Straight Razor Maintenance for the Common Man in Years Past

As an avid student of history and a living history hobbiest, I often conduct research into the way more common chores/tasks in life were completed by the "common" man - say 200 years ago. The first lesson I've learned is that there was little time for recreation. A person's life was busy from before sunrise to after sunset. It was a chore just to survive and provide for a family. Life was difficult, dangerous, and dirty.

That being said, I'm curious as to how much razor maintenance someone would have done at that time. Was the maintenance (honing) done by the owner or possibly done by a cutler? I'm reasonably confident that the preferred stones for honing were not common place or easy to obtain.

Men in the 18th century kept their faces neatly shaven. Even the fur trappers, despite modern depictions, kept their faces cleanly shaven - as was preferred by the Native Americans. Furry faced mountain men were disliked and distrusted.

So, how much honing was performed, by who, and is the amount of maintenance we perform today overkill?

Sandycrack

I believe most people went to a Barber and was shaved by him. Back then the Barber not only took care of the beard and hair but also the basic medical needs. The people who did shave themselves most likely only had one stone, or had a barber fix it up. But I don't know cause I wasn't there, or maybe I was but I forgot about it like I forgot what happened last Friday night.

There a great old free Book PDF file from 1905: "Shaving Made Easy".

It's old school and a very interesting read:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...made-easy.html

Enjoy!

Back in the 19th century here in the U.S most of the population lived in rural areas and barbers were a long way off and folks only went into town now and then when they had to and even if they lived in a city the common man couldn't afford to go to a barber except as a rare treat or special occasion.

Most shaved themselves. As far as honing goes most did it themselves. There were plenty of itinerant folks who did it and were available. I imagine depending on your financial situation that dictated if you did it yourself or not.

Remember, in those days folks didn't fuss after these things like we do. I suspect most managed to get their razors sharp enough to do the job. That's why Mr Gillette was so successful.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Remember, in those days folks didn't fuss after these things like we do. I suspect most managed to get their razors sharp enough to do the job.

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That's very true, and I think there are parallels with developing parts of the world today. I've seen my wife's brother in NE Thailand shaving dry with a disposable razor that I'd say was well past its "dispose by" usage. It would have ripped my face up, but he finished scraping away, splashed some water over himself, and went off to do some work.

As for Italy, where in the past most of the areas were rural, going to a barber shop was simply more than luxury, also for the fact they all were in cities, or, in the better cases, in some major villages. Add to this money was a concern, too, and paying a barber for shaving or cutting hair was something seldom happening.
As far as I know, also according to what my great-grandfather was doing in this regard, men usually took care of their own razors, strops and all the rest. Most of the times the tools were self made, including hones.
These tools were usually passed from one generation to another, a tradition unfortunately stopped in ours. Sometimes they mutually shaved or gave a hair cut to a relative or friend. Buying a hone was not that common and, in that case, it was used by all the members of a family, kept with a huge deal of care.
As far as I know, whenever possible, every man had his own straight razor and strop. They were considered "very personal items".

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Originally Posted by Sandycrack

As an avid student of history and a living history hobbiest, I often conduct research into the way more common chores/tasks in life were completed by the "common" man - say 200 years ago. The first lesson I've learned is that there was little time for recreation. A person's life was busy from before sunrise to after sunset. It was a chore just to survive and provide for a family. Life was difficult, dangerous, and dirty.

That being said, I'm curious as to how much razor maintenance someone would have done at that time. Was the maintenance (honing) done by the owner or possibly done by a cutler? I'm reasonably confident that the preferred stones for honing were not common place or easy to obtain.

Men in the 18th century kept their faces neatly shaven. Even the fur trappers, despite modern depictions, kept their faces cleanly shaven - as was preferred by the Native Americans. Furry faced mountain men were disliked and distrusted.

So, how much honing was performed, by who, and is the amount of maintenance we perform today overkill?

Sandycrack

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Sandycrack,
I'd be interested in knowing what data you used to come to your conclusions. For instance, and I haven't made a study of it, just read abstracts of research here and there on my way to doing other things, but most sociologists and social historians conclude that the "average" person works more now than they did in pre-industrial times and that farm laborers during the rise of machine automation worked less than their factory counterparts. Early factory workers support your case, but their numbers were small and by the time the majority of westerners were no longer agriicultural workers, labor laws had limited the number of hours a person was forced to work in the factory. At least that's the story I heard.

The other thing you say which is the exact opposite of what I was taught is that most men in the 18th century were clean shaven. I can only speak of Western culture, but my understanding is that this was simply not true. Those part of or serving the court may have chosen to be clean shaven, typically done by barbers, but the vast majority of others did not regularly shave. Certainly not the "common man". In fact, up until the widespread acceptance of the germ theory (not until the latter half of the 19th century and never fully adopted by teenage boys), many people believed that bathing and other now common grooming habits were "unhealthy".

