Thread: How did our Grandfathers sharpen their SRs?

Originally Posted by BobH

I'd say pretty poorly and with a heavy hand from the hone wear on the vintage razors I have. Only half kidding.

Today shaving with a straight razor is a hobby, we have better hones, and tend to be fanatical in achieving the very best shave possible. In the old days shaving was a daily chore and close enough for government work got you by.

Bob

I often wonder how much of that edge damage was done by the original owners, and how much was done by our younger counterparts trying to figure it out with no guidance.

While it is true our parents and grandparents may have only had one stone, more often than not that one stone was a black Arkansas, a coticule, escher, Charnley forest, Tam O'Shanter...the same hones we seek out today. And my grandfather likely put better edges on his pocket knives and razors by accident than I do mine on purpose.

The Arkansas stones were sought after for hones and sharpening stones, but they were hard to get in the 1800's . After the civil war the Arkansas stones were hard to quarry and hard to cut which made them rare and expensive. They were consider the best back then. The traveling sales man made acquiring the coti and the escher stones much easier to get. This is why a lot of people use them. I bet there were only a few people that had razors that went west in wagons. I bet one man with a good razor shaved a hand full of men behind a wagon using just the callused part of his hand for a strop.

My Grandfather was born in 1882. He used a barber's hone, a strop, and a Lakeside Cutlery Army/Navy razor. His brother used a coticule, a strop, and a Wade & Butcher razor. I'm the proud owner of both razors and both hones.