Hello all,
I was recently speaking with my mother about wetshaving and she mentioned she had some old razors that belonged to her father somewhere in the attic. I said please fish them out for me! I hadn't high expectations, so imagine my surprise when she told me they found 12 straight razors and a bunch of other stuff!
My parents finally brought these over to me in the States. Check this out:
I made an imgur album detailing everything.
Please check it out here: Inherited Shaving Stuff
There are 60 some images there so have fun
I tried to document everything the best I could with my crappy camera.
Here is everything listed:
All the stuff pertaining to safety razors: the Ever-Ready, the Rolls etc. I am fairly certain belonged to my grandfather. My mother told me she has memories of him working the Rolls mechanism back and forth all the time. I am really looking forward to trying those out. When I opened up the Ever-Ready there was still a blade in there, presumably from the last time it was used. I could spot some left over hairs on the blade. My grandfather died in 1995 so seeing this was quite affecting.
My mother believed that all the straight razors belonged to someone else as she has no memory of my grandfather using them. She theorised they could have belonged to his father-in-law i.e. my great-grandfather. At this point we found the initials "GT" engraved onto several of the scales. My mother knew immediately that this was my great-great-grandfather. So seeing as there are 12 of them, it is possible that they belonged to both my great-grandfather and my great-great-grandfather. My great-great-grandfather G.T. was in the British Army and served in the First World War where he was victim of a gas attack. I think it likely that some of these razors and the canvas roll to date from the time of his service. Sadly, later in life after the death of his beloved wife he committed suicide. By gassing himself, no less.
I am excited to be inheriting these items and intend to use them. I am of the mind that if something is meant to be used then you should bloody well use it. I plan to use the Gem blades, the Rolls, and most excitingly the straights. I have been using a few different types of safety razors for over a year but have never used straights. I consider these to be the perfect way in to the world of straight razors. I know very little about straight razors, so if anyone has any information on any of these that would be most welcome!
My plan right now is to get them looked at by a honemeister and have those that can take it honed and made shave ready. I am hoping that if I approach someone with all 12 they will cut me a deal. I live pretty close to Bob Keyes so am planning to contact him about it. Do you think that approach would be best, or should I just get a couple honed at a time?
Thank you for reading!
I was recently speaking with my mother about wetshaving and she mentioned she had some old razors that belonged to her father somewhere in the attic. I said please fish them out for me! I hadn't high expectations, so imagine my surprise when she told me they found 12 straight razors and a bunch of other stuff!
My parents finally brought these over to me in the States. Check this out:
I made an imgur album detailing everything.
Please check it out here: Inherited Shaving Stuff
There are 60 some images there so have fun
I tried to document everything the best I could with my crappy camera.Here is everything listed:
- An English-made Ever-Ready SE razor in a nice metal case with some unused blades.
- Two blade sharpeners.
- A strange matchbox sized item with French text. Anyone know what this thing is?
- An Auto-Strop.
- A strange small rigid curved strop marked ROMA WIZARD.
- 12 straight razors with 8 coffin boxes wrapped in two canvas rolls. In the album I have designated each razor a letter A through L.
All the stuff pertaining to safety razors: the Ever-Ready, the Rolls etc. I am fairly certain belonged to my grandfather. My mother told me she has memories of him working the Rolls mechanism back and forth all the time. I am really looking forward to trying those out. When I opened up the Ever-Ready there was still a blade in there, presumably from the last time it was used. I could spot some left over hairs on the blade. My grandfather died in 1995 so seeing this was quite affecting.
My mother believed that all the straight razors belonged to someone else as she has no memory of my grandfather using them. She theorised they could have belonged to his father-in-law i.e. my great-grandfather. At this point we found the initials "GT" engraved onto several of the scales. My mother knew immediately that this was my great-great-grandfather. So seeing as there are 12 of them, it is possible that they belonged to both my great-grandfather and my great-great-grandfather. My great-great-grandfather G.T. was in the British Army and served in the First World War where he was victim of a gas attack. I think it likely that some of these razors and the canvas roll to date from the time of his service. Sadly, later in life after the death of his beloved wife he committed suicide. By gassing himself, no less.
I am excited to be inheriting these items and intend to use them. I am of the mind that if something is meant to be used then you should bloody well use it. I plan to use the Gem blades, the Rolls, and most excitingly the straights. I have been using a few different types of safety razors for over a year but have never used straights. I consider these to be the perfect way in to the world of straight razors. I know very little about straight razors, so if anyone has any information on any of these that would be most welcome!
My plan right now is to get them looked at by a honemeister and have those that can take it honed and made shave ready. I am hoping that if I approach someone with all 12 they will cut me a deal. I live pretty close to Bob Keyes so am planning to contact him about it. Do you think that approach would be best, or should I just get a couple honed at a time?
Thank you for reading!
Absolutely.
