Thread: Hello from England...bye way of Michigan:)

I am a relatively new DE user making the plunge the rest of the way to a straight. A great friend of mine converted me and a couple other friends to DE shaving about 3 months ago. I have been using a 1953 Gillette Tech and am absolutely in love with the close shaves. I can't believe how much money I've wasted over the years buying refills for my Gillette Fusion.

I am in the USAF and currently stationed in England. It is such a great place to live and loaded with antique stores...go figure The other day I was at the store my wife works in and saw an old straight razor laying on a shelf. It got me thinking that after making the switch to the DE, why not complete the transition. I came home and jumped on the web and found you guys! I have watched about every video between here and youtube and am so excited to get straight shaving.

I picked up my blade today and am pretty happy with what I'm starting with. It is a Mappin & Webb 6/8 half-hollow and is in great condition. I would really love to know a ballpark timeframe for it's age so if anyone can tell from the pictures that would be great too! My plan now is to track down someone in England for the minor restoration and honing so I can get started shaving.

I want to thank you for all the great information on here that really solidified my decision to try straight shaving and for all of the advice and information I'm sure I'll be getting off here as I begin my adventure!

-Jon

Ah yes very nice!

Hi steele welcome to the forum and welcome to England, Neil Miller is the guy you want to contact for the work on your razor this is his site www.strop-shop.co.uk - hand made straight razor strops, razor pouches, shaving accessories, vintage razors, razor honing and restoration.

Cheers

FWIW -

I don't see that the razor needs a "major restoration". The blade has little (if any) rust, and the scales look OK. It's a great find.

If it were mine, I'd have it honed (Mr. Miller could do that), and start learning to shave with it.

Charles

Originally Posted by cpcohen1945

FWIW -

I don't see that the razor needs a "major restoration". The blade has little (if any) rust, and the scales look OK. It's a great find.

If it were mine, I'd have it honed (Mr. Miller could do that), and start learning to shave with it.

Charles

I mentioned that it needed some "minor" restoration in my post...and I actuallly spent some time wet sanding it this weekend and it looks great!! Those pictures didn't show it very well but there was some corrosion on both sides of the blade but it cleaned up great! It will be finding it's way to Mr. Miller very soon