I was at a loose end today, so I took a drive from Jindabyne to Cooma - sorry @Pbgoose, I beat you there! I was actually going to Aldi, but I saw an antique shop as I was coming in from the Jindabyne side, so I pulled in to have a look.
Greeted the guy behind the counter, and asked him if he had any serviceable straights. He pointed me to where I needed to go.
I grabbed a Korten 400 out of the window display, which had the princely asking price of $26 on it. Sold! It was owned and used by the now-retired local barber until the laws changed, so it has a pretty good edge on it, just not quite enough for a super fine shave. That will change soon enough. I reckon it would be 5/8" at a glance. Very similar to the Puma #21. It does have some deep scratching on the backside of the scales, like someone was trying to engrave their name or something.
Then he started pulling out all of these old blades, one by one, from under counter. Most of them were either way out of square, or too well ground as to be unsalvageable. But in the mix was a Maschco 2080. It has certainly seen better days, and there is some pitting on the edge, but I there is easily enough meat to play with. I think these are around 3/4"... definitely very tall. The only real concern is that one side of the scales is broken right through. I would like to try to restore/repair the scales if possible, so any tips will be accepted gratefully. Price $9, running total $35.
Finally, he pulled out this little gadget that I had seen before, but could never get my hands on. Apparently it is a travel straight! Not sure why, because straights are generally compact things anyway. Folded though, this thing is smaller than the length of a straight's blade section, but it takes a DE blade, as shown. Cost, $5, for a total of $40 out the door.
A fortuitous day's shopping.
Korten 400
Maschco 2080
Travel Straight
Greeted the guy behind the counter, and asked him if he had any serviceable straights. He pointed me to where I needed to go.
I grabbed a Korten 400 out of the window display, which had the princely asking price of $26 on it. Sold! It was owned and used by the now-retired local barber until the laws changed, so it has a pretty good edge on it, just not quite enough for a super fine shave. That will change soon enough. I reckon it would be 5/8" at a glance. Very similar to the Puma #21. It does have some deep scratching on the backside of the scales, like someone was trying to engrave their name or something.
Then he started pulling out all of these old blades, one by one, from under counter. Most of them were either way out of square, or too well ground as to be unsalvageable. But in the mix was a Maschco 2080. It has certainly seen better days, and there is some pitting on the edge, but I there is easily enough meat to play with. I think these are around 3/4"... definitely very tall. The only real concern is that one side of the scales is broken right through. I would like to try to restore/repair the scales if possible, so any tips will be accepted gratefully. Price $9, running total $35.
Finally, he pulled out this little gadget that I had seen before, but could never get my hands on. Apparently it is a travel straight! Not sure why, because straights are generally compact things anyway. Folded though, this thing is smaller than the length of a straight's blade section, but it takes a DE blade, as shown. Cost, $5, for a total of $40 out the door.
A fortuitous day's shopping.
Korten 400
Maschco 2080
Travel Straight
