Thread: Prices of early 1800s razors when made

Hi,

I own some usable Sheffield razors dating from roughly 1815-1825.
One of the things that interest me is how much they cost back then
(pounds, shillings and pence). I gleaned little information from the web,
just a statement that a good razor in 1800, one made of tool steel, cost
as much as a standard sword, which is suggestive, but not much help.

My suspicion is that an early serious razor, for example a Greaves, cost
a weeks wages at least for a typical factory worker. Anybody out there
know or have pointers to sources?

THX

Good question. We have adverts from later razors to go by, but going back to those days, it would be interesting to see some.

If you look on strazors.com some of the manufacturers show catalog pages with prices.

Yes, that site does have some catalogue pages, thank you.

Those pages tell us what good razors went for post-1860, since the first mail-order catalogue in
Britain was 1861. In the US the 'Monkey Ward' catalogue started in 1872 and Sears much later.
The Hibbard, Spencer and Bartlett prices for the Wade Butcher razors are 1882 or later
(True Value Hardware goes back to Hibbard et al by the way). The Wostenholm prices are 1885.

Back in 1820 razors still required a great deal of handwork, since the blister steel needed was
made in small batches in crucible ovens. By the 1860s razors were indeed pretty cheap.

Yes, but in respect to cost at the time, all is relative. 20 or 50 years was a really long time in this era of small maker-made compared to factory.
Wish Neil Miller would come along??

Interesting thread. I hope someone has some cool information like old invoices or the like. Some of our members come up with some over the top information. My google fu is not that strong.

Probably about as now. They cost too damn much, but fellows bought all they could!

Originally Posted by ggfinn

...Back in 1820 razors still required a great deal of handwork, since the blister steel needed was made in small batches in crucible ovens...

I am not sure at all about that.

Blister steel was made from wrought iron. In the cementation process, wrought iron rods were packed in ovens with sources of carbon (eg "cement powder") in alternate layers and heated for a week of more. This got more carbon into the steel, but it was not uniform - the surface had carbon rich blisters on it, but the carbon content fell off as the centre of the bar approached.

So it was broken up, heated and hammered to get a more even distribution of carbon and was then known as shear steel, which when properly done gave a wonderfully fine edge to edge tools etc. Sometimes the process of breaking up, heating and hammering was done again - to give Double Shear Steel. I think there was also a Triple Shear Steel.

Or the blister steel was used to make crucible steel (introduced in 1745 by Benjamin Huntsman in the UK and sold initially to the french market as Acier Fondu) a steel known as long ago as Medieval times in Asia, where it was called Wootz.

Note the date - 1745.

Crucible Steel was made in refineries with a large furnace holding a lot of clay pots or 'crucibles' - maybe 12 or so, each holding 15kg of product. The broken up blister steel along with a special flux was placed in the furnace when the pots were white hot and left for 3 hours or so, then poured into ingot moulds and cooled. This was large-scale production - you could go smaller, but there was a lot of work involved and skills that ordinary razor makers and razor grinders did not possess. The furnace had to go up ti 1600 degrees alone.

This product was also known as Cast Steel - because the crucible steel was cast into ingots.

It did not take off in Sheffield at first as the steel and Iron masters resented change, so Huntsman sold to the french. The products made from it flooded back into the UK, which frightened the Sheffield magnates, making them change their minds. Business soared. Practically all razors were made from this in the mid to late 1700s.

By the 1860s the Bessemer Converter produced steel very cheaply compared to other methods, so steel products became cheaper.

Regards,
Neil

Thanks and yes, I was loose with terminology.

Early engravings circa 1825 showing the Sheaf Works depict cementation furnaces with their
characteristic early shape. You can see at least 16 of them in one engraving. The
cementation process in that type of oven apparently took roughly three weeks to produce
one batch.

As you said, crucible ovens were then used to melt the blister steel to produce tool steel.
The amount of grunt work to produce blister steel and then tool steel ingots was
apparently considerable.

That is why I believe tool-steel razors from the early 1800s would have been quite costly
and why I am curious what they did cost.

Originally Posted by ggfinn

Thanks and yes, I was loose with terminology.

Early engravings circa 1825 showing the Sheaf Works depict cementation furnaces with their
characteristic early shape. You can see at least 16 of them in one engraving. The
cementation process in that type of oven apparently took roughly three weeks to produce
one batch.

As you said, crucible ovens were then used to melt the blister steel to produce tool steel.
The amount of grunt work to produce blister steel and then tool steel ingots was
apparently considerable.

That is why I believe tool-steel razors from the early 1800s would have been quite costly
and why I am curious what they did cost.

I dunno! I would pay 10 guineas. Today's prices?

My friend, I said no such thing. Was Neil Miller who came into this thread to help you out.
If you take time to read his words and sort them, you shall see that you have received some excellent info as to the economy, wages in the era, and costs of comparable items as well.
Quite interesting and informative. Should get you in the ballpark.
Best you shall do, I suspect.