La pogonotomie ou l'art d'apprendre a se raser soi-meme

La pogonotomie ou l'art d'apprendre se raser soi-meme is a classic French text written in 1770 on how to learn how to shave oneself and teaches the reader about the use of hones (especially coticules) and how to tell good hones from bad ones etc. and strops and lots of other stuff.

It's available on line: La pogonotomie, ou L'art d'apprendre ... - Google Boeken

Unfortunately it is hard to read for most members. I have been toying with translating this book to make it accessible for all members here.

However this will take quite some effort and time. Time will be a problem for me. Another problem is that my French is sufficient to get the gist of what the author says but I was never taught translating French to English. Therefore my translation might be a bit awkward or clumsy at times. So I'll need someone who takes care of editing my English text.


So, my questions are: 1st: are you guys interested, or do you think the contents of this book add nothing to what we already know? 2nd: are there any members who are willing to help? We might take it in turns, say I translate one or 2 pages, and then another member does another page until we will have finished all 150 pages.

When completed the entire translation might be added to the SRP wiki.

Just to get a flavour of the book I'll give you a translation of the first & second page. I skipped the preface as it is more difficult to translate than the more technical 150 pages of the actual text.

Pogonotomy or the art of learning how to shave oneself

First chapter

On razor hones and their different qualities

Not all sorts of stones are right for the cutting edge of a razor. Those from the Levant (=Middle East) for example have too large pores and create teeth that are intolerable to the face from the first passes onwards. The greenish stones imported from Spain as well as those that are found in the Lorraine (region in France) and also another sort, that's black and originates from England have more or less the same grit; their pores are too compact, they are too soft and cut too hard.
The only stones apporpriate for the cutting edge of a razor are those called Razor Hones. They are found in quarries near Liege and on the banks of the Meuse, the only quarries of that sort in Europe: these hones are usually white: some are milky white, others are yellowish; the latter are from the old rock. A large number of these stones have black spots or black veins. In general there bad ones among the white and marbled ones. But you'll rarely find a bad one among the milky white ones that look cracked and ready to break. These are the rarest, they are called Stones from La Venette.

Nice :) A translation would be awesome!

Haha old indeed! On the first page, the index "talks" about observations on the "saignée" - bloodletting in English! It is also written in old french but I could very well help with that project... can't really invest a lot of energy into it due to a medical condition but here's what the first page says:

"Pogonotomy or the art of learning how to shave yourself with:

- How to learn types of stones to sharpen all tools and instruments
- How to prepare strop to repair/resharpen razors / How to make good ones (Strops!)

PREFACE

It is, trembling, that I get into this career, where a lot of craftsmen/erudites distinguish themselves; there would be a bit of recklessness in calling myself an author in a century that is as "lightened" as this one (reference to siècle des Lumières / french revolution in the 17-18th centuries) if I didn't have the confidence to give new and useful observations on an Art that I became familiar with, out of habit and that my reflections made me perfect. You shouldn't try to find a pompous discourse in this work: my only goal is to be useful. I'm only looking to express myself in the most clearful way: that is my only ambition. Jealous to get knowledge from the human genre, I will find all that my long experience teached me in an Art that it will always need.

iv
I will start by showing men, the easiest and safest ways to do that mandatory operation with dexterity, exception made of certain particular nations who, jealous of antique customs, think that shaving their entire beard degrades the male "prestige". It is surprising that with the countless number of books that are honoring our literature and all of the universe, that we can't find a simple brochure that teaches the Man, the principles to start early in his youth, to do an operation that he will have to repeat multiples time in a week. You will tell me, maybe, that there are public barbers for ones and valets for others, I know, but what are their drawbacks? How many people by the means of rasors and soaps that were used to shave sick people with scurf patches, pimples and deadly diseases and that made cruel ravages?

It is impossible, even for a handy barber to shave a man with scurf patches and has a face filled with pimples, without cutting them. At this moment, pus sticks not only to the razor & the steel's pores but also on the brush, on the barber's hands, on the soap, in the water and the towel. All the tools you used becomes depositories of particules and will "communicate" dirtiness, unpleasant & shameful illnesses to whom will have the bad fate of getting shaved by the same hand & instruments. Regretfully, not only one man can get infected: even the towel that everybody uses will be enough to contaminate people shaved during that day. What an accident for healthy people with good skin and blood to take such risks! Do you think I don't have any example as to what I'm saying? The fact is sadly too evident.
........
:popcorn:

Here's another page. Did you notice that the stone from Liege is the good old coticule? Liege is the first town north of the Ardennes. Problably the coticules once quarried were transported to Liege and distributed from there. The authour goes on telling us how to distinguish a good from a bad one.

