How To Care for Your Straight Razor

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Materials:
In general, the blades of straight razors are made of steel; the more recent razors have blades made from stainless steel. Oftenfound engraved or etched on the blades are markings identifying themanufacturer and/or the model of the razor.

Handles are made from a wide variety of materials, including celluloid (an early plastic), wood, rubber, horn, ivory, bakelite, vegetable ivory, and metal. Inlays and additions can be of mother of pearl, silver, copper, ivory, wood, tortoise shell -- the list is almost endless. While some materials, such as metal, are easy to identify, others (such as ivory and celluloid) are virtually indistinguishable without resorting to chemical tests. Thus, instead of addressing a series of different materials, thefollowing care and handling suggestions for straight razors aremeant to be generally applicable.

Another Man's Treasure

Today I got a nice deal on 4 straight razors at an antique shop in my home town. I have been shopping around antique shops for quite a while trying to get a hold of one of these guys. Finally, today I came across this antique shop which had about 10 sitting around. My original intention was to purchase only 1  and to use it as my backup razor, but ended up getting 4 plus the old case you see in the picture all for $50.

The three in the box were made in Sheffield, England. The other (the one on the right in the picture below) was made in Solingen, Germany (the City of Blades). From my basic knowledge, I knew that Solingen was a win. I wasn't sure about the Sheffield razors, however, but decided to go for it. After a little research, it appears that Sheffield is of similar grade to Solingen. That is, it's a high quality carbon steel. For some perspective on the quality: my current straight razor is made of Solingen carbon steel and cost more than $150 new. You can imagine my excitement for increasing my inventory by 4 for only $50!