If you have some data that strongly suggests the opposite, I'd love to know about it. It's alway fun to exchange truth for error so don't be shy in correcting me if you have information that argues otherwise.

One thing about which you're certainly correct is that life was dirty and dangerous. Up until the 1880's , iirc, average life expectance for a man was around 47 and 50% of all women died in childbirth. Most deaths were the result of things easily cured or managed today and infant mortality was routine.

While I have no reference for this, I reckon many razors were kept sharp with pasted strops of some sort. Chalk, burnt bone and rust (ferrous oxide) are all abrasive and must have been easy enough to come by and put on a strap of cloth or leather. Again, don't quote me, but it seems likely to me. Interesting question!

It was quite common as well for men to take their razor to a barber shop and the barber would touch it up for a fee.

As for your last question, the maintenance we do today is overkill by comparison. The edges of yesteryear would probably be considered barely shaveable by our standards and razor honing would have been just another chore. As previously mentioned, this was a factor in the rise of Gillette's safety razor.

And a flat hone was a rarity as they didn't have dmts. SO they just got used to using a dished hone.. That where all those blades we buy that are so off come from. Or they hone them spine off the stone. I agree with the statement about shave ready today as opposed to years ago. The barbers hone was the tool of choice and it was maybe 6k max. So much for the 20-30k hones of today and the pastes etc. Diamond paste cbn etc. In the future for these guys.

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Originally Posted by razorguy

Most of the times the tools were self made, including hones.

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Do you mean hones were made or were they cut from the rocks?

My mother told me that her uncle who was born in the late 1800s took his razors to a barber. I have a Dutch barbers' manual that mentions barbers honing for customers. It also mentions barbers weren't too happy honing customers' razors because the cutting edges were often in a very poor state and took a lot of time for little money to get in good working order again.

Many barbers had their razors honed by folks who traveled around doing this for a living. I guess like everything else some liked doing it and some didn't.

I have heard about many people who were using loose abrasive particles, on a flat piece of wood. Be that sand, emery powder and many other types of abrasives, with ranging grit. And, of course, there where stones, coarse medium, fine and finishers. 200 years ago, woodworking tools needed to be sharp, as did knives. Some great wars where fought, in many continents. And, then, the sword was still in use. That means, a lot of steel needed to be removed to make their edge sharp. For millions, I would like to think, swords. And, that means, abrasives had to be readily available, so did the know how. Today, the majority of people haven't even touched a sharpening stone, and, after all, why should we-them?
I don't think that someone needed internet to found out what stone he needed to sharpen-hone his tool. Rural areas or cities, people with the knowledge existed, and I doubt they were reluctant about sharing their knowledge.
I think, it was kind of like today. If someone was willing to spend money, and search for stones (or powders), buy them or find a piece somewhere, he could.

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Originally Posted by Kees

Do you mean hones were made or were they cut from the rocks?

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Both. They were sometimes cut from the rock and then flattened an shaped in order to be used as a hone. The same was true for scythe and other cutting tools: they were sometimes honed with a self made hone.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Many barbers had their razors honed by folks who traveled around doing this for a living. I guess like everything else some liked doing it and some didn't.

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This is also true and this is, for example, what Mastro Livi's father and grandfather were doing. They were usually visiting barber shops and offered their professional skill to hone razors and scissors. Mastro Livi too personally did this in his youth and before the "straight razor" was banned from barber shops by law.

What I want to know is how the Egyptians cut 100 foot long slabs of granite that weighed 60 tons as well as 2 million limestone blocks without modern tools or equipment(no steel yet) to build 1 pyramid. 20 years and 300 blocks a day at 7 days a week with the top blocks averaged in(much harder to the higher you go). I guess the honing sounded easier.

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Originally Posted by bill3152

What I want to know is how the Egyptians cut 100 foot long slabs of granite that weighed 60 tons as well as 2 million limestone blocks without modern tools or equipment(no steel yet) to build 1 pyramid. 20 years and 300 blocks a day at 7 days a week with the top blocks averaged in(much harder to the higher you go). I guess the honing sounded easier.

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I do study the history of my city since a very long time now (here in Perugia lived Etruscans, about 3000 years ago) and they built magnificent arcs, temples, buildings and tombs. I have always believed ancient civilizations were "more modern" than what we would ever believe or think. Egyptians too, of course.
In many regards - including civilization, technique, art and social organization - we are a lot behind than those ancient people.