Page 3:

Amongst the latter there is the occasional bad one: it contains a very hard pebble and even grains of iron;this is very harmful because you cannot hone a razor without damaging it especially when the grain is in a place that you cannot avoid when honing a razor.
It takes a lot of experience to acquire great knowledge of these stones; to be able to distinguish at a glance a good one from a mediocre and a bad one. The safest way is to find out by trying: by repeatedly honing a few razors on it.
The best indication is a uniform grain with pores that are not to large or open as such a stone is too soft; and to the contrary, a too dense grit that you can only mark with difficulty with a copper needle will be too hard. Therefore you need the mean between those too extremes, that is to say a grit not too dense nor too open that the needle can bite without too much resistance.

Page 4

One can test whether a hone is coarse by passing the thumb nail over it and pushing lightly; by this test one can feel whether it is gritty in which case the nail will run unevenly. It will glide over the hard and over the soft it will drag. On a good hone the rubbing will be even and the nail should be "eaten" gently.
Such a stone is generally half white and half black (1); rarely the black is usable for sharpening, it is either too hard or to soft.


The first sentence of page 5 seems to contradict the 2nd sentence. I could do with some help here. So, PLEASE CHIME IN IF YOU CAN!

Page 5.

However the black spots speckled on the white surface don't differ from the goodness nor the quality of the white itself. Those stones are of no use once all the white is gone and only the black is left.

Was that the bit that troubled you?

Isn't this the book that Arthur Boon translated over on RazorCentral - Home of the straight razor?

Best Regards,
EL

Thanks for the link. I found it once, but I was never able to find it again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MichaelP

Page 5.

However the black spots speckled on the white surface don't differ from the goodness nor the quality of the white itself. Those stones are of no use once all the white is gone and only the black is left.

Was that the bit that troubled you?

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Yes it was. I got about that far, however the first sentence does not make sense to me. Does it mean the black spots do not interfere with the quality?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by elbonator

Isn't this the book that Arthur Boon translated over on RazorCentral - Home of the straight razor?

Best Regards,
EL

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Thanks for pointing this out. Under La pogonotomia I-IV you find an abstract of the book but not a one to one translation. The original French version has 150 pages. The author seems to dwell on the subjects considerably. I'll do a quick check of the original text and Arthur Boon's abstract and take it from there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kees

Thanks for pointing this out. Under La pogonotomia I-IV you find an abstract of the book but not a one to one translation. The original French version has 150 pages. The author seems to dwell on the subjects considerably. I'll do a quick check of the original text and Arthur Boon's abstract and take it from there.

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Very good. Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kees

Yes it was. I got about that far, however the first sentence does not make sense to me. Does it mean the black spots do not interfere with the quality?

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It means that they are of the same quality as the surrounding white material usually and therefore don't impact the quality at all.

Regrouping that in the correct thread :

Perret Chapter VII (pp 75-82)

A method in order to learn how to shave oneself with a "rasoir à rabot" (plane razor) ; another method to try yourself on a wig head

As many people use the plane razor, not only to learn how to shave, but also for everyday use ; and given that this same razor differs from an ordinary razor, because you have to put on and adapt the plane to the blade ; I think it's wise to define it exactly and to teach the best way on how to set it up and how to use it with dexterity.

Attachment 198693

Figure 10 on the first illustration page, represents the wooden piece ready to receive the blade. Hold this wooden piece in you right hand, keep your thumb stuck to Y, and two or three fingers below, being caution, however, not to put your finger in front of the edge of the razor, but on the contrary a little behind, in order not to harm yourself.
In order to shave yourself, you will have to handle the razor by the middle, so that the nail joining blade and handle rests on the middle finger : hold with your ring finger and your small finger either on the handle or the scales ; press your thumb on the tang, your index being parallel below ; in this position, let the blade or the razor flow in a direct line until the end , so that the pin Q, which goes through the wood of the plane, enters the indentation R or the razors nose, and that the hook U on the tang grips on the end of the wooden piece O.

Figure 13 represents the razor once set up and in the configuration where it is ready to shave. Such kind of scales gives its name to the plane razor, reminding the woodworker's plane.

The way to use it is, for all intent and purpose, the same as an ordinary razor, explained in the previous chapter : you need to pull your skin and mow down, as we said above for ordinary razors. However, the beard cut down, that is, hairs and foam which are dirty, tend to naturally accumulate between the razor's blade and the wooden piece ; though a gutter etched in the plane's wood, as can be seen on figure g sss, strongly reduces this drawback, as it allows the grime to easily get in there, and lets it go away easily ; to that effect, one must only present the edge pointing down and do a movement akin to a whip lash, effectively and easily chasing all the grime ; then one only has to wipe the exterior of the plane on the canvas or a towel, as you would with an ordinary razor ; this way, you don't have to remove the scales from the blade every time to wipe it ; the only thing being not forgetting to do it as soon as the beard is no more, because once dry the grime tends to get thicker and does not flow as easily ; besides it keeps the wood clean and prevents rusts for appearing on the razor

The skind does not have to be as regularly stretched using a plane razor as it would be with an ordinary razor, as all the faces of the plane's wood are rounded so that when one applies the razor on his face, the part I of the plane makes a flattend bump, stretches the skin by itself and strongly facilitates the cutting action ; the razor is even softer, as the tension point is always close to the edge.

