What a great thing it is to have developed a little confidence with this straight razor business . I have gone through the stage of "FEAR!!!!" to "fear !" and now I am really beginning to actually enjoy the whole business . When Mr Hickok 45 demonstrates an old firearm on Youtube he usually says how just handling the thing takes you back to a previous era . I find the same thing with a cutthroat razor , no no Sweeney Todd doesn't come into it !! It is just the whole process of choosing the soap , yes I do have a few , whipping it up into a wonderful creamy lather ,  must get a nice shaving bowl or a "Scuttle" I nearly had one from 1936 on Ebay the other week the year of the three kings apparently . I am not a great royalist except when it comes to shaving equipment, guess it is some form of nostalgia . I wouldn't really like to travel back in time as I like modern conveniences , I remember my Grandad's house with the tin bath and coal fires to well to want to live in the past . I did live in a rather similar fashion for some years but that was when I was young and foolish and is a story for another time. Now that I am old and foolish I like comfort too much and when I am in a hurry , not very often according to my better half , I use a safety razor but oh how I would miss the enjoyable ritual of straight razor shaving if I was always in a rush . It would be a great thing if all chores could be transformed from boring routine to interesting rituals , with just enough danger to keep an armchair adventurer satisfied .

The left hand , what a mystery it is ! 

I didn't like the idea of using my left hand to shave the left side of my face , I didn't like it at all . The razor felt even more clumsy in that hand it was bad enough trying to use it with my right hand and after all the right hand is called that for a reason . Just recently my left hand has started feeling possibly better than the right one sort of more sensitive somehow and if anything produces a better result . Last week as I was sharpening my new Grand Portage on the Edge Pro the bevel I was producing using the machine with my left hand seemed to be more even than the one I had done with my right hand . I felt equally clumsy using the Edge Pro at first with my left hand just as I did with the razor . I guess it isn't a surprise that you can become competent with the non dominant hand but for that hand to be capable of doing a better job , that I didn't expect .

!!! .. You're a braver man than I .. !!!

.

When I first started seriously collecting .. i.e. when I left college and landed my 1st engineering position & FINALLY had some expendable income .. straight razors could be had for in the $1 ~ $4 range. SO0oo .. I have a few. Mostly .. w/ old stampings I found desirable.

.

Long story short .. I tried shaving w/ a straight razor .. twice to be exact.

Scary is not the word.

.

Addendum .. have you a CASE ACE ?? A Union Cutlery Co (KaBar) SPIKE ?? If you've an interest .. give me a chance to dig 'em out .. I'd part w/ one for shipping.

.

Enjoy

D ale

Dale I would love to try any of those razors and would be willing to pay a fair price for any you don't want .

I have 1 Dovo , 5/8s

1 Two Horses ,11/16s

1 Kropp , 6/8s

1 Osgar ,4/8s

3 very cheap un-named razors bought to play around with .

Dale you are a practical man and obviously very skilled with your hands you really would be able to use a razor without too much difficulty . It is a wonderful way to shave and once you got a little confidence you would not regret the time and effort used to acquire the skill . Now we have all the information available at the touch of a mouse endless video's on Youtube about shaving and required equipment etc it really isn't that difficult , just a little research and you are away.

I can suggest cheaper ways of sharpening than the sometimes ridiculous priced stuff the recommend on the internet . I am sure you would get a lot of satisfaction from the sharpening of a razor alone , then of course you would naturally want to use it !!

If you really don't wish to give it a go then the Case razor sounds very interesting to me , not so keen on the idea of a SPIKE I am not that brave . In fact I am not brave at all so if I can do it etc !!

As I mentioned to my friend Dale below , if you go on any of the shaving sites you will see people sharpening their razors with some wonderfully exotic stones .  One that is often mentioned is a cool $500 and if you were to dip your toe in the wonderful world of Japanese Naturals , well if you need to ask the price you can't afford it as they say . I am speaking as an ordinary working class guy here of course and some of you folks may be able to find that sort of money . Buying the odd pocket knife was thought to be bad enough by someone around here who's name I will not mention , will I Sue , but then when" he started buying razors and soaps and more soaps and then more razors ........" 

Well I am sure guys were a little more thrifty when straight razors were all they had , so I have had to go along that route as well . The next instalment will detail the cheapskate sharpening kit that I have assembled and whether it works or not , it does !

