Thread: What dirty little secret/interesting tidbit do you know about shaving/razors?

Well. not exactly secrets, but a few gems from interviews with people from Solingen who were actually there when it happened:

• Dubl Duck? Oh, those. Yes. Well, export [sad chuckle, shrugging] "quality" for the [eyes rolling] American market. We made our apprentices grind them until they were good at it, then had them make real razors.
• Puma? Mass produced crap. And there are no "Puma razors". There are razors with the Puma logo, but they were made by almost everyone here. Mostly amateur jobs. Nobody with even the slightest bit of background knowledge would have bought them.
• Filarmonica? Yes, we made them. Lots of them. Herkenrath blanks. We didn't speak any Spanish, so we put on them what we thought the punters down there might like. And those [sigh] funny [air quotes] scales...
• Americans have always been great customers. No knowledge, but lots of money. Good for business. Really good.

Coming back to "steel quality" and "better brands": That's a lot of bollocks. Many people seem to have a completely wrong concept of how razors were made. Sort of like Disneyland vs Reality. In razor Disney world, lone heroes were applying their master skills to razors, fine tuning them for days or weeks until they had finally managed to make the perfect razor. In some very, very rare instances, this may actually have been the case. I have seen a few show pieces that certainly took considerable skills - and time - to build. Fancy scales, exquisite deep etchings, funky grinds. But those are far and few between.

In reality, blanks were made by the tens of thousands, razors were ground at home not only by regular workers, but also by women, children, and invalids. And we are talking about a highly streamlined, and efficient, production process. Not one man making one razor, but several people executing on individual step of the production process on dozens of razors per day. There was - and still is - absolutely nothing romantic about the production process. It involved hard, undeserving manual labour, and a lot of it menial work. And almost every "maker" "made" razors for everybody else over time. You know what they say about assumptions, and this is especially true for the assumption that one brand which has been around for decades excels across all its models, and time of production. Truth is, there hardly ever were any bad razors, and those that were have long since disappeared. Or would you keep a broken electric toothbrush? Well, neither did they...

PS Camel Riders are indeed quite rare. Someone chanced upon a lot of twelve almost a decade ago. None have reappeared ever since. It's easy enough to find the info you need if you speak German. Because, and that isn't a secret either but a sad fact, kein English - keine Kekse.

Originally Posted by RobinK

Well. not exactly secrets, but a few gems from interviews with people from Solingen who were actually there when it happened:

• Dubl Duck? Oh, those. Yes. Well, export [sad chuckle, shrugging] "quality" for the [eyes rolling] American market. We made our apprentices grind them until they were good at it, then had them make real razors.
• Puma? Mass produced crap. And there are no "Puma razors". There are razors with the Puma logo, but they were made by almost everyone here. Mostly amateur jobs. Nobody with even the slightest bit of background knowledge would have bought them.
• Filarmonica? Yes, we made them. Lots of them. Herkenrath blanks. We didn't speak any Spanish, so we put on them what we thought the punters down there might like. And those [sigh] funny [air quotes] scales...
• Americans have always been great customers. No knowledge, but lots of money. Good for business. Really good.

Coming back to "steel quality" and "better brands": That's a lot of bollocks. Many people seem to have a completely wrong concept of how razors were made. Sort of like Disneyland vs Reality. In razor Disney world, lone heroes were applying their master skills to razors, fine tuning them for days or weeks until they had finally managed to make the perfect razor. In some very, very rare instances, this may actually have been the case. I have seen a few show pieces that certainly took considerable skills - and time - to build. Fancy scales, exquisite deep etchings, funky grinds. But those are far and few between.

In reality, blanks were made by the tens of thousands, razors were ground at home not only by regular workers, but also by women, children, and invalids. And we are talking about a highly streamlined, and efficient, production process. Not one man making one razor, but several people executing on individual step of the production process on dozens of razors per day. There was - and still is - absolutely nothing romantic about the production process. It involved hard, undeserving manual labour, and a lot of it menial work. And almost every "maker" "made" razors for everybody else over time. You know what they say about assumptions, and this is especially true for the assumption that one brand which has been around for decades excels across all its models, and time of production. Truth is, there hardly ever were any bad razors, and those that were have long since disappeared. Or would you keep a broken electric toothbrush? Well, neither did they...

PS Camel Riders are indeed quite rare. Someone chanced upon a lot of twelve almost a decade ago. None have reappeared ever since. It's easy enough to find the info you need if you speak German. Because, and that isn't a secret either but a sad fact, kein English - keine Kekse.

Yeah I had a day like that too, but like my mum used to say, “cheer up buttercup “..... There is no English ~ German translation for that either....

Bill Ellis saying in his CD to put about 3 lbs' worth of pressure on the razor while stropping.

There's some parts of the body that shouldn't be shaved with a straight razor.......


But I'm sure you already knew that....

Originally Posted by Utopian

I very respectably disagree. Some razors have better quality steel and, with the right grind, can shave much better. Even with the best of honing, not all quality razors can provide that perfect feather squeegee shave.

And no one made their own carbon steel, so I would guess a no name razor could shave just as well as one that they stamped letters into.

Originally Posted by HARRYWALLY

There's some parts of the body that shouldn't be shaved with a straight razor.......
But I'm sure you already knew that....

I'll defur to your expertise!

Originally Posted by Geezer

I'll defur to your expertise!

groan


rs,
Tack

Originally Posted by Tack

groan


rs,
Tack

Sigh. Bad mental image. Where's the neatest gentlemen's club

Originally Posted by whoever

Sigh. Bad mental image. Where's the neatest gentlemen's club

I also find neatness my first qualification in a gentlemen's club.

Originally Posted by 57vert

I also find neatness my first qualification in a gentlemen's club.

I guess I will never belong to a gentlmen's club.