What a score, a beauty indeed! As others have said your razor was made to use, and it was made for decades of use. If you're careful with it, it can last a lifetime. But, one way to shorten its useful life is through bad honing. The advice you got from many to learn honing on something else is the best advice in your situation. I much agree with the Gold Dollar 1996 suggestion, as I have found them pretty much the easiest of Gold Dollars to hone. Good luck and enjoy your score.
Oh boy. I cannot use my new straight razor. This is not a Theirs Issard.
- Thread starter SilentAssassin
- Start date
Oh, thats nice. I’d love to get my Hands on that grelot in ivory.
Sorry. I meant re-scale it (I blame the auto-correct on the phone).
Unfortunately that $14 is in white plastic scales. So if I am to keep it, I'd change that to wood, bone or horn.
As mentioned in another thread here, my new razor came in today. Brand new wrapped in paper, in its box with its suede pouch and instruction sets.
Nowhere on this blade is it engraved Theirs-Issard.
I believe that for my first razor I accidentally stepped off into the realm of collector pieces. And now have something I cannot use.
The Razor is marked " Le Grelot" 355 6/8..................and it has P. Hospital & Co.
I found this about it.
Theirs Issard purchased The Grelot cutlery company in 1983, but before that the French company won many awards and is still considered one of the greatest straight razor makers in the world.
When first I opened the box and saw the razor, I was floored. It is absolute beauty. I wanted to see if it would tree top hair and it does so rather easily. So I blew the hairs off the blade, gave it a slight wipe with a very soft jewelers cloth that I have here, and put the paper back around it and back in its box. The only thing marked " Theirs-Issard" is the suede pouch. I took it out again tonight and was studying it. That's when I noticed all of this.
The spine work on this thing is deadly and you can clearly see that the razor, as a whole, is of the finest craftsmanship.
It did come in a Theirs Issard box , however. The box reads, Theirs-Issard Handcrafted in France with a sticker that reads , HLEGREL6/8188RBELD, HISTORIC LE GRELOT, WITHOUT MARK MIRROR, POLISH RED BOXELDER BURL.
Unless someone here can ease my mind, I don't think I am going to use this thing to shave with. I may have to buy another razor that is in production now that can easily be replaced. Rather than trash a collectable show piece. And now, I do not know what I am going t do with this razor. It's drop dead gorgeous. I really like it a lot....A LOT. But at this point this razor has never been used and I don't have the heart to trash up anything that may be collectable and worth more to someone else, than me. What do you guys think? Personally I think I stepped into something collectable by accident.
The steel is great and all,
but I really like the scales.
Wouldn’t be the only one. I have one made with ivory. And a member from Italy has a 7-day set of them in ivory. He’s had them for more than 10 years now.
It’s Amazing how many people own a thing that is the only one in the world. Until they post it on the internet. Then, awww.
Rule of thumb. If something is cool and difficult to make, the maker made a number of them at the time he got it right.
And, while I am sure this blade is of good quality, let’s remember, it came from a bunch that Thiers bought, probably for pennies on a dollar, because the maker went broke.
Not crapping on the blade. They have a good rep. But it is just one of the hundreds of good makers that didn’t survive when SR went out of favor.
Not crapping on the blade. They have a good rep. But it is just one of the hundreds of good makers that didn’t survive when SR went out of favor.
I wasn't trying to be combative, just saying that many of us here have bought and own NOS razors with ivory scales. Sometimes when you can think something is rarer than it is and overpay, only to go on a forum like this and find that it is not as rare as you think.I don't own the ivory scaled razor in question. I never said I owned it. I said I could put my hands on one.
And I can. I wanted to buy it but it's out of my price range at the moment. Barring the member who claims to have one new in its box, I would like to see YOU go out and find one like it, new in its box, for sale.
In the event you did not know, the sales of anything ivory were banned in 2016. There are few exceptions.
Imports of ivory since 2016 total in the numbers of 0.
It’s important to note that the new regulations do not restrict personal possession of ivory. If you already own ivory.
In other words grandfathered in prior to existing law. There are , however, still hoops to jump through.
This in and of itself, makes the razor an extreme rarity as far as obtaining one goes.
So it appears the " rule of thumb" as per your description in null and void........awwww
At the time of this writing, I did not realize that you were a mod. So, in light of that and not to be a coward, I just left the post as is since it is true.
Oh and one other thing. I am not trying to sell this razor, however, if there is an enthusiast , collector or whatnot, who wants it, I will happily help them obtain it, within the parameters of the law AND within the rules of this forum. Someone here, who is a collector should probably have it. I would love to have it but it's out of my league. I'm new to all this and based on rarity alone, would never use it.
I will, however, use the red scaled one that I recently purchased, and I have.
I might also say, I have honed a few Thies produced razors that look like the one you posted, and the scale material was bone, not ivory. So be careful of that, as the seller MAY be misinformed. Hard to tell for certainty from that pic.
To the OP, read what slash wrote. Read it again. Then execute what he’s said and you’ll be happy, if you decide straights are your thing.
As long as you don‘t learn to hone with it you’ll be fine.
As mentioned in another thread here, my new razor came in today. Brand new wrapped in paper, in its box with its suede pouch and instruction sets.
Nowhere on this blade is it engraved Theirs-Issard.
I believe that for my first razor I accidentally stepped off into the realm of collector pieces. And now have something I cannot use.
The Razor is marked " Le Grelot" 355 6/8..................and it has P. Hospital & Co.
I found this about it.
Theirs Issard purchased The Grelot cutlery company in 1983, but before that the French company won many awards and is still considered one of the greatest straight razor makers in the world.
When first I opened the box and saw the razor, I was floored. It is absolute beauty. I wanted to see if it would tree top hair and it does so rather easily. So I blew the hairs off the blade, gave it a slight wipe with a very soft jewelers cloth that I have here, and put the paper back around it and back in its box. The only thing marked " Theirs-Issard" is the suede pouch. I took it out again tonight and was studying it. That's when I noticed all of this.
The spine work on this thing is deadly and you can clearly see that the razor, as a whole, is of the finest craftsmanship.
It did come in a Theirs Issard box , however. The box reads, Theirs-Issard Handcrafted in France with a sticker that reads , HLEGREL6/8188RBELD, HISTORIC LE GRELOT, WITHOUT MARK MIRROR, POLISH RED BOXELDER BURL.
Unless someone here can ease my mind, I don't think I am going to use this thing to shave with. I may have to buy another razor that is in production now that can easily be replaced. Rather than trash a collectable show piece. And now, I do not know what I am going t do with this razor. It's drop dead gorgeous. I really like it a lot....A LOT. But at this point this razor has never been used and I don't have the heart to trash up anything that may be collectable and worth more to someone else, than me. What do you guys think? Personally I think I stepped into something collectable by accident.
I have been drooling over that razor on Etsy for a while now. The scales are just beyond words. You have a hell of a razor.
Correction. It was a different one I have been drooling over on etsy.
Custom Restoration and Rescaling Vintage Straight Razors. Shown: Custom Red Spruce Cone and Pearl Cone Scales With Amber Wedges. - Etsy
I re-scaled this vintage Wade & Butcher straight razor (first photo) with red spruce cone material that is nearly impossible to capture in pictures. The deep red shimmers below dark, moving shadow. The first was a custom order to restore the monster Wade & Butcher and the second one I made for
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