John,

I've 4~5 of the Case ACE & 3~4 of the Union Cutlery Co. (orig KaBar) SPIKE or GOLDEN SPIKE models & quite a few others (2 cigar boxes full) of old straight razors.

Since I've multiple units of the Case ACE .. shipping is all that would be required. 

As time permits .. I'll dig them out.

.

Enjoy your day !!

D ale

Thanks Dale .

Left side … all Wade & Butcher .. which I am particularly fond of.

Middle row … top 2 =(stamped on mark side) JOSEPH RODGERS & SONS, CUTLERS TO THEIR MAJESTIES, No. 6 NORFOLK STREET, SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND , (stamped on pile side) GROUND IN SHEFFIELD

(thought those might be of particular interest to you)

… bottom 4 = Case. (Btm 1, clear = TEMPERITE .. other 3 = RED IMP).

Right side … Union Cutlery Co., Olean, N.Y. (later became KaBar) = SPIKE.

.

As I collect “old stampings” .. I also have a Marshes & Shepard, Sheffield, Pondworks, circa 1840~1850. Also, a B.J. EYER & Co. Challenge Razor Circa 1852 ~ 1857.

I did a reality check on e-bay. That's RIDICULOUS .. what they're listed for. I know what I originally paid for them. OUTRAGEOUS !!! I had no idea.

Left ~ Right

Extreme left in black .. stamped on mark side .. EXTRA <over> Clauss (in script) <over> BARBERS SPECIAL <all to the left of> FREMONT <over> OHIO (both @ an angle)

Second from left , ivory colored .. stamped on mark side … Clauss (in script) <over> FREMONT O. U.S.A. <both to the left of> 7202.

Third from left , translucent violet .. stamped on mark side … Clauss (in script) <over> FREMONT O. U.S.A. <both to the left of> 27. I believe this one has seen the least use.

Extreme right , faux wood , metal ends / bolsters .. etched on mark side … LAKESIDE <on the blade>. MONTGOMERY WARD & CO. <over> CHICAGO.

John , I would part with any of the ones in the second pic for the cost of shipping. They would all require some level of cleaning ..however.. are all in quite usable shape. I believe the translucent handled one has seen the least use based on the sharp corner still present @ the leading edge of the blade.

... or any of the CASE .. RED IMP in the top pic, John.

What a collection you have there Dale , those old Sheffield razors are very popular over here and sell for lot's and lot's . How can you have these lovely razors and not want to try one out , I guess I am not really a collector as I couldn't have a knife or razor that i didn't use ! I will admit to having some knives that are a little less carried than others . 

Anyway you are a generous man and if you are sure about this then the razor that you mentioned in the second pic , if I have got it straight ,  " Third from left , translucent violet .. stamped on mark side … Clauss (in script) <over> FREMONT O. U.S.A. " . That is the one that I would like best because all the razors I have at the moment are round nose and that is not and I would like an American Razor  . I was reading last night that Dovo made razors for Case and I have a Dovo .

I guess that you will have found that Straight Razor Place is a good source of info if you want to check out your collection. Also this site has a lot of detail on various makers ,

http://strazors.com/

I will send you a message with my address and we can discuss payment .

I have been having a closer look at those Wade and Butcher blade stamps Dale . They are very attractive and I can understand why you like them so much . I know little or nothing about Masonic stuff but the third one down seems to have Masonic symbols on it and I would guess that would add a lot of value to the blade . As I say I have not studied the history of razors but when you see these old blades it does make you more interested in that area . I would think that a man with your skills would be able to put new scale on those old blades and bring them back to life again . It also appears that you have seven W/B's ,  revived and fitted in a nice box you would have a wonderful "seven day set" !!

John,

.
Thanks for the link .. I'll do some checking tonight .. time permitting. Beyond the fairly quick look @ E-bay ..and falling off my chair.. I had little time for research last night.

Note: That was just one box I opened up .. and not all of those in that. I picked up most of these back in the '80's for ...not much !!! You may have noticed the original price tag of $5 on one of the Joseph Rodgers. Again, my interest in collecting is primarily in "old stampings".

