Thread: Some oldtimers

Today i learned once again that sometimes there is no need to go far to find something interesting. Good ladies of my home island arranged a charity flea market, and as i was having my day off work, i decided to make a visit there. During past centuries, before the bridges this was a place where people mostly took their living from sea: sailors, fishermen, foreign merchants etc. Every now and then some that old stuff still pops up in the flea markets like this.

I got little surprised as i found a box with about 20 razors. Mostly Swedish blades. Some were junk but there were few that looked almost unusable. I wasn't interested as i already have two nice Swedish razors. However i picked up three razors that looked very old and bought them for a total of 9 €. Not bad.

First has fancy horn scales. Little bug beaten but not beyond repairing. Just have to find out how to clean them first. On the blade there's 'India Steel' and on the tang there's a makers mark 'Parker (?). Silver steel. Sheffield'. I haven't cleaned them yet so it is very difficult to find out.
Second razor has 'Imperial' on the blade. On the tang there's 'V, crown image and R' and 'Cast steel'. The scales are horn but unfortunately broken.
Third has 'Old English' on blade and the anchor symbol on tang. Horn scales ruined.
I think i just give a mild cleaning to these blades. Not even thinking of making them mirror finish. Have to make new horn scales for the last two razors but i hope i can save the first beautiful scales.

If any of you gentleman have any info about these old razors i will be more than happy to hear it.

I've no info, but they are some great looking blades!

Beautiful razors. The pressed horn especially.

Chris L

I love those really old blades. I believe they are all pre 1850 and the pressed horn scaled blades are worth their weight in $ on ebay. Collectors go for those in a big way regardless of the blade condition. Nice score.

Thank you gents for your comments. Any idea how to clean those pressed horn scales? There is some blackening and i'd like to try if i can clean it away. It is probably no tools job as it is obvious that those scales are very fragile.

The blackening may just be natural variation in the horn. I have noticed that on some of those old razors they used the strangest kinds of horn... some (as it appears yours might be) is very translucent green/yellow with a kind of iridescence to it....

For cleaning, I would recommend pure neatsfoot oil on a soft cloth- maybe on a cotton swab or so if you need to scrub a bit. A soak in the oil will then recondition the horn and loosen any remaining crud. A good buff with a soft clean cloth after soaking will leave them looking pretty good, IME.

I stress though, that you want pure neatsfoot. Neatsfoot 'compound' can have synthetic oils and solvents that are not good for natural products in the long run.

+1 on the pure neatsfoot. It's really amazing how well horn scales respond to it. Old horn scales seem to "drink" neatsfoot and they just come alive.

Chris L

Originally Posted by ChrisL

+1 on the pure neatsfoot. It's really amazing how well horn scales respond to it. Old horn scales seem to "drink" neatsfoot and they just come alive.

Chris L

… and another +1. The before and after has to be seen to be believed. Lovely old razors, Sailor.

Nice ones Love it when a good score kicks up

Very difficult to identify such old razors, but I'll try.
Well, the first one, most likely, was made by Ann Parker. This is really nice razor of the early 19th century.
"Silver steel" mark was used since 1820.
With beautiful pressed horn scales. Scales are very rare.

Second one, this "Imperial" razor was made by Edgar Allen or James Dixon.
V(crown)R was used since 1837, but "Cast steel" mark was used till 1840.
So, the razor was made at the end of 1830's.

And the last one. I think the razor was made by W&B. I couldn't find other makers at that time with such anchor.