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So I have been reading The Hound of the baskervills and a lot of other Sherlock stories lately and started to wonder what razor Holmes would favor and what Watson might favor and then how about the other fellows in the stories some of who are very traveled people , I know its a pointless mental exercise but its winter and I am bored..
Well, stately, plump, Buck Mulligan would probably not like the English Wade & Butcher... A greek brand would suit him better.
Holmes is carefree and utilitarian but eccentric - hence tobacco stored in a Persian slipper hung by the fireplace. I'm going with a plain W&B wedge - very sharp and useful, but maybe tarnished and I would not be a bit surprised to find the plain black vulcanite scales to have one or more crack repairs in them. He probably obtained it from one of Morioraty's henchman that attacked him with it on a shipping dock.
Watson is quite a different matter being a Doctor. He would have a cased pair of John Barbers with ivory scales. They would have been gifted to him by the crown in honor of his having been wounded while in service in her magisty's military.
Holmes hones his own razor using a hone that was given to him by Sir Baskerville and strops on today's copy of the London Times. Watson has his honed by the local barber and uses an elephant hide strop obtained in India.
shayne,
Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey seems to show some good knowledge of straight razors in the novel 'Have His Carcase'.
When examining the murder weapon (a straight) he could see that the razor had been badly maintained by an irritable man with a tough beard, and the razor had been re-set (honed) many times :)
Have fun !
Best regards
Russ
Harry Flashman, the greatest cad of the Victorian era as written about by George MacDonald Fraser, spent a lot of time worrying about keeping his face furniture in good trim.
As an officer and gentleman in her majesties armed forces he would have had a batman shave him whenever possible, but flash Harry was often sent off up country as an intelligence officer where he would have had to shave himself.
He'd need something that wasn't too ostentatious or otherwise draw attention to himself when roughing it. Obviously it would be from one of Sheffield's finest and considering he needed it keep the face furniture in trim he'd probably want something small and agile, I'd say a 4/8 blade with a spike point and plain ebony scales.
Being an insufferable snob he'd probably pick (or Elspeth have picked for him) something up from Joseph Rodgers and sons, cutlers to their majesties.
Something fairly similar to this: http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...5-8-wedge.html
Of course he would have something a bit more ostentatious with tortise shell or ivory scales when he was in civilized lands and had a servant shaving him, but we are talking about the razor he would use himself.