to shaving with the OT immediately and never looked back. As I recall, I was using a Schick injector up until that time. Williams Mug was inexpensive and readily available, so that was already my soap. I had a cheap boar brush and enough beard that my Cutiecut hand trimmer did more work than the Old Type.

I have no information about the rest of the old gentleman’s shaving kit, but I doubt he gave it much thought. He just shaved until the blade was dull. Then it disappeared into the wall through a little slot in the bottom of the medicine cabinet.

I believe I got more shaves out of that Gillette Old Type than my grandfather did, using it (and some days a Merkur 36) for about 40 years, never giving it much thought either. Then I cleaned off the verdigris, polished it lightly, and set it aside for the next generation. And promptly succumbed to RAD.

 

[Clay S]

My mother gave me her father’s Gillette NDC Old Type in the mid 1970s, so many years ago that I have forgotten the occasion. Born in 1883, her father passed away in 1961. He shaved with that razor for perhaps 35 years or more.

My parents were of the generation that left the farm and small town behind. After my father’s WW2 and Korean service was finished, they moved to a suburb of a big midwestern city. We lived hundred’s of miles from the home place, but as I remember my grandfather, he was always clean shaven and very well dressed for church on Sunday. Of course, the farm house had both indoor plumbing and electricity by then.

I also have the copper wash boiler that was used to heat water for cleaning clothes, dishes, and for the family’s Saturday night bath for all the years until central heating, indoor plumbing (including a flush toilet), and hot water (out of faucets) got installed. Central heat never did make it to some of the six bedrooms, which still featured ewers and wash basins (but not chamber pots) during my youth. I like to imagine my grandfather getting a little hot water out of that copper boiler to get a hot shave a least a few days out of the week. Did he ever shave with cold water at the master bedroom washstand? I wonder if he sometimes treated himself to a shave at the barbershop on the weekly Saturday shopping trip to town.

I converted to shaving with the OT immediately and never looked back. As I recall, I was using a Schick injector up until that time. Williams Mug was inexpensive and readily available, so that was already my soap. I had a cheap boar brush and enough beard that my Cutiecut hand trimmer did more work than the Old Type.

I have no information about the rest of the old gentleman’s shaving kit, but I doubt he gave it much thought. He just shaved until the blade was dull. Then it disappeared into the wall through a little slot in the bottom of the medicine cabinet.

I believe I got more shaves out of that Gillette Old Type than my grandfather did, using it (and some days a Merkur 36) for about 40 years, never giving it much thought either. Then I cleaned off the verdigris, polished it lightly, and set it aside for the next generation. And promptly succumbed to RAD.

View attachment 951947

Great story, and razor!

 

[Morman Bridge]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Morman Bridge]

Dads razor.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ShaverAZ]

When I was 12 years old, my Dad's Dad taught me how to hone a straight razor. I have his stones & 2 razors today. My Mom's Dad left me his Ever Ready boar brush, and a mug with a full puck of Williams in the bottom.
I occasionally used a straight razor in college, but a Gillette Knack was handier.

Fast forward to shortly after my Dad passed away. In his stuff was an old Eversharp Injector razor. I'd seen it in a bathroom drawer growing up, but never saw Dad shave with it. On the phone with my Cousin (Dad's brother's daughter) I mentioned the old razor & she described it perfectly. Grandma had taught her how to shave her legs with it (even though she was only 10 years old). It belonged to my Uncle, who was a WWII Combat Medic. The razor followed him all the way from Normandy Beach to Berlin, and after the war he gave it to his Mom (my grandma).
Grandma passed on & Grandpa gave it to my Dad. My Dad kept it in a drawer & now I have it. I loaded it up & shaved with it several times, finally using Mom's Dad's old boar brush to lather up.

 

[GolFisHunt]

Great story! I love to see family heirlooms still in use.

 

[Tanuki]

@ShaverAZ , thanks for sharing the stories.

 

[GolFisHunt]

Heirloom day today.

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

May 6th: My Dad's birthday. So, I shaved with his setup today. His Old Spice soap, his Rubberset brush, his Tech.