I'll take some close-up pics of the Wade & Butchers.The etchings on many of the W&B are quite intricate & beautiful. Re: the W&B you mentioned  ..yes.. those are masonic symbols. Being a mason .. It is a favorite.

.

I also have 2 boxes of rocks .. whetstones specifically for straight razors. Most with manufacture's stamps molded into them ..or.. very unique shapes. I'll try to get some pics of those too.

.

The Clauss is yours. You may wish to run some steel wool over portions of the surface ..as.. some tarnish is present in spots. Other than that .. it truly appears to have seen very little use !! And .. I'm not too worried about payment .. I simply need an address .. (PM me .. here or on fb .. whichever is most convenient). Do please understand .. it will not be till the week-end that I'll be able to arrange shipment ..as.. my week days can be bothersomely busy :) I retired once ..&.. found sitting @ home not healthy for me. After doing a 9~5 for 27 yrs .. I NEED something to get up for. I now mange a smokeshop .. M~F .. 7:30~3.30. It gives me a reason to get up & get going ea day ..but.. does keep me busy.

.

Enjoy the day.

D ale

Thanks Dale I have sent you a message on here along with a friend request , I didn't know we weren't .

You are like my brother he retired to New Zealand and got bored so he started a business from his hobby of collecting fountain pens,

http://www.penclassicsnz.com/index.html

I on the other hand am intrinsically lazy and can become interested in watching clouds and other stuff that just passes by . I am off work at the moment due to a leg that has ceased to function but as soon as I can retire officially then I will be happy with a shed and a bunch of wood to whittle .

I would love to see some pics of the stones you have , now they can be worth more than the razors old Eschers seem to be particularly popular and Coticles even old barber hones go for a few quid now . This shaving business has been quite a big thing for a while now . I was reading that a lot of the razor makers gave up in the 80's or there abouts and had to rapidly re start production when demand took of again .

I am in no rush for the razor Dale just whenever your schedule permits my friend .

Interesting John - the razor you're looking at - Clauss, Fremont O. USA immediately meant something to me. A quick check on the internet confirmed that - Fremont, Ohio - just a little South East of Toledo Ohio where I lived for the first 10 1/2 years after I moved to the US. Toledo is the original home of the Jeep, and Toledo Scale.

Fremont is in Sandusky COunty a bit under an hour South East of Toledo - and according to wikipedia, the Clauss company mobed from Elyria Ohio near Cleveland, to Fremont because of a supply of natural gas that had been discovered, whcih was suitable for firing their forges.

Thanks for the Info Allan I will have to have a look at wickipedia . I was keen to have a razor from the States as at the moment I don't have one , course my collection is still kind of small though Sue doesn't think so !

Rocks

Many have the original "price tags" still on them.

Again .. my interest is in the history of the cutlery industry.

And .. many of these stones have a manufacture's name inset into them.

Then .. there exist the boxes of razor blade sharpening machines.

But .. that's a whole other story.

.

Enjoy

D ale

John .. I came across .. this site .. which dates straight razors.

Thought you might find it interesting.

Goodness Dale you have built up Quite a collection over the years , those Barber Hones do sell well on the Bay at least they do over here I don't usually check on the stuff in the States . I guess when straight razor shaving went out of fashion all these things became surplus to requirement .

Thanks for the link I will check that out later today .

John,

I have at least 3 of the "FRANZ SWATY" Barber's Hones & will toss one in for your personal use. They simply sit in a box @ my house. I did some checking last night & the Franz Swaty have a good reputation.

Surprisingly, I found .. not all do .. i.e. apparently the CHAMPION is of questionable quality .. due to inconsistent grain size of the material making up the stone itself. According to the reviews I read .. they've been known to gouge the cutting edge. OUCH !!!

Your brother has an interesting hobby & website.

I am familiar with the tradition you mentioned ..&.. would not want you cutting yourself. As such, I have forwarded my postal address. I embarrassingly need you to <again> do the same ..as.. I did not make a note of it from your original message. I truly thought it would become part of my e-mail system here .. figured it would be transferred to my "inbox" ..and.. I'd reference it when I went to ship. It did not .. show up in my "inbox" .. how weird.

.

Enjoy

D ale

I have PM ed you my address Dale .

Didn't know if that tradition was used across the pond or not .

With all those stones you have all you need to bring a razor back to life and show the world a clean profile once more !!

