Thread: Boot razor?

At lunch a few weeks ago I mentioned how I shave. One guy laughs and as says, "well, if you're not going to pull your razor out of your boot in a bar fight, you might as well hsave with it!"

That got me thinking.....is this just urban cowboy legend or did/do people actually do that??

I've had a couple of occasions where a very loose jointed pocket knife fell open in my pocket and sliced the heck of my finger when I reached in to grab my keys. Based on that experience, its seems that letting such a loose jointed object as a razor rattle around in your sock while you're 'boot scootin' at the bar would be a colossully stupid manouver. The kind of thing that takes cops ten or twenty minutes of laughter to get themselves under control before being able put your dumb toe-amputating self in cuffs before shoving you into the ambulance.

Thoughts?

It's no legend. That was a favorite for gangs especially youth gangs years ago. They liked it because you could really mess someone up real fast without killing them.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

It's no legend. That was a favorite for gangs especially youth gangs years ago. They liked it because you could really mess someone up real fast without killing them.

Not having any direct experience being the guy holding the knife in a gunfight, that just seems bizarre. I'd think that, as long as you were going to run afoul o' the law by carrying a concealed deadly weapon, a 2" or so double edged fix blade would be faster, offer at least equal finesse and be much less likely to cause an embarrassing accident. Being a fumble finger, I can easily imagine trying to flip out my razor only to find that I had accidently flung it across the room into the lap of the one of the Hell's Angels girlfriends!

One of the privileges of a being a married, early to bed early to rise, drink in moderation and only at home kinda guy is that this is all just entertaining speculation!

The original "give him a 'Buck 50'.

I do know with much certainty that Bad Leroy Brown kept one in his shoe.

It was done. There was a time when razors were not considered weapons just yet, they were small and easily conceilable. And I guess it was a fad weapon just like th ebalisong which is meant primarily to look cool, but otherwise sucks as a knife.

Razors actually make lousy weapon for an actual fight. They easily break or chip, it might close on your own fingers, has no decent handle, etc. The one thing they're good for is quickly cutting up someone really bad if they can't fight back or are at least not armed themselves.

Originally Posted by Bruno

It was done. There was a time when razors were not considered weapons just yet, they were small and easily conceilable. And I guess it was a fad weapon just like th ebalisong which is meant primarily to look cool, but otherwise sucks as a knife.

Razors actually make lousy weapon for an actual fight. They easily break or chip, it might close on your own fingers, has no decent handle, etc. The one thing they're good for is quickly cutting up someone really bad if they can't fight back or are at least not armed themselves.

The people who carried them were experts with them and practised until they got it right. Yes, you could carry a small buck hunting knife but then you might kill someone. The idea was to just "mess em up bad" not inflict serious casualties and the straight was great. I've seen fights where a straight was used and the victim was covered with so much blood you'd think he would bleed to death but the actual wounds were not that deep.

Keep talking....

I was told (don't know the truth of it) that in the UK they were used as a weapon because the blade does not end in a point like a knife. Have a go at someone with a knife and the charge would be attempted murder, where as with a razor it would be an assault charge instead.

'No Mean City' as well as being a Biblical quote, is a 1935 novel about the razor gangs in Glasgow. My wife's first teaching post was in the Gorbals, the area of Glasgow where the novel is set.