...marbles?

Interesting!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Razor-Bl...QQcmdZViewItem

I saw this too. Looks interesting for sure.

I've seen such several times, but I can't for the life of me understand how they work, or if they work.
Somehow I doubt they provide a top of the line edge, but I've not seen anything from someone that has tried one.

I've got one.....mine has blue marbles.

I believe they were for sharpening DE razor bades - you just run it lengthwise between the marbles, and, in theory, they would provide a 'double concave' edge.

There are many different styles of historical glass razor blade sharpeners

http://stropper.com/stropper_website...ect5=&select6=

http://stropper.com/stropper_website...lect5=&select6=

and


http://stropper.com/stropper_website...lect5=&select6=

Here's another shot of a marble sharpener

http://stropper.com/stropper_website...lect5=&select6=



As far as how well they work as razor sharpeners, well....







...they make really nice paper weights.

YMMV...but I doubt it!

-whatever

-Lou

EDIT: BTW, those first 3 sharpeners are used by laying the DE blade on the concave glass surface, and then laying your index finger over the blade and sliding it left and right to hone both edges. The curvature of the glass provided the bevel angle. The blade was then flipped over and the other side was honed. My grandfather told me how, during the depression, they would just re-sharpen their DE blades using the inside of a water glass.

Yes those are DE sharpeners and they worked well in their day. DE blades now are stainless and have coatings on them so they are just obsolete but interesting vintage pieces now. I would not recommend using them on a straight. Of course if you want to experiment with a Pakistani go ahead.

I think they provide more of a stropping action. However, if you've ever been to Tony's site, getting another stropping device may not be a necessity :nj