Thread: Horizontal stabilizer? Secondary spine?

Originally Posted by MrHouston

I do see this one that may be the same without the hone wear from post 175: https://straightrazorpalace.com/razo...ns-set-18.html

@altus calls it bellied hollow

Attachment 295540

That is the fuller wedge I was referring to. My original thoughts being that someone took an old fuller wedge and regrouped it thinner on the bottom half. I seefrom the links posted by others (thanks) that this was actually a style of blade, rare but it occurred.

You have to look at what the razor looked like when made not after being honed to death

They are most often called a "Sabre Grind" they are fairly uncommon, and that is just another variation of it, the more common look is in post #9
I am looking for a pic now, I actually restored one years back with two grooves



A Double Concave, and a Bellied hollow, are quite different from both the pic in post #1 and MrHouston's pic in post #9

Thanks Glen, I was trying to remember that one, the sabre grind.
If you can post some pics.. Even after seeing the multiple pics on other threads of double concave, double swaged, and perhaps some other names, I'm still a bit confused on terminology.

The blade beginning this thread obviously shows hone wear. I was under the impression that this was a double concave and that when the single grind of a wedge blade, closer to the spine is a sabre grind being that it resemble the "blood-let" of a sabre...
Is there an agreed upon set of names for these various grinds? And if so can we see some pics of such?

Reminds me of a couple of blades I've got... sitting around... waiting for "new shoes" and honing.

The first, a massive Gilchrist



The second, a "diminutive" Friedmann & Lauterjung

Originally Posted by MikeT

Is there an agreed upon set of names for these various grinds? And if so can we see some pics of such?

There is the problem, right there in one line, it is NOT agreed upon, hell we still have people call it a Barber's Notch and that has NEVER been found anywhere in the old advertisements
Hollow point or Hollow Notch is all we have ever seen, and better yet is that people will tell a multitude of stories about what it is for that are all un-proved

Rattler razor or grind is another mystery as it is stamped on so many types of razors we have no idea which is correct


We do know what a Double Concave is from the Patent

We also know what the basic grinds are from the Razor Companies so a Bellied Hollow is pretty well known too


But so much of this is lost to history and we just try and reconstruct it as best we can

Everything Glen said is true.

It was an established variety of semi-fancy blade grind going back to at least the first decade of the 1800's. I have seen pictures of late 1700's razors that have the added hollowing along the spine, but that's slightly different.

As long as you use tape, it shouldn't be any different to hone than any old Sheffield razor is from any other old Sheffield razor -- which is to say fairly different.

Here's some more examples, including another one of the model of Gilchrist JBHoren posted upthread (this is what the original scales looked like! )



And here are two rattler grind razors without the extra hollowing, one by Horrabin, the other Jonathan Crookes.



And from the 1812-15 Smith's Key, this very oddball version on the top:

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

Everything Glen said is true.

It was an established variety of semi-fancy blade grind going back to at least the first decade of the 1800's. I have seen pictures of late 1700's razors that have the added hollowing along the spine, but that's slightly different.

As long as you use tape, it shouldn't be any different to hone than any old Sheffield razor is from any other old Sheffield razor -- which is to say fairly different.

Here's some more examples, including another one of the model of Gilchrist JBHoren posted upthread (this is what the original scales looked like! )



And here are two rattler grind razors without the extra hollowing, one by Horrabin, the other Jonathan Crookes.



And from the 1812-15 Smith's Key, this very oddball version on the top:

Is there a functional purpose or is it just an elaborate grind for its own sake?

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

Is there a functional purpose or is it just an elaborate grind for its own sake?

More than anything it’s ornamental. It showed the skill of the grinder.

Though it did slightly reduce weight, and if it’s coupled with the rattler style, it’s got some of the virtue of the later hollow ground styles.

Mostly it was showing off.

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

More than anything it’s ornamental. It showed the skill of the grinder.

Though it did slightly reduce weight, and if it’s coupled with the rattler style, it’s got some of the virtue of the later hollow ground styles.

Mostly it was showing off.

Showing off. In that regard nothing has changed in the razor/shave community since then.

They just look like swages which were popular in cutlery at that time. Most grinds were wedges and a swage allowed lighter weight with no loss in tensile strength. You would see them in swords and knives of the same time period