"BALTIMORE ROOTER"

[Ridgegrass]

Here's a neat one. German , sold by J.J.Lang, Baltimore. Stamped with a hog and "Baltimore Rooter". It was my Granddad"s , Edgar C. Gretsky, b.1889-d.1966. I gave him the brush when I was 17 but he must have switched to a safety razor around then because it's never been used. The cup is French, Limoges, and hand painted. He also had a Durham "Duplex" safety/straight razor that took replaceable blades. We're from Baltimore so its a home town thing. J.O'.

[Quick Steel]

It is indeed interesting and with the brush and mug it makes for a great set.

[1967redrider]

Cool finds, J.O'. I'm not ready to give it a try just yet.

[Ridgegrass]

I tried it with the "Duplex" and I felt like I was pulling my face off. In Vietnam we'd get shaved by barbers with straight razors. Talk about a leap of faith!

[robpa]

Thats cool stuff. Not sure Id call a ultra sharp razor a "rooter" tho?
Yeh, those Nam barbers liked to shave hair down yer back and chest if they could!. Gotta tel ya this. Our barber at a firebase near cambodia was shot one night coming thru the wire in front of our gun emplacement during a night attack. He had just cut our hair a couple days before. SOB didnt cut much hair after that night.

[Ridgegrass]

Rob, I remember them shaving your whole upper body. I have hairy shoulders today and I'd swear it was due to them shaving it off. They seemed to hate body hair. We would go pick up the barber (Hot-toc in Vietnamese) in Ky-khoung (?) and bring him to our camp in Ly-Tin. He'd cut about 7 or 8 heads for a quarter each and a couple American beers. One of us would keep a gun pointed closely at him during the process. He didn't seem to mind it but that straight razor near the neck kept us on our guard. Crazy times! O'.