I have heard good things about Swaty stones but have yet to see one turn up on Ebay over here , thanks for that .

I am in a raffle for a Japanese Natural water stone on Keith Johnson's Youtube site , these Japanese natural stones are completely bewildering to me at the moment . I like Keiths site though because I like his accent and straight way of talking . I have some Japanese synthetic stones but Jnats as they call them I just don't understand at all .

Dale,

Anything sent within the email system here should still be within your reach.  Maybe in the sent box?

 The next only says The Champion Razor Hone.  I have done a bit of research on this and it apparently made by the same company that made the Winner and Regal hones.  We also have a Champion and it was my understanding it was part of the American Hone Company

Jan,
John & I were not "official" iKC friends. When John sent me a formal "friend request" .. he took advantage of the option of sending a message with that friend request. I "assumed" that message would end up in my "inbox". For whatever reason .. it did not. Nor is it present in the "Alerts" , "Sent" , or "Archive" sections ..or.. on my wall. It has simply disappeared. Surprised me too.

John, I got it shipped today.

.

WOWZA .. there exist major restrictions on what sharpened implements can be shipped to the UK. It took them 12 minutes (I do not exaggerate to make a point) to determine if it was acceptable to ship

..or..

Not

.

Anyway .. it's on its way.

Oh thanks Dale you are a Star , I will look forward to trying them out in a little while !

It turns out, I had 4 of the Franz Swaty barber hones. Note: interesting thread here & here on Franz Swaty barber hones. You may already be aware of the threads ..but.. just in case ..........
I shipped by the least expensive method. First class ..but.. no rush or tracking or insurance ..so.. it may be a week or so before see anything. No tracking # ..but.. Custom # is LC466521334US.

I soaked the stone in Dawn dish soap & hot water long enough to remove the "antique store" sticker. There is still a visible square outline (lower left of stone) .. you'll probably wish to further clean. Lapping ... I don't think you'll need to ..but.. use your own judgment on that one.

I used 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper to remove some surface tarnish on the razor. I checked .. you will need to sharpen the razor before using.

.
I genuinely hope you find them both useful.

Enjoy

D ale

Thanks for the info Dale ,  and thanks once again for the generous gift , I hope the shipping wasn't too gruesome I am sure I could find someway of getting a few dollars to you .How do you manage without Paypal , I use it all the time ? 

Postage always takes at least a week from the States and often more like three weeks !

John

This isn't something you requested .. it is something I offered.

As such .. let's wait till you actually receive the package & determine if it's anything useful

..or..

simply a curiosity.

.

Oh .. and the declared value is $11.37 .. presuming .. odd amounts less questioned by customs .. as opposed to .. a round # .. i.e. $10.oo or $15.oo.

.

Enjoy .. in 2~3 weeks.

D ale

A wonderful parcel from the States arrived the other day . The razor and Barber Hone that my good friend Dale kindly sent me . If I had bought the razor cheaply on the Bay I may have just sharpened her up and had a shave . As it is a gift I think it would be best to do a "proper job" of cleaning her up before sharpening so tomorrow we will see how 2500 grit wet and dry works on Yankee steel .

Now for the Barber Hone I have heard of these Swaty hones on the web but have not tried one so far , course I have only been wielding a straight razor for a few months so my knowledge is rudimentary to say the least . I looked Swaty hones up of course and got the usual mixed reviews but the majority of people think they are very good . Course there are an awful lot of people out there who will not recommend anything that doesn't cost an arm and a leg or doesn't have a fancy Japanese name . Not me though Barber Hones were used by , well Barbers and they must have known what they were doing back in the day after all they were shaving people every day . The thing that was most recommended was to lap the thing flat even though some opinion pointed to these things being so hard that it would break your heart , I decided it would have to be done .

Wet and dry paper or a series of diamond stones are said to be the preferred tools for the job they say . The only diamond stones that I have at present are for that Edge Pro and they are great for knives with hard modern steel , however one inch by six won't do the job that I want here .

Wet and dry was the route I went yesterday I didn't want to put very deep scratches on the stone so started of on 800 and went to 1200 then 3000 Wastikivi stone and polished on a Belgian Blue stone and the job looked great .

