American Rocket

I posted this over at the Shave Den and thought I'd share it here too.
Almost identical to the English Rocket with the exception of the TTO knob being hollow instead of solid. MTGrayling is the only other one I know of that has one.. I found this one as you see it, inside a Milord Case. Enjoy.

Very nice.

Hanspleasure said:

I posted this over at the Shave Den and thought I'd share it here too.
Almost identical to the English Rocket with the exception of the TTO knob being hollow instead of solid. MTGrayling is the only other one I know of that has one.. I found this one as you see it, inside a Milord Case. Enjoy.

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Thanks for sharing this; it's timely posting for me. I just got one of these yesterday in the mail from an ebay purchase and haven't been able to figure out what it is. The ebay description was minimal and I bid on it hoping that it might be a Rocket of some kind but it is labeled "Made in USA". It weighs 5 grams more than my 40s SS (60g versus 55). It's got some plating loss on the head and it needs a good cleaning; other than that, it looks identical to yours.

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread and the Shave Den thread to see if you come up with any more info on it.

Got one of these, but the plating isn't nearly as nice. It is way milder than a 40's SS.

A fine score!

Sweet find man!!!

Do you think you could post some more detailed pics? I'm curious to see what it looks like under the TTO doors and under the base plate.

Thanks for sharing with us!

From where are you acquiring these great razors?

I wish I knew more myself about the razor.. that's why I made a posting over at the Shave Den cause I knew Chris (MTGrayling) would have some to offer! Here's some info and a side by side comparison of aka American Rocket and British Rocket in gold. I'll take so more pictures later on off the head and such and post them soon. Can you guys take some pics of yours too?

The Rocket on the left is American and the one on the right is British.
You can see they're almost identical except for a few minor things...
1. The American handle looks like it's slightly thicker and is of two-piece construction.
2. The American TTO knob is hollow unlike the British being solid.
3. The notching (gap) on the American is slightly larger.

Other than that they're pretty darn similar including patent pending inside the head.

mmack66 said:

From where are you acquiring these great razors?

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I found this one some time last on ebay just as is.. spent $15 - 20 dollars.
I was confused on why it didn't garnish more attention at the time, but am HAPPY nonetheless!

Here's the requested pics!

Nice Milord...Looks like someone cut a groove in the handle though....

Hanspleasure said:

Here's some info and a side by side comparison of aka American Rocket and British Rocket in gold. I'll take so more pictures later on off the head and such and post them soon. Can you guys take some pics of yours too?

Click to expand...

The picture below is from the ebay auction where I got mine. I'm pretty busy with work this week so I'll probably need some more time to post more detailed photos. Mine is not very pretty, most of the plating is gone from the silo doors and there's a fair bit of wear on the handle. The endcaps are pointed like the rockets and there is no date code. It didn't come with a box either. Says "Made in USA" under the head.

I've shave with this a couple of times and I really like the way it shaves. In contrast to bonusmarple's experience, I did find mine to be a bit more aggressive than the 40s SS, on the order of a red tip. It's not the prettiest example of this razor but it's looking like it'll be one of my favorite shavers.

Very nice Scott

That is an amazing find. I've never seen an "American Rocket" before this thread. At first I wanted to say someone frankensteined the mechanics of a british rocket into an american superspeed. But after seeing the TTO knob and the other members testimonials that thing seems legit. Do you think it was a prototype?

Very very interesting razor though I am 90% sure it doesn't go with that Milord case because the razor is notched and that Milord case has the slot for the pack of blades instead of the blade dispenser... blade dispensers came out around the time of notches around 1948 or 1949 I believe.

I can't quite say one way or the other if it was a prototype or if doesn't belong in a Milord case.. I do think the parts to manufacture these probably came from England. Perhaps the razor was a prototype for the Milord? MTGrayling also owns one and his came inside a Milord case as well, but with the cloth liner. Another mystery waiting to be solved!