Thread: A Hollow Spine

Let's call it poor posture.

Based on 7 razors, I scientifically proclaim that 5 out of 7 vintage razors have some kind of pendulous spine.

Originally Posted by WW243

Based on 7 razors, I scientifically proclaim that 5 out of 7 vintage razors have some kind of pendulous spine.

Indeed, and they should have a smiling edge to match!

I still haven't got a clue what is being discussed. Is the hollow, or concave, or swayback, or poor posture...

1) on the top of the spine (meaning directly opposite the edge and when placed down on the flat surface the blade is perpendicular to the surface and the edge is pointing away from the flat surface).

or

2) on both sides of the spine on the areas where hone wear occurs (meaning the blade is parallel to the flat surface).

If #1, then that's just a typical spine for a smiling blade.
If #2, then that can be uneven hone wear.

not all of my smiling spines (#1) have exactly matching smiley blades. in fact some of my flat spines sport slightly smiley edges.

Does this supply correlation to shape and description?

Originally Posted by Utopian

I still haven't got a clue what is being discussed. Is the hollow, or concave, or swayback, or poor posture...

1) on the top of the spine (meaning directly opposite the edge and when placed down on the flat surface the blade is perpendicular to the surface and the edge is pointing away from the flat surface).

or

2) on both sides of the spine on the areas where hone wear occurs (meaning the blade is parallel to the flat surface).

If #1, then that's just a typical spine for a smiling blade.
If #2, then that can be uneven hone wear.

Click on link OP provided to the wiki. Scroll down to "types of spines" and there is a picture/diagram of exactly what is being referred to as a hollow spine. It is labeled in the diagram as such.

Many of my blades have a slight or full hollow spine as it seems to help guide the smile on the edge by reflecting the curvature. Without this, on subsequent honing a straight spine would result in an inevitable straight edge thus loosing the smile. At least that is what is going on with the ones I have.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I still haven't got a clue what is being discussed. Is the hollow, or concave, or swayback, or poor posture...

1) on the top of the spine (meaning directly opposite the edge and when placed down on the flat surface the blade is perpendicular to the surface and the edge is pointing away from the flat surface).

or

2) on both sides of the spine on the areas where hone wear occurs (meaning the blade is parallel to the flat surface).

If #1, then that's just a typical spine for a smiling blade.
If #2, then that can be uneven hone wear.

Selection #1
I guess my poleaxed moment occurred when I realized the range of smiles could go from from a smirk, to the Muse Thalia's big 'ole grin.
At my tender forum age, there aren't many 'typical' anythings yet.
The cool thing for me is that I have yet another reason to be in awe of this most practical and beautiful of tools, the straight razor.

One more observation based on an idiotically small sample: If the razor spine is concave, the cutting edge will mirror that concavity, and the razor will lie flat on the hone (if past honing hasn't messed with good geometry).
If you force a smile onto a straight spine the razor will not lie flat on the hone and you will have to use the appropriate stroke to hone, the rolling X or some other name.
Well, that's possibly two observations.
And for a moment of irony: we relish the vintage razor. Often there are the thoughts of the hands that have been on the razor throughout its history. And yet, it is the NOS razor that is paramount. Yes, it was made 'back then,' but no one has put their grubby hands on it, and abused it on the hones.

Hmm, I have one razor that is close to being NOS, that's about it. All my razors are Old and used, the Old ones are still teaching me.