It looked great till the stone had dried properly and then I could see that although I had got a good polish on the stone it wasn't properly flat , oh dear as they say !! Back to it today this time I am going at it heavy duty ! Aluminium Oxide dry 40, 60, 120 now that is more like it , its flat all right tried the pencil test and it is flat .. very flat . Scratched yes it's scratched but at least it is flat . Smoothed out the scratches with the same wet and dry routine as yesterday and polished up with the same two stones , it is smooth now even though there seems to be a couple of little scratches on the photo they aren't big enough to be felt . It now feels about as smooth as my 13000 grit stone . Haven't used it yet though so until I do it's best not to say too much I guess it feels good though .

I cannot wait to hear about the first time you shave with this one!

It was nice to hear about how you worked the stone and then reworked it to get it flat and ready for use.

D ale,

Your gift to a friend speaks volumes for the person you are !

Your right Jan Dale is a great guy and you should see the way he packs a parcel , I wish I had taken pics as it was undone . This packing would have survived any situation you could possibly think of .

Dale with your skills you would have little trouble restoring those old razors but if you did need some idea's then I was watching a bunch of videos last night .  Some times I think the guy could talk a little less but the again I am from Lancashire and as my Better Half say's rather brusque , good word brusque don't you think .

https://youtu.be/uurBeF1u83U

I used the hone today , a brief rub on an old Osgar razor and will have a shave with it tomorrow .

Alright .. you'll likely get a chuckle out of this ..but.. What's a pencil test ??

I googled it .. I can find reference to it .. but I'm not finding an explanation / definition / description.

.. and ..

I could tell what "brusque" meant from the context it was used in ..but.. had to look it up to verify.

A good vocabulary will always serve you well. i.e. will help you accurately & concisely communicate while simultaneously presenting one's self as .. well read.. well spoken .. having the benefits of an education .. etc.

One also often comes off as more convincing .. if in possession of a good vocabulary.

.

I started the video ..and.. you're right. I sometimes run out of patience before they get to the point. In which case .. a bit more brusque would be good ..as in.. cut to the chase !!!

I will finish the series ..but.. not tonight.

Thanks,

D ale.

I found it .. never mind.

Sure .. after I post the question .. I find the answer :)

Re: the packaging. In all seriousness .. I didn't want the stone to be broken if the package were handled in the common manner I've heard horror stories of. i.e. driven over .. crushed .. thrown .. etc. Nor the razor for that matter. Their steel is tempered very hard ..AND.. brittle. It's not impossible to crack the thin part of the blade or severely chip the cutting edge.

After finding an exclamation of the pencil test .. it makes sense. Machinist will coat one side of mating surfaces with a bluing compound .. then mate the parts together .. then dis-assemble & note where the bluing compound is no longer present .. indicating a "high spot".

share the link!  what is the pencil test LOL

Yes you are right Dale ,  I wasn't testing you about the "pencil test"it was just one of those times when you don't stop to think .  A bit like the "Sharpie trick" or test or whatever , those waterproof markers are commonly referred to as just marker pens here so I had to look up Sharpie when I first heard of it . While I am on the subject of Anglo American misunderstanding Your "painters tape" seems to come in blue our "masking tape" is always a beige sort of colour. That isn't a problem till you buy an Edge Pro and are told to cover a part of it with painters tape and you can't find any of this blue stuff anywhere until you Google it ! 

Anyway yes I appreciated the great packaging as I was wondering how a sharpening stone would survive the journey and razor are quite brittle , they say contact with bathroom taps are a common source of breakage when rinsing the soap off . Surprising how many broken razors are put for sale on Ebay some have pretty scales and you can understand that , but others are very plain and ready made scales are available on line.

As for the video's there  are quite a few about but this series is pretty comprehensive and I did wonder about wedges in the scales and over arcane questions which are dealt with there . The guy does a good job and takes a lot of pride in his work , you can see that in the way he finishes the horn scales at the end .

Jan the link to the series of razor restoration video's is  

https://youtu.be/uurBeF1u83U

As I said to Dale they are very interesting and a comprehensive guide . The guy does witter on though especially in the first video .

Today's topic is my new Scuttle and a kilo of soap !

