The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I thought it might be nice to see what phono & gramy related items Santa left under your tree this year.

After wanting one for about 30 years, I finally got an Edison shaving machine!
It's the later 4 minute shaver that uses a metal blade to shave the entire length of the cylinder.
Unfortunately, the upper mechanism has been repainted black (including the mandrel), and the handle that controls the blade pressure had also been replaced with a very loooong handle. A friend of a friend has an original handle that he's going to try & find for me, but for now I've replaced it with a file handle that looks more the part.
It works remarkably well, leaving the cylinder quite smooth, although I am tempted to try & sharpen one side of the reversible blade (which would give 2 new cutting edges), but I'm not sure if a sharpening stone or fine wet & dry sandpaper would be the best way to go.
Anyone experimented with sharpening one of these blades before?

Anyway, here's a couple before & after pictures of the shaver, which I think? dates from about 1912.
I gave the cabinet a clean & wax, and rather than strip the black paint & refinishing the mechanism, I just stripped & polished the mandrel, cleaned & oiled all the bearings (yes, all 3 of them!) and gave the existing black paint a coat of shellac to give it a more authentic look.
I'm pretty happy with how it looks & performs now, though I'm looking forward to adding the original handle once it's found.

So what little treasures did Santa leave for you this year?

Well Santa didn't bring my anything Phonographic (this was the year for cycling accessories and tools for me), however, he did bring me a nice ultrasonic cleaner which will be very useful for all my pending restoration projects. I should now be able to clean those locks and gears right up!

The shaver looks quite nice, a fine addition to your collection!

Now that is interesting. I have read that the dealers complained about these things because they took a but of a knack to operate effectively. The long rod that was on the thing originally is correct I think...at least from the pics I've seen. I will try to find the blurb in the Edison Phonograph Monthly and scan it.

Jim

Santa brought me tickets to the Orlando phono show!!! Jerry Blais

Santa brought me a really cool French Pathé Salon machine with an original horn!

I got a Victor logo belt buckle!

No phonograph items for me either, but I like the shaver! I agree - the handle appears to be original. These shavers are nice accessories - congratulations!

George P.

Santa (and my wife) bought me a book,

"Indestructible and U-S Everlasting Cylinders, Illustrated history and Cylinderography", Nauk & Sutton

I bought a few vintage watches in the past couple of weeks, with the money I got from selling another. I had to be my own Santa!

Here's one, a Hamilton Scott from 1951:



Nothing phonographic.

I was a very good boy this year. Santa brought me a mint original Zonophone A:



And also an Edison 'iron-clad' fan, the 1898 model to complement my 1893 iron-clad:



Here's the pair of iron-clads: