Thread: Odd spine. Removed or made this way?

Hello again, and thank you Lynn and gents, for making this place possible.
1st of I want to state, I as some of you are new, and I don't want to offend any of the seasoned veterans here. So if I Wade & "Butcher" the terminology, please forgive me.

As of late I have been running across razors that appear to have sections of the spine removed. At first I thought these were modifications done to frameback razors (see below), but this didn't make any sense, because of the design. Then I noticed this being preformed on razors that I knew to have a spine.

So, what is the purpose of removing sections of the spine? Weight, balance, decay (pitting), design?

Erik Anton Berg (No.62) Swedish razor


The one on the right is a Henckels Twinworks (No.060) Solingen Germeny

I'll be nice and just say it looks like somebody is wade and Butchering some razors thinking it's cool. I don't :<0)

The fact that these two examples come from opposite sides of the globe (I know Sweden and Germany are closer than either to the U.S.) is puzzling. Either the same person had possession of these two razors and preformed the same work. Or it's bigger than that.

Or it's a small group of cool dudes on Facebook :<0) It looks to me like somebody (s) taking off hone wear the wrong way. Just saying for the sake of conversation. If you like the look get one. I see the top of the spine marking up my nice strops.

The Anton Berg I believe is missing the spine. Look on strazors.com. I have seen some that slip on and others that are permanent.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ird-spine.html


IF I had one like that I would be crazy enough to try and put some brass on it.

They are the real deal - that is, they were made that way (the ones with the cut down spine).

Why? They were bought with a slip on sleeve (a 'guard') that came as a protector, to stop the nervous or infirm cutting themselves. Some people used then to trim hair, too. They are generically referred to as guard razors, and have a fairl long history - back to the US Civil War and earlier.

There were many makes, including this Henckels:





It is not the same thing as the slip-on spine that we find in other (mainly Swedish) makes - these ones have a very thin blade, some are blued, all are wedge-shaped seen full-on, even though they are so thin. The spine - a tube of metal with a lengthwise slit) was there to provide the the honing angle.

The guard razor does not need the guard attachment for this - it is honed in the conventional manner.

I think they look great.

Regards,
Neil

So, the guard isn't required to properly hone or strop?
The guard was intended for the user while shaving? To protect the user. I see in your photo how it was intended to be used.

Here is a head-on of the blade. So it's safe to assume the guard isn't required to use, hone or strop. But would add value?

TY Neil for clearing up the mystery of this grind. I have the Henckels you posted but do not have the guard. I have always wondered if this was just a unique grind or what. Now I know, and now I need to find the guard because I am OCD like that.

Exactly. Now we need a timemachine to return to 1857. ��