I cleaned, polished, and honed these three vintage razors a while ago, but didn’t get to posting a mail call. The main act here is definitely the big Henckels 14:

It is in great condition, just a bit of surface corrosion at the toe where the hollow grind touches the scales. I’m always amazed by how quickly these extra hollow 14 razors hone up. It really barely takes any work to get a great edge. This is my third 14 razor, the other two being a Filarmónica 14 and a Henckels Friodur 14 (the stainless successor of this new acquisition). Two shaves with this were wonderful.

The little Puma 88 is a fairly standard ⅝" round tip German hollow ground, but it seems extremely well-made. The absolutely even stamp on the shank, the completely regular jimps, and the pretty scales with brass inlay and the stamp around the pivot pin all scream quality without opulence. I get the hard-to-describe feeling from this razor that I also get from a well made hammer or screw driver. Great shaver.

Finally, this poor Frio 72½ took some serious abuse from its previous owner. If you look closely, you can see that the bevel looks wavy around the middle of the blade.

Here’s a close-up.

The reason is that the edge has been bent out of true in three places. When I bought the razor, the images for the offer were taken in a way that didn’t show this issue. I almost tossed the razor after it arrived, but then I decided to give it a try and it turns out it has no impact on shave quality. I’m still not sure whether to keep this razor of PIF it maybe.

  • gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social
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    8 months ago

    Very nice haul! I would suggest testing the wavy portion of the edge on the 72½. If it push-cuts the same as the rest of the edge, no big deal. Otherwise, there’s some edge-grinding to be done. As available as these are, I’m not certain it would be worth the effort.

    • djundjila@sub.wetshaving.socialOPM
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      8 months ago

      Thanks!

      The wavy portion of the edge is a purely cosmetic issue now. It took a while on my 3k stone, but I removed enough material to have a nice even bevel outside of the wavy bevel part, and still hit the apex in the wavy part.

      The shininess really emphasises geometric flaws, so it looks worse than it is.

      As available as these are, I’m not certain it would be worth the effort.

      I totally agree, and that’s why I almost tossed the thing :)