Thread: first two razors size question.

I just bought my first two razors on EvilBay. Both are in decent shape but FAR from shave ready and this from a guy who has never touched his face with a straight razor. The top one is a Wilhelm Mandt and the bottom one is, as best as I can figure a W.J. Ferschke perhaps made for the French market. The Mandt is like 17.5 mm from edge to spine or .688". The Ferschke is 20.5mm or .804. Would these be considered 5/8 and 6/8 in the English measurement system?

11/16" & 13/16" is what you have mate
Look like they will be nice shavers too

Approximately 25.4mm to the inch, 3.2mm to the 1/8", so something like 11/16ths and 6/8ths roughly.

Edit, substance is right roughly 13/16ths not 6/8ths

Find someone to hone them up and enjoy the journey
http://straightrazorpalace.com/class...wcat.php?cat=4
Here are some of the guys. You may want to look for a senior member or mentor in your area for a little familiarization too

Those are beautiful razors! Congrats, and enjoy!

Thanks, guys. Yes, I do need to find a honemeister, but as a plan to make razors at some point, I would like to find one that has the time to tell me what is right and wrong with these two in their current state beyond the obvious. The bigger Ferschke one has had a half or perhaps three quarter ass resto and the edge clicks into the scale sometimes. I can see some buffer blemishes up by the heel and the Ferschke and Germany stamps are tiny ones on the monkey tail that have been partially rubbed away. It was sold on Ebay as a "French razor" because it says W.J. and Qualite' Superior" up on the tang. So while the Mandt has some small areas of black rust on the blade, none on the etching, thank goodness, it doesn't' appear to have any pitting and actually appears to have less hone wear, so it may end up looking a little better restored if it even needs to be. There is one black patch near the edge and a couple of tiny spot right down on the edge by the heel, so it looks like this thing hasn't seen a hone for a long time. Probably Grandpa's razor that someone polished up after finding it a garage sale. I may just get the black off the edge and leave it the way it is.

Go to post #26 of the below thread and download and print the straight razor ruler:
LINK:http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ml#post1013972

The razor sizes are approximate. Most razors are measured in 8ths of an inch rounding downwards, so typically 5/8 razor will be a bit over, perhaps 11/16" and 6/8 razor could measure 13/16".
There is the ambiguity whether you measure the size from the edge to the top of the spine or to the hone line and the spines could be of various shapes and thickness. In addition as they are hand ground there is some variations from razor to razor.

Very few companies used measurements in 16ths of an inch and usually that's only for 9/16 and 11/16. It means that they also had 4/8, 5/8 and 6/8 of the same models that were distinguishable and produced consistently within 1/32" tolerances. Everybody else simply used one blank for 5/8 razors, a bigger blank for 6/8 razors (and even bigger blank for the 7/8 to 8/8 razors) after grinding the widths were pretty close to 5/8" and 6/8". It is not unusual to find 5/8 razors that are quite close to 6/8 if you measure with calipers from edge to the top of the spine.

Dr Matt can hone a razor unlike anyone I've seen! You can find him on You Tube. DrMatt357! He's awesome I'm telling you.

Originally Posted by DaddyD

Dr Matt can hone a razor unlike anyone I've seen! You can find him on You Tube. DrMatt357! He's awesome I'm telling you.

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