 

[Haiku]

This has to be one of the best threads. One can pick it up anywhere and read heart-warming stories. Thank you gentlemen for sharing your stories.

 

[Hydguy]

My dad's old W4 Super Speed. Grandma gave it to him in 1977 as a belated Christmas gift after we got back from a tour in Okinawa, along with an Old Spice gift set. I have his OS mug, and use it in some capacity every shave I do at home, whether it's lathering in it, or just soaking a brush. Still looking for his old brush that was with the kit. Hope to find it one day...
The finish was kinda rough when he gave it to me earlier this year, so I sent it to Razor Emporium to get it re-plated.
They refinished it in a satin finish instead of the bright nickel finish. Not sure why. But they did the doors, guard, and the top nickel part of the handle where it is swaged into the guard. They left the original finish on the t-bar, black handle and the TTO.
Here are some before and after pics:

After refinish:

And his OS mug

 

[Haiku]

My dad's old W4 Super Speed. Grandma gave it to him in 1977 as a belated Christmas gift after we got back from a tour in Okinawa, along with an Old Spice gift set. I have his OS mug, and use it in some capacity every shave I do at home, whether it's lathering in it, or just soaking a brush. Still looking for his old brush that was with the kit. Hope to find it one day...
The finish was kinda rough when he gave it to me earlier this year, so I sent it to Razor Emporium to get it re-plated.
They refinished it in a satin finish instead of the bright nickel finish. Not sure why. But they did the doors, guard, and the top nickel part of the handle where it is swaged into the guard. They left the original finish on the t-bar, black handle and the TTO.
Here are some before and after pics:

View attachment 1155620
View attachment 1155621
View attachment 1155622
View attachment 1155623

After refinish:
View attachment 1155624
View attachment 1155625
View attachment 1155626
View attachment 1155627

And his OS mug
View attachment 1155628
View attachment 1155629

What a great story! Thanks for posting it with the pictures. I think the satin finish looks very fine.

 

[Hydguy]

What a great story! Thanks for posting it with the pictures. I think the satin finish looks very fine.

I think it looks great. You cant tell in the pics, but the flair tip is still the bright nickel.
While the handle is certainly cleaner than when I sent it in, I can still see where there are small chips from where dad used it over the years.

I really hope I can find his brush, even if the knot is trashed. RE-knotting it won't be a problem.

Also, my granddaddy's Rolls Razor is somewhere in my folks house, in it's original box. Last time I saw it, it still looked brand new. But that was well over a decade ago.

 

[Haiku]

I think it looks great. You cant tell in the pics, but the flair tip is still the bright nickel.
While the handle is certainly cleaner than when I sent it in, I can still see where there are small chips from where dad used it over the years.

I really hope I can find his brush, even if the knot is trashed. RE-knotting it won't be a problem.

Also, my granddaddy's Rolls Razor is somewhere in my folks house, in it's original box. Last time I saw it, it still looked brand new. But that was well over a decade ago.

It does look great. The chips on the handle give it character. Strange as it may seem, my father's razor which I inherited is another black-handled flare tip. Shaves great.

I also have his brush, a keyhole ivory coloured Rubberset. It needs a new knot and I'll get to that one day.

 

[Tanuki]

I think it looks great. You cant tell in the pics, but the flair tip is still the bright nickel.
While the handle is certainly cleaner than when I sent it in, I can still see where there are small chips from where dad used it over the years.

I really hope I can find his brush, even if the knot is trashed. RE-knotting it won't be a problem.

Also, my granddaddy's Rolls Razor is somewhere in my folks house, in it's original box. Last time I saw it, it still looked brand new. But that was well over a decade ago.

The flair tip and the OS mug both look great! I think the satin finish on the doors looks truer to the original factory finish of a Superspeed than a more polished nickel finish.

You also have one of the best modern OS mug types, with two different ships depicted in nice big graphics. And well-cared for. From a soap puck usability standpoint, the shorter modern mugs are friendlier to fingers and brush handles than the older, deeper mugs.

Thanks for sharing your story. Good luck with chasing down the brush and Rolls!