The razors of Kirby Beard and Company

[Chronarch]

Thread revival. I was finally able to score one of these beauties out of France. Been trying to get one for about a year. It has the cool scalloped cap and the Art Deco handle, which reminds of a Darwin for some reason. The case is a bit roached but the razor is in really nice condition. Just came in today so I have not tried it but looking forward to it. This is a great thread with some great info on these razors BTW.

 

[_Brad]

She's a beaut, [MENTION=85432]Chronarch[/MENTION]! Let us know what you think of the shave.

 

[alex2363]

Keep us updated...

 

[cxg231]

Fantastic post, quite well written and very informative!

 

[BSAGuy]

That's a gorgeous razor. Congrats on the score. Your persistence has been rewarded!

 

[Copierguy]

Congrats. We were drawn to bid for the same reasons. I think they are look great but was and am curious how they shave. Please share you experience with this razor. As the one who came in second I salute your win. I did not bump it up that much from the third place bidder so at least I'm glad my bid did not cause too much grief.

Again Congrats!!

 

[Chronarch]

Congrats. We were drawn to bid for the same reasons. I think they are look great but was and am curious how they shave. Please share you experience with this razor. As the one who came in second I salute your win. I did not bump it up that much from the third place bidder so at least I'm glad my bid did not cause too much grief.

Again Congrats!!

Thanks and I apologize for taking it from you. My final bid was quite a bit higher than I got it for. Glad no one was willing to go at it much more. I thought it was a fair price. There was a similar one that went for quite a bit more around the same time. It had the smooth cap though and I had to have the scalloped version. The other case was also in better shape. It's all about the razor for me in this instance.

Everyone else thanks for your comments and I will definitely be back with a review.

 

[Copierguy]

Thanks and I apologize for taking it from you. My final bid was quite a bit higher than I got it for. Glad no one was willing to go at it much more. I thought it was a fair price. There was a similar one that went for quite a bit more around the same time. It had the smooth cap though and I had to have the scalloped version. The other case was also in better shape. It's all about the razor for me in this instance.

Everyone else thanks for your comments and I will definitely be back with a review.

I swung and missed at the smooth capped one also, thought I must admit the aesthetics do not speak as loudly to me with the smooth cap.

 

[mikemullin6]

Brent-

What's the date code on the head? Should be a six (I think) digit number; just take out the zero's and you have it's year of manufacture.

The scalloped heads are really neat!

 

[Chronarch]

Brent-

What's the date code on the head? Should be a six (I think) digit number; just take out the zero's and you have it's year of manufacture.

The scalloped heads are really neat!

Mike,

Based on the year formula this razor was made in 1935. Looks pretty good for 80. Ha.

I actually put this into the rotation this morning. I loaded it w/ a GSB that already had 3-4 shaves on it. I have a short beard right now so I only used it on my cheeks and neck. I face lathered some MdC for my shave. Let's start with the blade loading. This is the first drawback to this razor IMO. It took quite a bit of fiddling to get the blade lined up evenly with the cap and bottom plate. Not a big deal but there are plenty of other razors that require little to no adjustments. I think this was mentioned by others in this thread. On to the shave. I typically like to go steep but since this razor was older I rolled with medium angle of attack just to get a feel for its preferred angle. This razor seemed to have a wide range of angles and would still perform. I didn't go real steep but it worked fine from medium to shallow. I did 3 passes (wtg, xtg, and atg). The razor was mild/med agressive yet pretty efficient and quite comfortable. Really pleased with the results. No irritation whatsoever. I ended up with a few BBS areas but mostly DFS. I never go after BBS so these are positive results. The handle is pretty skinny yet feels very good in the hand with the Art Deco humps and bumps. Your fingers just sit in the grooves and it feels quite steady. It's lighter than I'm used to as I mostly have been using stainless stuff but didn't feel the need to exude much pressure while using it. The cap is very interesting and feels different on your face but glides perfectly. The cool part is it leaves 5-6 tiny trail lines after each pass. Ha. This razor also dispatches the lather really well with the large space behind the safety bar and would be nearly impossible to clog up. I definitely need to give it a few more shaves but all in all this a fine instrument. You can really see and feel its Leresche heritage. I liken the shave mostly to the #51 and some similarities with the #77 . The reason I say the 51 is similar because the corners of the Kirby cap covers the outer corners of the blade and on the 51 the outer corners sit on the outer teeth. The middle teeth are lower and create the blade gap on the #51 . This creates the look of a boxed in blade gap on both. The blade gap is larger on the Kirby but blade exposure and feel seem similar to me on the 51 and the Kirby. The #77 outperforms both though IMO through its comfortable aggressiveness. All in all the Kirby is a gorgeous razor and performed excellent. Definitely happy with the purchase.

 

[Hobgoblin]

Chronarch you have some mighty fine razors

Glenn

 

[tonich]

Chronarch you have some mighty fine razors

+1
I haven't been able to figure out how this guy finds such beautiful razors. Yet...

 

[Chronarch]

+1
I haven't been able to figure out how this guy finds such beautiful razors. Yet...

I might have a few pals helping me mine these beauties. Ha.

Here are a few more pics to show the head design, date code, and razor blade corner covers on the top cap, which is the defining feature of these razors. If you look at base plate holes you can see they are slightly wider than the alignment posts, which causes the alignment issues. This was probably done on purpose so you can align the blade and top cap though as you would have to have perfect manufacturing for this razor head design to align properly.

 

[Useless shaver]

Brent, you really have very good friends....

 

[tonich]

Are you being jealous, Juan Manuel?

 

[Useless shaver]

Are you being jealous, Juan Manuel?

Nope. I too have good friends...

 

[Cha-wing!!]

First of all, a big thank you Moshulu for this awesome source of info. Here are 5 Kirbys I've had the pleasure to have in my hands, I only kept three :

Trompette, 35 knurled, 49 knurled and Flute :


28 smooth :


Oh yeah :


Trompette :


Fun fact, the trompette actually comes from Pierre Arragones who was kind enough to trade it with me, I took the liberty of changing the top cap for a spare scalloped one I had in my collection.

 

[lambretto]

My Kirbys.

Fluted 1934 (109034)
Knurled 1941 (109041)

 

[alex2363]

First of all, a big thank you Moshulu for this awesome source of info. Here are 5 Kirbys I've had the pleasure to have in my hands, I only kept three :

Trompette, 35 knurled, 49 knurled and Flute :


28 smooth :


Oh yeah :


Trompette :


Fun fact, the trompette actually comes from Pierre Arragones who was kind enough to trade it with me, I took the liberty of changing the top cap for a spare scalloped one I had in my collection.

My Kirbys.

Fluted 1934 (109034)
Knurled 1941 (109041)

You guys are lucky to own these masterpieces

 

[Guy Lachlan]

My Great-Grandfather, Alfred Tebbitt, was Managing Director of Kirby, Beard & Co's Paris operation until the outbreak of WW2. He would have been delighted to see the comments above and know that his products are still treasured nearly 100 years later.