Did our grandfathers shave with blunt razors?

[welshwizard]

I'm not what you'd call an expert, or anything close. The Norton 4K/8K that I purchased more than a decade ago will outlast me. What was highly recommended back then is thought of as not very good nowadays. There appears to be a school of thought that to sharpen a razor successfully a large number of hones are required, 'a progression' in modern speak. Most of these are relatively expensive.
Many of us will have razors manufactured and first used more than a century ago. I just can't imagine my grandfathers, who were both shaving before safety razors were available, having access to anything more than one hone and a strop. How did they manage?

[alpla444]

A coticule would of been used by some, a barbers I know of in my town still has his, as far as I know he had only ever had that one stone he is an old guy as well, yes it is dished a fair bit.
Just a lot more knowledge and choices now.

[outback]

There used to be guy's that would come around with their horse n cart, later by automobile, and offer honing service's. That was the story I got from a buddy if mine, who happens to be an old school barber. He still uses a traditional straight, but only for touching up around the ears n neck after hair cuts. Now I do it for him.!

[markbignosekelly]

The Norton 4/8 is pretty much all you will ever need. I think most people on this site see shaving with a straight as a hobby, and with hobbies come stuff that they don't need but must have!

I think men would have had a simple barbers hone or as Outback said a mobile sharpener would have come round and sharpened razor, scissors, kitchen knives etc. Much the same as a cobbler would come round to mend shoes.

[RayClem]

Back in ancient days, it seems that people shaved with pieces of sharpened stone or metal. Razors made of bronze and other metals date back ancient Egypt. I doubt these razors were very sharp.

Apparently straight razors similar to what we know today were being made in Sheffield England as early as 1680. For the next 200 years, they were the predominant implement for shaving.

It seems like every region of the world has its own sharpening stones. We have Coticules from Belgium, Thuringians from Germany, La Lune from France, Tam O Shanter and Water of Aye stones from Scotland, Welsh Slates, Vermont Green Slates, Arkansas stones, Apache Strata, Cretan hones (aka Turkish stones) from Crete, Vermio hones from Greece, Rozsutec hones from Solvakia, Guangxi hones from China, Zulu Grey hones from South Africa, various Japanese natural hones, and a wide variety of others.

There are many ways of honing a razor. Purchasing and using a progression of stones from coarse to fine is the fastest way of achieving a sharp edge. However, with sufficient patience, a razor can be taken from bevel set to final finish with many different hones. With some hones, it might take a considerable amount of time to achieve that result. However, people in the past did not live in a "fast food" world and were accustomed to things taking time to accomplish.

[BobH]

It could also be a case of different expectations with today's hobbyists looking for the ne plus ultra in performance as opposed to it shaves well enough to get the job done. Shaving in general is not rocket science but you can make it so if you wish.

Bob

[Euclid440]

I got into razors from knives and chasing knife edges. In the early 70’s, I would buy stones at Gun Shows and talk sharpening with the knife guys.

One guy told me, “if you really want to learn about sharp, get a straight razor. So, in 1975, I had him order me a straight razor, strop brush and 6-inch Translucent Ark.

I watched my barber hone it and I was off, until I rolled the edge with too much pressure. I took it back to him and he reset the bevel on a soft Ark and a Translucent.

In those days there were soft stones and hard fine stones, it was all you needed. Synthetics were just coming available in the US, and they were nothing like stones today. Even Synthetics were a course and fine combination.

There have always been finishers and paste, Chromium Oxide and Ferrous Oxide. (20-30K) From any of the fine grit naturals in the 6-10 k grit range it is easy to get a mirror bevel and keen shaving edge from paste. Any Antique store will have a host of well used pasted paddle strops, that kept guys shaving well.

So, for centuries, it has always been a soft stone for grinding and a fine stone for polishing and paste to get to scalpel keenness.

It was probably this forum and other that started the arms race and progression madness, and the obsession with bevel setting. My first razor that I shaved with for 10 years had the bevel set twice, when new and when I rolled the edge. For 10 years it only saw the Translucent and linen and leather, it shaved just fine.

Most of my personal razors will never have their bevels set for as long as I own them. At best may go to the 8k or Jnat and Tenjyou.

So, we can shave well with just any good fine stone, and very well with paste, linen and leather, just like our grandfathers did.

The most popular shaving edges, Slates, Coticules, Arks and Jnats, have been around for centuries.

[Library Guy]

I can’t remember when I needed something more than a pasted strop and my Austrian Swaty barber hone to maintain my razors. I suspect that many of our forefathers got by with this type of set up or even less.

Here are some random observations/speculations regarding the European/American middle class experience with shaving in the 19th and early 20th century:

• Many did not shave at all and sported outrageous whiskers of bewildering styles.
• Most did not shave themselves and relied on the local barber.
• Those who did self-shave probably still relied on the local barber for special occasions.
• Those who did shave probably sported some combo of facial hair that precluded a full shave- especially of the difficult areas like the upper lip and chin.
• Prior to electric lighting and running water, the need, expectation, and ability to perform a perfect BBS was probably pretty low.
• It’s hard to imagine the 19th century factory or farm laborer even having the time for a daily shave.

Summary: the exclusive self-shaver of years past was a rare beast and was probably satisfied with what we would call a basic clean-up shave and did not expect the level of performance from his kit that we do today.

[Badgister]

Indeed, it is this forum that popularized the use of the synthetic progression and honemeister pissing competitions. I remember the French razor forums calling it honing à l’américaine, as at the time all they used was coticules and pastes.

As a a newb, I followed the trends. When I first started back when this group was only a yahoo group, I managed pretty well with just a barber hone. Then the norton 4K/8k was the bees knees, so I bought one. I hated it, because soaking it was a drag and to make things worse, the esoteric and utterly useless pyramid honing method that was strongly promoted here only made things more confusing.

I ended up selling the norton 4K/8k, and wanted to start doing my own eBay razor restorations, so I bought a, chosera 1k, naniwa 3k/8k,12k followed by Jnat and chromium oxide pasted strop. It worked like a charm, but it really was «too beaucoup».

I then discovered one stone honing on a coticule, and with a little practice was able to get edges as sharp as my previous synthetic progression method. So I sold them all, except the chosera 1k.

So what have I learned from all this? With enough experience you can get excellent comfortable edges with very few stones. I would still recommend the naniwa super stone progression to a beginner, as they are easy to use and consistent. Heck, even Wacker and Aust are using them now.

But if you got into this hobby because you appreciate old world traditions, then using the old school methods is definitely more fun and rewarding, at least for me.

[gssixgun]

Need vs Want

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