Interesting family find...but is it a razor?

[Colphax]

My parents just moved into a new house, and in the move, my mother found some more of my grandfather's old stuff, including this:

According to my mother, this was a high school graduation gift for my grandfather in 1926, and she said it was a "traveling razor". A quick online visit to an inflation calculator tells me that 75 cents in 1926 is equivalent to $8.81 in 2009 US dollars. I also can't find any information on "Oliver Tarrant the Jeweller" online, so I'm assuming the business is long gone.

Inside were 5 Eversharp DE blades, the "razor" with an old blade still loaded, and a paper packet with 3 old, corroded blades.

My mother said my grandfather never shaved with this thing, and that my grandmother used it to open seams for her sewing projects.

The handle is solid, with the words "PATENT PENDING" on the barrel below the knurling. I've no idea how to remove the blade holder from the barrel, but I'm assuming it's press fit and locked in by oxidization now.

So, whaddya think? Could it be someone's attempt at a travelling straight using disposable blades, or do I have a forerunner of an Xacto knife?

 

[Shane]

All I can say is I sure wouldn't shave with it.

 

[spinyeel]

Looks like a stropping handle for S/E blades.Those old blades have me baffled though.

 

[Luc]

I can only assume that you have a solid piece of handle, nothing moves... There's a notch at the bottom where the blade sit to hold it in place. Right under, there's a larger hole, I do not think that forcing something in there to pry it open would do any good.

There must be an easy way to get a blade in/out, a way to unlock that handle. I think you can unlock it(maybe) otherwise they wouldn't put some hook that can be bent away...

If you were to travel with those, you need to be able to change the blades without efforts. Hopefully, someone else will have more details.

I like the theory of SE blades!

 

[Yushiro]

Just curious here, would this be similar to a Japanese Non-folding straight?

 

[SRock]

All I can say is I sure wouldn't shave with it.

Agreed!

 

[jangozo]

Even if you do get the blade in there somehow. U still can't shave with these rusty blades and stocking up on new ones wouldn't be easy, plus I don't think regular DE blades can fit in there.

In any case if your grandad didn't think it was worth the effort then it probably won't be worth it now when its rusty too.

 

[Colphax]

Looks like a stropping handle for S/E blades.Those old blades have me baffled though.

I was thinking much the same thing about the stropping handle. That got me to wonder if gents ever shaved with the blades in the stropping handle straight-razor style instead of loading the shaving one, and this razor was an attempt to get in on this phenomenon with disposable SE blades much like King Gillette. Except maybe it didn't succeed like Mr. Gillette did

@Yushiro: If this actually is a shaving razor, I'd think that it would work along the same line as a Japanese-style non-folding straight, yes.

 

[Colphax]

Even if you do get the blade in there somehow. U still can't shave with these rusty blades and stocking up on new ones wouldn't be easy, plus I don't think regular DE blades can fit in there.

In any case if your grandad didn't think it was worth the effort then it probably won't be worth it now when its rusty too.

Heh, there's no way I'd try to shave with it, even if I could get Zombie Oliver Tarrant to source me some new blades.

I'm thinking, based on the shape of the blades, that the idea was classic Gillette: make money off of selling blades that you couldn't get from anyone else to fit the razor.

This is about the only "have it just to look at it" razor I'm likely to own. I like to use the razors in my collection.

 

[Triumph Coupe]

Have you had a tetanus jab recently?

 

[Haiku]

It sure looks like a stopper, ie. it's a stropping handle. There were lots of these around, there still are lots around that can be used with a regular strop. I wouldn't be all that surprised to learn that it could be a razor.

Here's an example of a stropper handle from a different company:

http://www.stropper.com/stropper_we...select2=&select3=&select4=&select5=&select6=0

My favourite though is from Smith and Wesson:

http://www.stropper.com/stropper_we...select2=&select3=&select4=&select5=&select6=0

 

[D.Irving79]

Looks like a stropping handle for S/E blades.Those old blades have me baffled though.

that just might be a razor believe it or not. or at the very least a corn knife from the look of it they could have been using the DE blades by cracking them in half.

then again, it wasnt uncommon to have to buy the stropper seperately back then.

now you all have a mystery on your hands. if so, what does the actual razor look like.

 

[Stubblefield]

I believe it to be a razor (but don't take me as an authority). There were a number of razors of that era that used the same design using a disposable blade.

 

[MajorBurnz]

It looks like the handle will just unscrew off the blade holder portion. However, it is likely to be corroded in there. You might have to soak it in liquid wrench or something like that to be able to get it off.

Don't have with it!!

 

[Colphax]

that just might be a razor believe it or not. or at the very least a corn knife from the look of it they could have been using the DE blades by cracking them in half..

I don't think that the DE blades in the box were for use in the handle at all, because the shape of a DE is all wrong. DE blades would need some extensive surgery with scissors or snips to get them to fit. I think my grandmother kept some DE blades in the box since they fit so conveniently in there.

 

[D.Irving79]

the plot thickens

 

[olps]

Based on the shape of the blades themselves I'd guess it is itself a razor. I don't see why the blades would be that shape/'asymmetrical' if it wasn't meant to be held by a handle on one side of it and shaved with like that (as opposed to DE blades which are symmetrical because the handle is 'in the middle').

 

[SavantStrike]

Looking at the notch in the top left corner of the blade that isn't loaded, the only way to get the blade out of that handle has to be twisting/turning or doing something odd to the handle.

If I could find a fresh blade, I would shave with it if I were you .