Using this instrument, someone who would only have one arm, would be able to shave easily, simply using (as stated previously) the faculties of muscles and tendons, in order to stretch the cheeks, lengthen the uper lip for the mustache, open the mouth to shave the corners, look up to stretch the throat, etc. Using this tricks one can have a good shave with one hand.

I believe that this advantage is sufficiently important in our society to create a favorable reception for this instrument.
It is quite hard to shave the whole head by yourself with an ordinary razor, particularly behind the ears and in the neck ; but the plane razor this operation can be done easily, as is doing the whole head around without any risk for harm ; besides, the ability to use both handes while just by changing the wooden piece (every razor is honed on two planes, one for the left hand, and one for the right hand, each plane being set up using the same mechanism - When these razors appeared, I used to make the plane's wood with pink ("rose ?") wood and scales using this same wood, but the color tends to get dirty and acumulates much grime in the operation, I therfore chose to craft the planes using ebony the less porous, the strongest and the blackest, which is ebony from mauritania, which is far cleaner - I even make them using tortoise now) leaves nothing to desire from the advantage of being able to shave the whole body.
To successfully and dexterously shave your head, either with a plane or an ordinary razor, your hair must be cut as short as possible, and then clean and lather your head as prescribed for the beard.

Then, take your razor in one hand, the other resting on your forehead, with the edge close to your fingers, and mow from front to back all around the forehead, the temples, and close to the ears ; once a place is shaven, move the point of tension on the shaven part, so that it always follows closely the edge of the razor, otherwise one could cut himself anytime, not with a plane razor, but with an ordinary one.
Do not neglect finding for yourself the best positions for your hand, and the different orientations of your head which help your natural skill, as it is important to shave freely and without obstruction ; most of all always pay attention to the fact that every movement must comme from your wrist.
Once the forehead is shaven (I suppose you hold your razor in your right hand) shave behind the right ear ; and to do so, bring your left hand to your ear, lay it in front, put your razor perpendicularly behind, and mow front to back, as long as your stroke can go several times (not even sure what he meant in French)

For the left side, hold you razor in the other hand, use your right hand to flatten your left ear, and follow exactly as described above for the right ear ; the left hand (I suppose) has to end the process, that is, shaving the back of your head.
In order to do that, bring your right hand behind your head, the razor below it, always close to your fingers, tilt your head forward and you will be able to shave as far down as you want.

Finally, if one wants to shave himself, whatever the type of razor, without getting hurt, use a wig head, be it wood, leather or cardboard ; powder the face with a brush (damn, it was an obsolete word with bad spelling) so that half of it is correctly powdered, that is the cheeks, the mustache, the beard and the throat ; then put this powdered head, at the right height and distance so that you can see all the face. Put yourself behing it : take your razor as demonstrated on figure 3 of the second illustration page, and remember everything that is described in the method on how to shave oneself, Chapter VI. Observe, then, every move of your hands, the tension points and razor strokes ; then exerce yourself by removing softly the powder on this head without flaying it, be it wooden or cardboard made ; always look closely at the place you are shaving, wipe your razor as if the powder you remove was grime from the beard, to accustom your hand to every movement. Repeat this exercice ten to a dozen times, and however clumsy one may be, it is certain one will easily get to train his hand to shave with dexterity and without slashing his face.

It would be wise and charitable for poor people and bad payers that barbers give this principle to their apprentices, and have them train for three to four month on wig head, before exposing a human face to the shaking hand of an apprentice and to the swiftness of a pityless edge if not driven by a wise and confident hand which could manage it.


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Proofreading my translation I see how it sounds, like baby English, or, horror, Chinese manual. I assure you that I tried to be as faithful to the original phrasing as possible. It's an old technical book, they were not as cautious on the phrasing as we are now. But then again, it's a bad practice to translate to a foreign language... A French speaking native English speaker would probably do a better job.

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If I ever get in another discussion quoting a chapter from Perret's I'll translate it at that time

Thank you for resuscitating my thread.

You are very welcome, I had great pleasure discovering this book, and I think that the advices he provides are up to par to the best "new shaver tutorials" that you can find around. The year was 1770 imagine that :)

Necropost here. I only recently made the effort to read this book. For those who read French, there is an amazing website that has the original scan of the book.

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bp...mie?rk=21459;2

To my surprise the book is very thorough, especially on honing and edge maintenance. The author favours coticules, although they didn’t have such a name back in 1769. Seeing the use of the term “la venette” and his admiration for coticules that are milky white and look “cracked” made me chuckle. My most prized coticule displays this feature.