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My straight razor collection Help needed

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BowtieRN

Shave Member
Veteran
These are razors I have recently acquired. I don't know much about them and would appreciate any info you have. I am thinking about cleaning most of them up and learning to set a bevel and hone. If there are any you feel are beyond attempting please let me know. First one I have started cleaning is a Shumate
 

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@BowtieRN Very nice Shumate! Should clean up with a little Flitz or Mother's mag and aluminum polish. The other two its hard to tell what they are, but the same treatment should work, except for the one with the most visible corrosion. Hit it with some high grit sandpaper, 1000-1500-2000-2500-3000, and finish with flitz or Mothers. They all have light hone wear so you should be good to go to use them and learn how to hone.

Shumate was a razor importer and manufacturer in St. Louis, MO dating back to 1884. This one is likely 1900-1910.
 
Luecke3262 said:
@BowtieRN Very nice Shumate! Should clean up with a little Flitz or Mother's mag and aluminum polish. The other two its hard to tell what they are, but the same treatment should work, except for the one with the most visible corrosion. Hit it with some high grit sandpaper, 1000-1500-2000-2500-3000, and finish with flitz or Mothers. They all have light hone wear so you should be good to go to use them and learn how to hone.

Shumate was a razor importer and manufacturer in St. Louis, MO dating back to 1884. This one is likely 1900-1910.
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They are all the same razor. I used white Diamond polish so far. Thank you
 
BowtieRN said:
This one is a GENCO. Started polishing it
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BowtieRN said:
Not really sure if dispatch is a brand but this one is from a psych hospital

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BowtieRN said:
Dixon cutlery magnetized Damascus. Polished up nice so far


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All of these look like excellent user razors. There is a small amount of spine wear on the Dispatch, but I think it should hone up just fine.

The dispatch is likely a Solingen made razor, but hard to pin down.
Your Dixon is not well known to me, the damascus magentic mark was a marketing technique. There is nothing Damascus about it. LOL
The Genco Henry X is a great starter razor, I have several and have given away several. Easy to hone!
Heck yeah! The le Grelot is EXCELLENT! Love the steel and the horn scales look surprisingly good!
 
Luecke3262 said:
All of these look like excellent user razors. There is a small amount of spine wear on the Dispatch, but I think it should hone up just fine.

The dispatch is likely a Solingen made razor, but hard to pin down.
Your Dixon is not well known to me, the damascus magentic mark was a marketing technique. There is nothing Damascus about it. LOL
The Genco Henry X is a great starter razor, I have several and have given away several. Easy to hone!
Heck yeah! The le Grelot is EXCELLENT! Love the steel and the horn scales look surprisingly good!
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Yeah there is no way it is Damascus at all. It is a solid metal. Thank you for the info
 
BowtieRN said:
Yeah there is no way it is Damascus at all. It is a solid metal. Thank you for the info
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Seems like it was pretty common and many of them had curved Arabian blades etched on them too. I've owned 4-5 of them. The pattern welded steel of today isn't even true "Damascus," but its still cool.
 
Cool razors, you’ve done a great job cleaning them up.
In my experience pretty much any razor can be salvaged depending on how much work you want to put into it AND how creative you are willing to be.
 
CBLindsay said:
Cool razors, you’ve done a great job cleaning them up.
In my experience pretty much any razor can be salvaged depending on how much work you want to put into it AND how creative you are willing to be.
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Thank you. I have several more. Some of the scales are bad. I don't think I am up for that challenge yet
 
BowtieRN said:
Thank you. I have several more. Some of the scales are bad. I don't think I am up for that challenge yet
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Scales can be intimidating but with a few simple tools and a little patience they are easy to work with. Making them from scratch is fun and can give you a real custom look but it isn't as easy as using pre-made or salvaged scales.
 
CBLindsay said:
Scales can be intimidating but with a few simple tools and a little patience they are easy to work with. Making them from scratch is fun and can give you a real custom look but it isn't as easy as using pre-made or salvaged scales.
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Don't tell any specialists, but I considered trying it with thin plexiglass, but wasn't sure if it would be too flexible.
 
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