Thread: Did our grandfathers shave with blunt razors?

I think the term was marketing but the move (away from straights and toward "safetys") was mainly societal: because it was the latest, greatest thing. It was seen as more high tech etc. A modern parallel was when people threw away (I know people who literally threw them away) their vinyl records when CDs came out. The buzz was that they "sound better," which they absolutely do NOT but that wasn't the reason so many people jumped ship. It was to be on the tech band wagon.

Edit: BTW I have all the old vinyl I bought as a kid, some from my parents and even some 78s from as far back as the 1890s. I have straight razors that are newer.

One you can cut throat. The second , you can only be scratched. That's the difference, dangerous - safe.

I used all my LP,s for shotgun practice

Both can cut a throat there hoss, a DE blade is a sharp tool, so really no safety, ask any kid who found his daddy,s DE blades and played with them

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

a DE blade is a sharp tool, so really no safety, ask any kid who found his daddy,s DE blades and played with them

Ha! I remember cutting myself more than once. Im a slow learner.

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

I used all my LP,s for shotgun practice

Both can cut a throat there hoss, a DE blade is a sharp tool, so really no safety, ask any kid who found his daddy,s DE blades and played with them

Oh man, not the ZZ Top and Allman Brothers I hope? Please tell me there was no Trower in there.

Yeah I sliced my fingers right up on Dad's DE when I was little.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Oh man, not the ZZ Top and Allman Brothers I hope? Please tell me there was no Trower in there.

Yeah I sliced my fingers right up on Dad's DE when I was little.

Yep-I was about 3 when I took my Dad's Gillette SuperSpeed apart and cut the s*&t out of my finger in the middle of the night one time-the blood was everywhere! I was that curious kid who was always getting into trouble over it.

And every gun that was "put away safely" also got played with-thankfully no tragedies in that department. Funny, I'm a safety nut around guns now. My boys could both safely clear a large semi-auto by the time they were eight or so, and both shot the best groups every year at Scout camp after I taught them how to shoot (a little gratuitous bragging, sorry).

Originally Posted by Steve56

Agree, there’s no razor that’s child safe.

I also disagree that a straight is more dangerous than a ‘safety razor’. I’ve not cut myself any more or worse with a straight than the old disposables that I used to use. Safety razor users have their own specialized vocabulary for the wounds that they inflict, which is notably absent in the SR community. So maybe the term ‘safety razor’ was largely marketing?

Totally agree based on personal experience, not that a single example proves a point.

When I was a teen I had a Gillette adjustable DE. I didn’t quite tighten the head enough and the blade caught me on the neck leaving a cut about 6 inches long. It looked like I had tried to cut my head off.

I have never even come close to a cut like that with a straight razor.

I did the same thing on my cheek with a DE less than 5 years ago. I still have a scar from it...and I don't even get to say I got it fending off a mugger who was attempting to rob a group of nuns and orphans

Interesting topic. I've been shaving with a straight and have been along with a strop linen side pasted and have been sharpening them for the last 45 or so years with these stones. Top stone is a soft Ark. which I purchased in the early 70's and the bottom is a hard black Ark. Are there much better stones available for sharpening? Perhaps. Do these work for me? Yes they do. Should I change my sharpening method at this stage of the game? I think not, seems to be working for me thus far.

I wonder how men used to learn to refresh or hone their own razors, not everyone had a dad or brother and my experience is that I don't even know I have killed an edge until i scrape my face with it.

I'm so glad that it sounds like I won't need to spend a fortune, my Nortons and 12k naniwa should do me forever when i get good at them.

I do have a no name barbers hone. My first ever razor was a new Dovo and cost more than I should have spent but hadn't found this forum at the time.

I was about to send it away about a month after i got it for a touch up when I was kindly given a barbers hone by DZEC. I watched gssixgun on youtube, figured out the rough side with my victorinox pen knife and then soaped it up had had at it.

I had no idea what I was doing but I have been shaving with that Dovo in my rotation ever since and it is great.

I have thought about getting some paste but I reckon I can ruin my edges quite nicely with what I have so an extra edge killer might be a bit superfluous.