Antique bushcraft kit

[Qwerty]

As I have got so much good and useful information from this forum and in particular from the Kit and Tools section, I thought I'd give a little in return and show you a little bit of bushcraft kit that you don't see everyday.

I had a great uncle (by marriage) who was/is a relatively well known Norwegian scientist and a bit of an explorer in his day. He spent quite a bit of time in the Arctic and may have also been in the Antarctic doing his scientific research. Anyway, as he and my great aunt had no children some of his things have come to me including a small and really quite cool shaving set. It's not particularly rare judging by ebay and not valuable in monetary terms, but it is certainly well travelled and obviously of sentimental value to us.

The images are the best, as they are taken with a crappy iPhone camera

As you can see it's not particularly big, which helps when travelling

As it was a used item, the razor blades were finished/discarded at some stage and so put a new one in to illustrate the complete set

The razor assembled

The set

And no, I haven't had the nerve to try it out

 

[nigel heffernan]

That brings back memories my late father used one of those razors, when i was about 17 i tried it and cut my face badly so id stick with the modern safety razors, those razors arent for the faint hearted lol

 

[geordienemisis]

I have one similar that my father taught me how to shave with, used it for years until I changed to a modern Gillette one.
This razor gave a very close shave and whilst learning i cut myself several times. i use this one for a real good shave when I get suited and booted.
They are great and the blades are cheap to 75p - £1 for 5 super value.

 

[Manacles]

Have you considered contacting the British Polar Institute in Cambridge to find out more about your Great Uncle? They have a huge amount of documentation and may be able to give you more details of his work. They also have a fascinating museum which is not usually open to the public bu you may get an invite to when you express interest. Certainly worth checking out.

 

[Qwerty]

Thanks but his life and work are actually very well documented (there's even a dvd about him somewhere at home, haven't got around to looking at it yet, only recently released)

He spent the war years as a guest of the UK government as he had carried out work around the subject of heavy water and the Norwegian government were worried he would be taken by the Nazi's during the occupation so he was spirited away across the North Sea. He died many years before I was born but his exploits were often recounted during visits to my great aunt and I can remember all sorts of curios in her apartment that he had gather over the years.

 

[Manacles]

It certainly sounds like he had a fascinating life and your link to him is something to be proud of.

 

[Tengu]

Yes, please tell us more.