Surprise Christmas Present

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I wasn't expecting this, but my mum and dad got me an old straight razor for Christmas. I don't know the story behind it (will quiz them later), but it's in a knackered old box with writing I can't read on it, the razor has a trade mark on one of the scales with "Tuckmar" on it, and "Tuckmar" again on the blade. There's more writing near the tang, but the blade's a bit dirty so I need to clean it up before I can read it, but the word "Solingen" is definitely there, woohoo.

Any info from the straight razor gang would be appreciated. Merry Christmas everyone!

Dave.
 
Just an update, they bought it off an antique market stall in Macclesfield, no idea what they paid for it.

It's pretty much the blade used in this thread: http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16304, except it has "TUCKMAR" in big letters on the blade.

On the other side it says "WELTRUF", "SHUTZEMARKE" (trademark), "SOLINGEN GERMANY", there's a Tuckmar stamp and the number 457. A little detective work led to this information:

"Tuckmar - Schnurrbart Schaber & Hat Weltruf.
Silberstahls Solingen Germany
Est 1913"

I'm not expert enough to know whether the scales are ivory or imitation ivory, but they look in fairly good nick. I don't know if Neil is reading this thread, but I will probably be contacting him soon!

Crikey I'm hungry, swmbo is taking ages over the Boxing Day lunch, and the smell is driving me nuts.
 
I have had a few and they were good razors. "Weltruf" means world-wide or world-reknowned, meaning that the razor has a world-wide reputation/trademark. I don't know what "shaber" means, but the line "Schnurrbart Schaber & Hat Weltruf" means "moustache ..... and has a world-wide reputation."

"Silberstahl" is simply "silver-steel" - a bright, hard, high-carbon steel alloy with no actual silver in it now, often used for fine tools (for what it is worth and notwithstanding any of the ill-informed tripe you may read to the contrary on other forums, the very early silver steel did indeed contain silver - it was invented by Michael Faraday and he gave samples of razors and ingots of the alloy to a number of razor makers - one Sheffield maker even produced a small booklet on the silver steel razors he produced using Faraday's formulation. Apparently it did not offer any real advantages though, (the original experiment was to make steel less prone to rusting, etc), but the name 'stuck' for any bright-faced steel even if it did not contain silver.

The make is quite old, and is registered to "Jaguar" Stahlwarenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG - at least since 1979, when they renewed the world-symbol trademark.

Some of the early (late 1920s or 1930s) blades had a curious grind - instead of the hollow being from top of spine to cutting edge, it followed the spine, so it was ground at a 90 degree angle to the common way of grinding.

I would imagine that the scales are imitation ivory - rubbing them briskly with a silky or satin cloth may make them emit a peculiar odour: if it is a bit like camphor (eg, like "Vick") or vinegary they are probably some sort of celluloid (there were at least two different types used for scales, with two different smells - the camphor-smelling ones are later than the vinegary smelling ones). The "hot needle test" is usually definitive for real ivory as opposed celluloid, but can realy damage celluloid if not done with caution - the very early celluloids can catch fire in a spectacular way!

Regards,
Neil
 
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