Thread: What makes Sheffield razors great?

I have heard the hype my curiosity leads me to that question, why a Sheffield razor? Also, why are razors no longer being made in Sheffield?

Don't know why they aren't being made there now (but then again, they aren't really being made in many places), but to me the sheffield razors are hard to beat. It is a subjective thing for me, in my experience, my sheffields are just silky smooth shavers.... all of them. Now, some of them have heavier grinds or lighter grinds, but they are all so smooth. iwish I could talk about grinding skill, metalurgical properties, or something like that..but I cant. I can only say that with the exception of one Boker and a Henckels I have, nothing I've used can match my sheffields.

One thing that always amazes me about Sheffields:
They can come as rust covered as they can possibly be.
It never affects their usability cause the rust never ruins the bevel area to an extent that you cannot sharpen them any more.
(Never = I have about 50 right now and seen maybe a couple more)

+1 on that olivia

case in point...


fantastic shaver...

Sheffield made some of the finest steel around. I have many, You can't beat em!
Wade and Butcher, some of my favorite razor's are Sheffield Steel.....

More than half of my collection of razors were made in Sheffield. I have found them to be almost universally great shavers regardless of their age. As for why, just look at the cutlery manufacturing history of that ancient place in Yorkshire, near fabled Sherwood Forest. Since the early 14th century there is documentation of the production of quality blades there, purchased even by royalty. From a small community of cutlers, it grew into a national industry. The quality continued and improved over 300 years. Here is a quote from a reference I linked in this post, (William Turner Cutlery History) which offers good reasons for the quality of the products, due to a highly regulated system of supervision by Master Cutlers. You can't get better blades than Sheffields, in my opinion. Solingen has an equally old cutlery industry too, and made great blades, but I am more partial to the shave quality of Sheffield steel.

"Indeed, the name of the city and its most famous product became linked; so much so, that in those boom years before the English Civil War, Parliament itself granted control and inspection rights in knifemaking to a Cutlers Company of Hallamshire, the local name for the area surrounding Sheffield. This proud Company, headed by an elected Master Cutler, continues today, its record books filled with the marks of Sheffield cutlers over more than three centuries. Some are still in use."

Link: William Turner Cutlery History

why a Sheffield razor?

As have been said - steel, wonderful steel.

why are razors no longer being made in Sheffield?

During the WWII all the steel went to the army. And cutlers industry has stopped production. After the war, cutlers have not been able to continue production. Many of them have finished work in early 50-s.
Although, this spring I was in Sheffield and found a couple of production, which makes handmade scissors.

Sheffield was simply one great razor making region among many. They aren't any better than Solingen or Eskilstuna or Little Valley. Each region has its adherents on this forum.

American razors tend to be very good shavers but have pretty boring aesthetics. Solingen razors would be boring looking except that they tended to put lots of decoration them.

But Sheffield - Sheffield has wedges, framebacks, swaybacks, hollow grinds, choppers, singing hollows, you-name-it, all made in large enough quantities to be reasonably acquirable and in large enough variety that you'll never collect them all (except maybe Traveller...)

I need to get a Sheffield razor. I have everything else, but no Sheffield. Will look for one. Juan.

Originally Posted by juannaredo

I need to get a Sheffield razor. I have everything else, but no Sheffield. Will look for one. Juan.

You almost certainly won't regret it. I'd vote for the steel too, how can it clean up so well and feel so good? Though the cutlers knew a bit about what they were doing as well.