Thread: Old J.R. Torrey find

I purchase and J.R. Torrey razor from a antique shop for twenty six bucks. It appears to be fairly old and definitely not shave ready, but other than wear no obvious damage. It has "I-SHAW" stamped on the spine, and a hand scribe of "140" barely visible on the end of the scales. I also have the original leather sleeve it came in. Any thoughts on this razor? Is there a reputable honing service in the Cleveland Ohio area?

Thanks,
Pete

Hi Pete, it sounds like you have a really nice razor you picked up. JR Torrey was one of the largest US razor manufacturers in the United States. I personally own quite a few of them. They are great shavers. Please post some pictures when you get a chance. We would love to see what you got.

Lynn Abrams is one person I can think of off the top of my head that does honing in Ohio. You can contact him through the services section of the classifieds.

Thank you for the quick response. However, the more I look into this razor, I'm beginning tow wonder if it is a Shaw razor in a J.R. Torrey case. I am leaving the house for a couple of hours, when I get back I will work on getting some images to to this forum.

Thanks,
Pete

Hopefully the pictures aren't too blurry.

That ain't no Torrey . That razor is around 200 years old ! Nice find !

Originally Posted by dave5225

That ain't no Torrey . That razor is around 200 years old ! Nice find !

do you have link to a source?
I can't tell for sure from the pic but it looks like the razor is quite worn off.

Yeah, that is an oldie. In Collecting Straight Razors by Robert Doyle he mentions the transition from straight scales like those to gradual curved scales in the early 1800s. That is a stub tail as well although it has a distinct tang. Nice old razor IMO.

I don't have a link to any source . I can tell by the style of the razor , that it's 200 years or a little older . Looks pretty good for it's age , to me . I don't shave with razors that are that old , although there are others who do .

Just took a look in the Doyle book and going by his info that razor would date to around 1800. I have a late 1700s Roger's Cast Steel that I have shaved with. You can see it in the stub tailed shavers razor club here.

Thanks, fellas. As the weekend went on I realized it was not a Torrey. When I inspect the tang I originally thought it was welded back on. It looks like it was hammered on an anvil! What the hell do I do with it!
Pete