Lot's of old soap scuttle's are available on Ebay so I thought it would be best to try one out . You can buy new ones but as I had no idea whether it would be useful I thought it best to go cheap and buy one for a "fiver ". Took a while to find one that fitted in with the colour scheme in the bathroom , it may seem cowardly but I know what will get me in trouble and what won't . I will admit that not too long ago I didn't know what a soap scuttle was either but here for your delight is.....

As I am sure you can guess the point is having and keeping warm shaving soap . Hot water goes in the bottom and soap as can be seen sits on the top then you put your brush into the warm water to soften . I tend to tip most of the water out when everything is nice and warm and then keep my soapy brush tucked into the water reservoir to stay warm between passes . It seemed an awkward business at first but now I have used it for a couple it seems very nice to have nice warm soap for shaving . Not much use if you are rushing off to work but then neither is using a straight razor .

I do like the smell , and the taste but in this case just the smell of Almonds , so I have been determined to try Cella shaving soap which I am told is Almondy . You can of course buy this soap in sensible amounts and I do have a few shaving soaps now , but why bother when you can get a Kilo of the stuff !!  Never bought a kilo of soap before but this shaving business is leading to a few purchases that a few months ago I wouldn't have thought essential . Just love the picture 

As I was saying this shaving business has meant buying all sorts of necessary articles , it used to be a three blade razor from the supermarket and a bit of soap from out of a can . Now I have had to pinch two shelves in the bathroom from Sue .

And the one above

Great fun though and even though it has meant fewer knives this year I have learned how to turn something from a chore into an enjoyable ritual.

I used this razor today after refreshing the edge on my new Swaty razor hone , fantastic shave from the little Osgar 4/8ths

That kilo of Cella soap arrived today , I don't know how Amazon get stuff through the postal service so quick guess the GPO just have to get their finger out for such a big client . 

Anyway it is great stuff the best shaving soap I have tried so far , I usually use Proraso , and such a fantastic smell I do like almonds a lot but ohh the smell of this soap .......

Same razor fantastic shave again and it is not always the case with this straight razor business in my , short , experience . Some day's the shave is great and I think I have got this sorted and then the next day it seems to be pulling and tugging a lot . About a year I am thinking from first shave to having this fully worked out .

John, I'm there with you in the cultural differences, and I am used to beige or cream colored (coloured) masking tape too from being a colony (Africa) - but after 17 years in the US I have become bilingual speaking and writing both American and British (colony) English! :-)

I don't flip flop accents though. My daughter did at one time, coming over at 8 years old, my son was 11, they were novelties in school for a number of years as white Africans. But the the novelty wore off and they didn't want attention, so they modified their speech a bit - my daughter more than my son.

I know you have the Queen's English, and common English (for lack of me knowing a better term) - and I think we tended to speak the Queen's English with e.g. class and grass rhyming with what you would call your rear end, rather than ass as people here would say. So my daughter would talk to us at home about "claaass", and when her friends were over and talking in another room, she would switch to cl-ass. One day we were all talking in the kitchen and she came to say the word, and stopped suddenly, confused and not knowing if she should say it the American way or the Queens English way. That was a funny moment, but we didn't tease her in front of her friends over it.

And for the record, I'm still lacking the courage to put a straight razor near my neck like you, or the desire to use any razor at the moment since I came back from the last hunting trip in November unshaved, and have kept with that. Just a trim every now and then. :-)

Oh Alan didn't you see my lovely new soap scuttle, wonderful warm lather round your face in a morning , and that Cella soap smells so good you could eat it .

I have moved around the UK over the years and thought that I had lost my northern accent but apparently not !

I seem to remind people of Coronation street !!

I keep thinking that as most people on here speak American that I should change to US spelling but it is hard to do that when you are the wrong side of 60 .

I keep seeing some lovely knives made in SA Arno Bernard comes to mind . I would love one of his knives with the Warthog Ivory handles , don't have much use for a fixed blade and they aren't cheap but they do look good .

Also there is always so much to spend your money on , today has made a hole in the bank balance with new furniture and a new phone !!!!!

Maybe Warthog Ivory isn't too exotic if you have lived in SA but to me it sounds great .

Interesting John - I did not know of Arno Bernard knives. I know where their hometown Bethlehem is in the Orange Free State, or in Afrikaans - Oranje Vry Staat (abbrebiated to Free State or Vry Staat) but I have never been to the town. I was born in what was Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, lived through the bush war and moved to South Africa for New Year's eve 1980 - 9 or 10 months after Mugabe came to power. I lived there in different cities but mostly Johannesburg and Cape Town for 19 years before moving here, now actually 17 1/2 years ago.

