Are Scales the Handle or the Case?
Here's some unimportant shaving semantics, that still caught my attention...
I was discussing wet shaving with a co-worker who doesn't do it, but is interested and showed him a picture of a couple of my kamisori blades and he said "Your razors don't have any handles."
Of course he meant scales, but I was like "Hmm..."
Are scales actually handles? Straight razors are not pocket knives, where the blade case actually becomes the handle you use for cutting. Scales seem more like the case the razor is housed in, attached to the razor so you don't lose it. But then again, you do grab the scales between your two fingers as you shave. But does that make them the handle? :hmmm:
My assessment is that handles are handles and scales are scales. And yes, my kamis have handles. It's the end I grab when I'm shaving that ain't sharp. :p