Thread: Idea of age on a Classifieds razor

Manah, thanks for the further information. I knew it was at least prior to 1891 due to the "Sheffield" only marking but was a bit confused after that.

I do greatly appreciate everyone's input and help.

Originally Posted by manah

The article says about another type of framebacks - real framebacks, with removable blade.

Your razor is with removable spine. Similar razors you can find in the Wostenholm catalog of 1885.

So would mine not be considered a frame back or does it have a different name?

Originally Posted by CharlieTN

So would mine not be considered a frame back or does it have a different name?

No, it's a frameback. There were a variety of styles produced that are all 'true' framebacks.

I tend to think of the one you have as a Swedish style, but I suspect Sheffield was producing them first. I would guess yours was made between 1850 and 1880. More precise than that is really difficult without tracing owners, and even that (in the rare instances that it's possible) is no sure guarantee of when it was made.

Thanks for the info Voidmonster.

It is quickly becoming my favorite razor. Very close and very smooth shave with no irritation at all. I like the weight and width.

I'm afraid I have to disagree - it is not a frameback, nor is it a faux-frameback.

Framebacks have the frame (the bit the blade fits into) permanently mounted, ie it is peened to the spine.

Faux-framebacks resemble framebacks a little, but the whole blade/tang is of one piece (ie they too are not true framebacks either).

The one you pictured has a slit tube of a softer alloy slipped onto the blade - it holds there because the longwise slit in it is, in reality, not quite as wide as the back of the narrow blade, so friction keeps it there - that is, if you manage to get one that is not too battered - being softer than razor steel some get horribly mutilated, so much so I believe they sold replacement tubes.

The blade and tang are one piece and pinned to the scales. The blade is a true wedge, but very thin, probably stamped from steel. Yes - they were a cheap solution, cheap to own and cheap to make. The purpose of the round tube was to give the correct honing angle, however, sometimes the alloy used for the tube was so soft it wore at a much quicker rate than the bevel. so after some visits to the hone the angle was wrong and the bevel too wide.

There are a vast number of them out there - the Swedish ones outnumber the others by a factor of 10 to 1 in my opinion, indicating that the design originally came from Sweden. Sweden in the 1800s was different to what it is now. Prior to that the nation was fairly poor compared to places like England, France, America, etc, but an improvement in health and medecine and foodstock gave rise to a boom in the late 1800s, and millions of swedes left their homeland for other countries. Land was now scarce, politics were in a bad way and there was religious persecution. So I guess their razors got around a bit.

I only know three swedish people, and they usually term this type of razor 'tube frameback' which appears eminently more sensible to me than calling it what it is not.

Regards,
Neil