Thread: Here is a silly thought.

Originally Posted by JeffR

I suspect that we are underestimating the skill and resourcefulness of our forefathers. If we could travel back to their time I expect we would find that most honed their own razors very well, with stones that many of us would consider to be too course.

I didn't mean to imply no one could hone a razor back in the day.........only most people. I hold the past in my hands every time I pick up one of my grandfather's tools. He was a hellofa coppersmith and an accomplished carpenter but his blades were an abomination. Most people of his generation didn't spend their leisure time hobbying with razors and I like to think if he were here now I would do him proudly to let him shave with one of my razors.

More imortantly, there was always that guys who wanted to make his knife or razor sharper than anyone elses.... I remember in the army there was always that one guy that everyone brought thier knife to get a blistering edge on.... And even now I meet people that live to show me how stinking sharp thier knives are... I imaginne it was the same with razors..... There was a Glen And a Max in every town.

I have read about every tome ever written about the Klondike,as said above Cutlers were the people that maintained all sorts of blades from axes to Razors.
In the town of Dawson they had 3 cutlers that set up shops,in one of the books they posted a fee schedual that encluded sharpening services for Knives,Axes,Ice skates,Sled runners and Straight Razors,razor sharpening was 65 cents per/blade.

I always find it interesting how as time goes by we lose such touch with what went on in the past we really have no clue and so we fill in the blanks the best we can.

So we know everyone used a razor and trying to figure out how it was maintained is no different than guys who drive a car needing maint. and being filthy inside and out and that's fine with them. Most guys took care of their own razors and some were good at it and some weren't and some got good comfortable shaves and some didn't. That's why Mr Gillette was so successful. Once his invention became known straights were put away in record numbers. Certainly some paid to get their razors sharpened by cutlers and barbers but in general they did it themselves with some old hone they acquired.

As far as razors themselves go Glen is right. We see the pieces that are who knows how many years old and have been sitting around who knows where and have been abused who knows how. How many millions of straights saw the garbage years ago.

Just think of it in modern terms and it all becomes clear, really

If I may interject my $0.02, I think it akin to the "average Joe's" ability at maintaining an automobile across the decades of the 20th century. Surely there existed a wide spectrum of ability among users of both aforementioned products, just as there is today. As this is almost certainly a universally accepted paradigm, I think that there were probably more men capable of "maintaining" a straight razor from the 1900s-1950s than were truly capable of "routine" auto maintenance during the same era.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I always find it interesting how as time goes by we lose such touch with what went on in the past we really have no clue and so we fill in the blanks the best we can.

I agree TBS it is the filling in the blanks which intrigues me.

Example: Old civil war veterans photos which mostly show old men didn't shave much.
Most pre 1900 photos of ordinary people depict the majority of men with facial hair.
When I started shaving with a straight I learned why. It takes time and skill. Life was filled with a lot of just living.
It brought home the human reality and helped me to relate to the past.

The prosperity of our culture often serves to obscure the human realities of history and in doing so iconifies the ordinary.

It is rewarding to break things back down to a common understanding and preserve the wisdom of the past which so routinely seems to be tossed in the trash like all those razors.

I embrace modern solutions to the problems we all face but I get frustrated with change which obliterates history and tradition. We should be able to put up a parking lot without paving over paradise.

I don't care to stop and smell the coffee brewed on asphalt.

Here is a fitting story about how ignorance is bliss.

I have a friend that bought a straight razor at an antique shop. He stropped it on a strop he has for knives (bare leather), then shaved with it. He says, "it shaves good".

I would suggest that "back in the day" this was probably fairly normal occurrence...a guy gets a razor (at the store, at a sale, from his grandfather, whatever means by which young men got their first razor), they stropped it, and shaved to avoid trouble (because you probably had to shave to go to school or church in that day). They probably liked shaving about as much as we like putting on deodorant...it just had to be done.

Perhaps a local barber would sharpen a razor for a patron for a fee? Who knows...but my point is, that if you never have a SUPER sharp blade, you will shave with what you do have and conclude that it does the job...

Ive often thought this as well. When I see old black & white photos from the past, all the beards make me think that people either didn't own a decent razor, or they were dull to the point that they didn't cut the hair but rather scraped it off. It may not have been comfortable. Imagine the women..uuuuggggghh

Originally Posted by jaswarb

I agree TBS it is the filling in the blanks which intrigues me.

Example: Old civil war veterans photos which mostly show old men didn't shave much.
Most pre 1900 photos of ordinary people depict the majority of men with facial hair.
When I started shaving with a straight I learned why. It takes time and skill. Life was filled with a lot of just living.
It brought home the human reality and helped me to relate to the past.

The prosperity of our culture often serves to obscure the human realities of history and in doing so iconifies the ordinary.

It is rewarding to break things back down to a common understanding and preserve the wisdom of the past which so routinely seems to be tossed in the trash like all those razors.

I embrace modern solutions to the problems we all face but I get frustrated with change which obliterates history and tradition. We should be able to put up a parking lot without paving over paradise.

I don't care to stop and smell the coffee brewed on asphalt.

Originally Posted by CStevens

I can't help but wonder just how good were "average guys" at honing their razors back when there were only straight razors. I wonder this because many of the old razors you see on ebay, as well as a couple of my grandpas/great granpas razors are flat on the spines with deep scratches. If they are flat but smooth, they've obviously been honed with a smooth hone, but some of the deep scratches indicate perhaps someone tried a hone meant for pocket knives. My father told me that he can't remember my grandfathers ever even owning any barbers hones. Then again this may be why they put them all in a box and never used them again. Again, I'm not talking about a barber, or someone who done it professionally, just "average joes"

Some of the scratches you see on old razors may not have had anything to do with the honing.
As you know, razors need to be maintained in ways other than the sharpness of their edge. Rust has been the enemy of steel since the beginning. Today we have MAAS, Mothers, Semi-Chrome, 3M wet/dry paper in dozens of grit levels, cloths & chemicals that work wonders on maintaining our steel. Some of those scratches could be from the only resources that were available to remove rust, pitting.

The audience that you are speaking to is highly concerned with the areas of honing(sometimes chasing the perfect edge), and razor maintenance. If a water spot discolors my W&B over night, holy cow, grab the Mothers. I doubt my grandfathers had this kind of love relationship with their W&B's.

I'm willing to bet that a Cutler in the 1800's would have give his wife away for a Norton 4/8.

According the Benfamin Kingsbury's "A Treatise on Razors" booklet from around 1820, it was not just the average Joe who was not accomplished honers but the barbers themselves. Sorry I don't have the link but this historical account is from a man who gives us insight on a much duller time for the razor...

edit link http://books.google.com/books?id=dT4...page&q&f=false

Edit edit Napolean Lablanc booklet was the one I was thinking about but the first link is interesting too. Here it is

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34507911/1...s-Razor-Honing