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Before and After - Kropp and King's Great Rex

These were posted in my antique store finds but it's been suggested that they would be served better in a new thread. As much as I've tried, I can't figure out how to delete the old threads. It seems like once you post a thread on here, you only have a limited time to edit or delete it and then it stays for all eternity or until an admin is able to do something with it. If an admin or someone can show me how to delete an old thread, I'd be happy to do so.

These are recent restorations and all of the credit goes to Mark, know as "MyCarver" on the forums. The man is a true wizard when it comes to restoration and these photos are just more proof of that wizardry.

Admittedly, I'm a noob when it comes to straight razors. The vast majority of the time, I don't know what's good and what isn't. When I first looked at the Kropp, I didn't buy it because I though it wasn't repairable. A rounded toe is something that I hadn't seen before and I'd thought that someone might have attempted to previously restore it, snapped the tip and then tried to make the best of it (feel free to laugh, it's ok).

After posting the Antique Store finds thread, Mark told me that the razor was fine and that it would come right up. He is, as I think most of us are, a fan of personalized inscriptions on razors. He told me that he'd like to have the razor, so I went and got it and we came to a nice agreement where he would give me a discount on the work I was having done in exchange for it. Of course, I happily agreed and incidentally, he was EXTREMELY kind in the valuation of the discount for the work.

It's always nice to see how things turn out and he sent pictures of it to me. To see this razor go from what I thought was a throwaway to an exceptional restoration is just amazing to me. I think we can all agree that this is some fine work. It's now part of his personal collection, so if you want the Kropp, you'll have to negotiate with him.

Now that I've written a small book, here's the pictures:

Before:

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Second up, is the Kings Great Rex.

The Kings Great Rex was another antique store find and I had to do a bit of haggling to get this at a better price than they wanted. The asking price was $28, which I thought was a bit too much. The owner of the shop wasn't there at the time, so the employee called her and the owner stood firm on the price of $28. After a bit more conversation, the employee asked if I'd like to talk to the owner directly, to which I said I would. I explained that the razor wasn't shave ready and that it would need to be broken down, cleaned, polished, repinned and rehoned before it would be usable. I further told her that a razor that simply sits on my shelf is no good to me and that if I were going to buy the razor, I planned to use it. She told me that she couldn't sell it for less than what she paid for it, to which I said "there's what you paid for it and what it's actually worth" and at that point, she agreed to go to $20 and I bought it.

Now, I know that a Kings Great Rex isn't exactly a razor that's sought after. I don't see them mentioned on the forum and there's really not a lot on Ebay in comparison to everything else that's out there. I know very little about King Razor, except that it was a company out of Indiana, PA, that it was around from 1911-1919 and that they made a variety of products, including razors, strops, money belts, wallets and assorted other leather goods.

I probably could have gotten a restored, name brand, shave ready razor for cheaper but still, it looked like a clean razor that had seen minimal use in its' time and additionally, I like the scales and adornment on them as well as the weight and balance. The only negative seemed to be that the scales were slightly off in alignment. When I talked to Mark about the restoration, he also pointed out that the blade had a slight smile that it would need to be corrected as well but that it should be no problem.

One of the more interesting things to me is on an advertisement from King razor that I was able to download elsewhere. Originally, the Kings Great Rex was $2.50

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Thanks Steve. One small detail. The razor had a slight frown. The heel was a bit full.
and on the Kropp I did remove a bit of the edge to eliminate some of the sweep at the end. Bevel is still at a respectable shy 17 degrees and I used it tonight.
Thanks for the kind words.
 
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Thanks Steve. One small detail. The razor had a slight frown. The heel was a bit full.
and on the Kropp I did remove a bit of the edge to eliminate some of the sweep at the end. Bevel is still at a respectable shy 17 degrees and I used it tonight.
Thanks for the kind words.

How are you able to determine the angle of the bevel? Do I need a loupe? I assume this is something I should know when honing a razor? What is considered a perfect angle for a bevel to be set at?
 
It's a simple math formula you can calculate with a vernier or micrometer. They generally fall between 14- a max of maybe 20 degrees.
It is handy to know for some razors.
 
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