Valet Autostrop

[Joker]

Last week I was out at a antique mall near here. I found a little three piece Gillette. I then was asking the owner if she knew were any other razors where in the mall. She said she had one in her own booth for a long time but had taken it home as it had not sold. She said I could have it cheap and she would call me when she brought it back in.

Yesterday I got a call, I went out there today and she had this thing waiting for me for $5 she had gone so far out of her way to bring this thing just for me, I had to take it. It is real nice shape it needs some cleaning but that is about it. This is the before photo. (As I have not cleaned it yet.) I have looked around here and the net to know what it is called and how it it stropped. But I would love to hear more about the history and where one gets the supplies for this thing. (also how do I date it)

 

[Oldguy]

D.Irving79 is pretty much the Auto Strop expert. He has 3 or 4 videos on Youtube that will give you all the info you need to know as far as equipment (glass hone, strop and blades). Actually I will be shaving with mine for the first time tonight. Your problem will be finding a decent strop. It fits into the razor with the blade installed. You move the razor back and forth and the blade shifts back and forth with it against the strop. Eventually Valet became part of Gillette. The razor went out of production before WWII but blades were still being made after that. I have a couple new blades, one I'll be using tonight. If you want to experience a little bit of razor history give it a shot.

Len

 

[Oldguy]

This is all you need. The red glass thing on the left is the hone.

View attachment 65482

Len

 

[tom myers]

It should be noted that that Ten-To-One hone shown in the picture was designed for double edge blades, not for the single edge Auto-Strop blades.

The only sharpening device that was sold with the Auto-Strop razor was the small, rather specialized, strop.

Regards,
Tom

 

[Oldguy]

Hi Tom,
I know the hone is for DE blades but why couldn't you use it on the Valet as well? I noticed Dave uses one in one of his videos. Is it counter productive?

The strop in the photo is the one that came with this set. It seems fairly soft and in pretty good shape. I used it tonight on one of the new blades, but only about 5 or 6 passes in each direction. I felt the blade was still not sharp enough and pulled. I'm going to try it again tomorrow but strop the blade for a couple minutes. Hopefully that will sharpen it a bit. I have not used the hone. Right now I'm in experimental mode and could use some pointers.

Len

 

[D.Irving79]

i use a stone hone on mine that was intended for both DE and SE blades. i recommend getting one of those instead; they work quite well for the task.

 

[Oldguy]

i use a stone hone on mine that was intended for both DE and SE blades. i recommend getting one of those instead; they work quite well for the task.

Thanks Dave,
I just found one at Country Joe's. It looks more like yours. I should have it next week.

Thanks,
Len

 

[Joker]

D.Irving79 is pretty much the Auto Strop expert. He has 3 or 4 videos on Youtube that will give you all the info you need to know as far as equipment (glass hone, strop and blades). Actually I will be shaving with mine for the first time tonight. Your problem will be finding a decent strop. It fits into the razor with the blade installed. You move the razor back and forth and the blade shifts back and forth with it against the strop. Eventually Valet became part of Gillette. The razor went out of production before WWII but blades were still being made after that. I have a couple new blades, one I'll be using tonight. If you want to experience a little bit of razor history give it a shot.

Len

Thank you everyone for your replies. I would love to know even more about this thing. It is a very interesting design and I would like to get it working like it should. when was it made? were I can get blades. That type of thing. As far as finding a strop, I have a friend who owns a custom boot shop and he is an old time Master Cobbler. He can make anything I need in leather. So once I learn more I will set him to making a strop. How do you use the hone?

 

[tom myers]

I know the hone is for DE blades but why couldn't you use it on the Valet as well? I noticed Dave uses one in one of his videos. Is it counter productive?

Len

Len,

The Ten-To-One and any other of the glass hones that I'm familiar with were meant to have the blade pushed down into them with the finger. This flexed the blade to an angle that would then conform to the proper edge angle based upon the radius of the hone.

The Auto-Strop blade is much stiffer than the standard double edge blade plus, of course, it doesn't have an edge on one side.

Besides not having the blade edge at the proper angle for honing, I suspect the back side of the Auto-Strop blade would tend to "dig in" and scratch the hone. Any scratches on these hones would likely make them rather useless for sharpening a DE blade.

Regards,
Tom

 

[Oldguy]

Thanks, Tom. I got it.

Regards,
Len

 

[D.Irving79]

Thanks Dave,
I just found one at Country Joe's. It looks more like yours. I should have it next week.

Thanks,
Len

let me know how it works out for you.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I would love to know even more about this thing. It is a very interesting design and I would like to get it working like it should. when was it made? were I can get blades. That type of thing. As far as finding a strop, I have a friend who owns a custom boot shop and he is an old time Master Cobbler. He can make anything I need in leather. So once I learn more I will set him to making a strop. How do you use the hone?

click on my name in my signature. i have a video showing how.

 

[taffy]

D.Irving is the one for this and has given me some good info on mine which helped a lot, these razors are all over e bay uk for pence, i was lucky as i wanted to try one, looked arond for a good one, no one bid on it and i had it for 0.99p, when it arrived it was unused still in the original cardboard box the case was like new the razor even had the cardboard blade protecter still in and 3 unopened blades in a little metal box and the tape on the box holding the strop unbroken, also blades are on e bay and again i was in luck as i bought 20 unopened blades for £1.99 and the seller sent me a free razor and strop which i cleaned up and intend to use instead of the other razor, will use it one day and good luck with yours.

 

[Oldguy]

My hone came in today from Country Joe's. It's designed for both single and DE blades. So I took the original blade I tried a week ago that gave me such a bad shave and honed it about 10 minutes each side. I didn't strop the blade but used it with the honing only. The shave was much better. I even went 3 passes but finished off with a Super Adjustable set to 5. It actually felt like there was no blade in the razor. I wonder if my strop is causing more damage then it's helping. I know you can screw up a straight with a bad strop. Anyway I'm going to continue to work with this blade and see what I can end up with using the Valet. At least I was able to get a somewhat almost acceptable shave. And that's no blood and no irritation.

Len

 

[D.Irving79]

what condition is your strop in ?

 

[Oldguy]

what condition is your strop in ?

The strop feels nice and soft. There are a couple very shallow cuts across it but there is about a 4" section that's pretty smooth and no cuts. It still has it's total length. I have another strop coming in maybe on Monday.

Len

 

[D.Irving79]

judging from the sound of it, it dosent sound TOO bad, just take extra care when you use it next time.

 

[Oldguy]

Hi Len,
Do you remember which Valet you bought? The one with the cut-out blade or the other? I should have some more blades around here, will send you a couple.

Joe, Mine has the cutout "VALET" wording. That will be great.

Len