In those days I had little interest in knives beyond most boys and men (and some girls I know!) liking knives and wanting to have a few, but most often being ignorant of real quality. Or more, being ignorant of hand made quality. I spent 10 - 20 minutes browsing their web site - they have a lot of really good looking knives there. Starting as I am now, I've been looking at different materials, and camel bone also appeals to me - simply because of the unique factor for me. Camel bone on a curved Persian style knife with the right handguard, maybe a well polished brass sounds really good.

A little while ago, I was telling my mom and dad who also moved to South Africa (along with my sister) about starting kit knife making and my first restoration attempt. My mom asked if I remembered she had a pair of warthog tusks, and told me that she would try to send them to me, or keep them for me the next time I go back to visit. I told her I would really like to have those - but I'm going to need to look into import laws and how they would be accepted here. I have no intentions of paying large fines or seeing the inside of prisons and jails for more than a few hours each week with volunteer activities I do!

So ... I have just made contact with the US Fish and Wildlife Management Services to ask that question.

Interesting history you have there Allan I guess things got rough in Rhodesia in that period , at least if you were white . I know some people who have lived in South Africa and say it is a beautiful place , Geoff Boycott has a house there and often says , on Test Match Special , what a great place it is to live . But then I guess he has a few quid and that makes life easier where ever you are .

That warthog tusk is great looking stuff for a knife handle but not worth going to jail for , I hope you can get hold of it from your Mom . I can't see as how it's endangered but the again customs have their own way of seeing the world and it's not wise to argue with them .

I worked with a guy from Zimbabwe back in the 80s it was when I first moved down to the Midlands , you could cut his accent with a knife very few people around here could understand him. I think he got tired of repeating himself and disappeared after a while .

Most of my life I have had a knife but often it was a poor thing from the lack of choice or the lack of information , and often enough from the lack of money . I didn't know there were people who collected knives until I bought my first PC about 5 years ago , I have learned a lot in that short time but I still don't know much compared to most on iKC !

When I first started exploring this site I found some articles about straight razors , must go back and check on those , and thought you have got to be kidding there is no way etc ...and here I am now enjoying the mad idea .

Camel bone sounds good and I did hear about Giraffe bone for handles somewhere , now that must be a strong material .    Hope you have good luck with getting the Warthog into the country I would love to see what you can make of it .

Allan,

You can always check the cites list

John,

You keep your accent and your spelling.  Being unique is not something we want you to lose

Today I cleaned and sharpened the Clauss razor that Dale was kind enough to send me . That steel is hard I got the blade cleaned up pretty well though I was unable to remove all the pitting , I feel that it is good enough now I don't feel that an old razor needs to look new , there seems to be just enough markings on it to show times passing without there being any active rust .

It took a little while to sharpen not only because the steel seems hard but because I am sure that it hadn't been used before . I have seen a video where Mastro Livi sharpens a new razor in just a few minutes , alas it does take me a little longer than that . It is sharp now though and provided a very good shave indeed . I must confess that the square point concerned me a little , a lot , at first... that is quite a sharp point there and my face is old and rather saggy so there did appear to be a good chance of the point catching somewhere . Didn't happen though and proved to be every bit as good a shaver as the 4/8ths Osgar that I have adopted as my favourite this week .

Hey glad it is a good user because it sure is a looker also!

John,

You've no idea how happy this makes me.

It's great to know it will see some genuine use. And the fact that the blade steel is of good quality means it should hold an edge for awhile, i.e. less frequent sharpening required.

I figured from the leading edge sill having a good right angle corner present that it had seen little use. Am happier still to think that it has seen either no prior use ..or.. not been sharpened before.

I believe you base that on the observation that there existed no wear along the spine edge of the blade. If I correctly understand the sharpening procedure for a straight razor .. it is lain flat upon the stone .. with both the spine & cutting edge in contact with the stone .. during the sharpening process. If this is true .. then indeed .. no wear along the spine would indicate ..at the very least.. that it has not been sharpened before.

!! . All good things . !!

.

Thanks for posting this update, John !!

.

Do enjoy

D ale