Thread: rare thin bladed straight razor!

Gentlemen,
Icall your attention to this auction. i know the auction is not what matters, it was in the advert window, but look at the shank. Does it looks like at one point someone decided to grind/ file off the jimps on the underside of the blade? i ask this because, somewhere in my "to be restored razors i have one with a similar looking shank. and i wondered why. then grind feels differnt form the rest of the finish in the razor which is why i thought it was done after the fact... and the bottom edges are well rounded... on mine the effect was an unstable feeling blade, like it slip free any second.
Any one else come across this particular modification?

Hmm...looks like the blade has seen its fair share of hone use. Whether this occurred before or after the blade was altered it is hard to say, but I would guess that the blade in its current configuration is not original. Likely ground down to eliminate a pretty good chip.

As far as the jimps, I can't really say if it looks more narrow at the tang than a normal razor or not. I can't think of a reason to grind them off, though. I have quite a few I'd like to put some on!

At any rate, it is already bid much higher than I would want to pay for it.

That blade is all used up. I wouldn't bid a penny on it.

In my opinion the lack of Jimps usually denotes a hand forged razor
This is usually accompanied with a lower level of finish on the tang sides.
Very old razors didn’t have any jimps (cant remember the date they came in)
but a lack of jimps usually means a cheaper razor!
This is not a statement of fact but based on the hundreds of working class razors I have sold.
BTW I wouldn’t use that to sharpen a pencil. I do wish dealers would do a little research before they list an item. Doesn’t inspire much confidence does it?

Tony H

Originally Posted by portal5

In my opinion the lack of Jimps usually denotes a hand forged razor
This is usually accompanied with a lower level of finish on the tang sides.
Very old razors didn’t have any jimps (cant remember the date they came in)
but a lack of jimps usually means a cheaper razor!
This is not a statement of fact but based on the hundreds of working class razors I have sold.
BTW I wouldn’t use that to sharpen a pencil. I do wish dealers would do a little research before they list an item. Doesn’t inspire much confidence does it?

Tony H

Good to hear from you, Tony!

I agree with you and have only one personal observation to share, in the interest of advancing knowledge: I have several vintage high-end razors, which were hand forged and have jimps on both top + bottom of tang. Jimps can be added to a hand forged - e.g. start them with a narrow cut and then file to shape up. But as you said, at the time they weren't done on the working class razors

Cheers
Ivo

Cheers Ivo.
I have had little to do with the higher end razors as they just don’t seem to show up in the fairs.
I appreciate what you said and a good high end hand forged razor would have the time to put the Jims on.
As the industrial age got into full swing the cheap end would be mass produced with jimps on both sides.
I have seen many razors with jimps on the bottom only and these tend to be reasonable razors from the lesser know manufacturers.
The early cheap hand forged razors without jimps I was referring to are the square point rough ground with pressed Vulcanite scales.
I also seem to remember that some of the better razor manufacturers have made these cheap razors at some time in their business life!
Tony H