Old Style Safety Razor

Had a close brush with a relapse of Acquisition Disorder yesterday. Lisa and I decided to run into the antiquing district of the suburb where she grew up. We just wanted to do a little quick shopping - to see what was fresh in the shops there.

We stumbled on one shop just off the main street that's been there for about six years. We'd never seen it before! At least we had never recognized it for what it was. I asked the guy if he had any shaving gear and he was able to dig up an old Gillette Old Style Safety Razor.



In an act that was generosity itself, he GAVE it to me!

Unfortunately, the handle is pretty badly split, as you can see in the photo above. The handle is so loose it falls off from its own weight. And there's a smaller split on the other side, coming up from the base end of the handle tube.

Not very usable in this condition.

I'll clean it up anyway, and test shave with it, using a handle from a spare Tech that I have. If it shaves well, I'll see about fixing it. I'll either glue the handle or check with my machinist buddy Nick about machining a new handle.

If it ends up being a good shaver, it'd be fun to have a nice fat handle that's easy to grip. I have visions of beautiful, high profile barber pole knurling.

Travel Razor

Just picked up a nice, apparently unused travel razor on eBay. If you include shipping charges, I paid more than I typically care to - about $11, but it's a nice example of a genre that I did not previously own.

Pix to follow!

(and yes, I know I still owe you better picutres of most of the summer's acqusitions)

More New Stuff or, "I'm Buying and I Can't Stop!"

Gold Rush Days in Oronoco, MN last weekend. This is a huge flea market / antique fair, and there's a sister show that's similar just down the road in Rochester the same weekend.

Sure enough, my Acquisition Disorder kicked in again.

In Oronoco on Friday I made off with three DE razors (1960s Super Speed with case, 1960s Adjustable with case, and a Thick Handle Tech), an Old Spice mug, and a reference book of 1000 straight razors priced and illustrated. Total spend - $19.00.

Saturday in Rochester I did even better: three razors - a nickel plated Ball-end Tech (appears new & unused, with thick paper insert showing where the blade goes, but has some pitting), a Fat Boy Adjustable, and an older gold tone Ball-end Tech in Bakelite case. Total spend - $7.00.

All razors except the 1960s Super Speed will require some clean-up. That particular razor looks to be new-in-the-case. Even has a metal pack of blades still sealed in cellophane.

Better pix to follow!

New Stuff - First Look

Lisa and I were in South Dakota in late June and early July.

As we always do, we stopped in every antique store we saw, and this is a first look at my booty.

More to follow when I get it all cleaned up.