Thread: Why sets of seven?

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Back in the day, 7 day sets were a symbol of manhood. When you wanted to impress a young lady; you took her into the Shave Den & whipped out your 7 day set.

Is that what you oldies used to call it?

Well I whipped out a set or 2 in my day.

Sadly,, I never had a 7 day set,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I always come up short, 4 day sets for me. lol

Originally Posted by criswilson10

Maybe a different set 30/31 day set for each month and of course an extra February set with 29 blades for leap year.
Not that anyone around here would have 394 razors...

They do have 18 set razors Boxes out there, I believe they are called Salemans boxes or display boxes there a couple up on the Bay right now. I got out bid by somebody in the last hour on one, it from $44.00 to $72.00 in about 40 to 30. minutes. Too rich for my blood.

Originally Posted by THORandODIN

They do have 18 set razors Boxes out there, I believe they are called Salemans boxes or display boxes there a couple up on the Bay right now. I got out bid by in the last hour on one, it from $44.00 to $72.00 in about 40 to 30. minutes. Too rich for my blood.

Would you mind linking the auction?

My barber friend had 5 razors. 3 in his shop and 2 he rotated at home. I remember him showing me his pride and joy he used at home with ivory scales. He used it so often over 60 years the scales looked black and worn and you could barely make out the make. I think the blade started at 7/8 and was probably 4/8 now. I have a magnetic stand with 7 of my favorites. I am thinking of putting day labels on it so I can remember which one to use. I will probably also need a calendar to see what day of the week it is but that's another story. When I get to the point I can't remember if I shaved or not you will see a lot of razors in the classified.

Hmmm...some interesting theories. Metal resting, one for each day of the week, marketing ploy, prestige, travel sets. Still, it seems odd to me...why not sets of 3 or 5 or 8? Pairs seem common enough. Unless seven was viewed as a lucky number. One of life's unsolved mysteries I guess.

It's really not that much of a mystery. It's along the lines of why our numerical system is base 10. We have 10 fingers and so it was convenient.

For a razor rotation, days of the week afforded a convenient repeated cycle.

Originally Posted by Whizbang

Hmmm...some interesting theories. Metal resting, one for each day of the week, marketing ploy, prestige, travel sets. Still, it seems odd to me...why not sets of 3 or 5 or 8? Pairs seem common enough. Unless seven was viewed as a lucky number. One of life's unsolved mysteries I guess.

Like Ron said, 7 days in the week, 7 in the set. Here is a 4 day set in case the customer didn't want to spend as much as the 7 dayer. A.W. Staniforth, Cardiff (Wales). I assume these were Sheffield made, but possibly made in Wales ?



A Wilkinson 2 day set, and an Ivory scaled Wilkinson that is not part of the set.



A very old Heljestrand set in horn. These came to me with one never touched, and the other super shave ready out of the box. The never touched one might be as well, but I've never used it.

These days they don't mean much even though a purchase of one from say TI will set you back quite a bit.

Back in the day sets were top of the line razors with silver or ivory scales or some other precious material and it was something wealthy folks bought as a status symbol.