Thread: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Straight Razor and Honing Stone

I can hear the sirens already. You mentioned "he who's name shall not be mentioned."

Honestly I only known him by the trail of scorched earth that follows behind the mention of him but you might as well bring up Satan himself around these here parts.

Can anyone please provide links on honing for beginners and which stones to buy for maintenance and honing?

Originally Posted by July10newbie

Can anyone please provide links on honing for beginners and which stones to buy for maintenance and honing?

PM sent as I think this goes too much off topic now for this thread!

Regards Peter

Originally Posted by hatzicho

Born December 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven grew up in the german city of Bonn and lived there until the age of 22, when he moved to Vienna.
His Birthplace, the house Bonngasse 20, still exists and is set up as a museum to document the life and work of Ludwig van Beethoven. Beside exceptional pieces from his activities as composer and musician also objects from his everyday life are shown.
And among these artifacts you will find his razor and honing stone.

Attachment 332384
Source: Beethoven-Haus Bonn
https://www.beethoven.de/sixcms/deta...dokid/bi:i3596

So the razor is a typical Sheffield style razor from the late 18th century. You can read Acier Fondu on the tang as well as on the side of the spine. The scales are made from tortoise shell.

Attachment 332385
https://www.beethoven.de/sixcms/deta...dokid/bi:i3231

On the tang you can also identify an O and L and an undistinct symbol above the Letters. So according to Lummus/ Old Sheffield Razors the razor could be most probably a John Sheppard of Sheffield. Sheppard made razors with the brandmark WOLF from which you can see only the O and L left on Beethovens razor. Above the letters WOLF there was a crown stamped and this is maybe what you can also identify with some phantasy on Beethovens example. The production of John Sheppard razors and the useage of the term Acier Fondu – would date the razor somehow between 1772 and 1795.
There are several examples of Wolf Sheppard razors shown at SRP - i.e. here :
https://sharprazorpalace.com/custom-...l-restore.html

On the digital library of the Beethoven museum Bonn you can also find a picture of the razor case:

Attachment 332386
https://www.beethoven.de/sixcms/deta...dokid/bi:i4110

On the Case you see the letters AMH and a symbol in two pieces that reminds on a spur - if seen together. Think I have seen that before but could not recall where and to which company that belonged. Maybe someone can help. Isn’t necessarily the original case that fits to the razor.

On the first picture you can also see a honing stone. You will find some more detailed photos on the museum webside.

Attachment 332387
https://www.beethoven.de/sixcms/deta...okid/bi:i10051

The stone clearly looks like a slate hone and is widely used.
So I think we can assume with a certain probality that Ludwig van Beethoven shaved himself with a straight razor and that he also even honed his own razor!
On all the paintings and portraits of Beethoven present on the web, you will ever see a well shaved man and gentleman.


So I wish to thank the Beethoven-Haus Bonn for the permit to post the pictures of Beethovens artefacts here at SRP!
And for those here who are also lovers of the great masters in classic music and interested in their history – dive into the virtual exhibition at the Beethoven House here:

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/sgUxwaPfk1_wYw

and have a look at the single artefacts here:

https://www.beethoven.de/en


Regards Peter

If LvB did indeed hone his own razor as shown, it appears that he did a great job of maintaining its shape. Thanks for posting. Just now reading it for the first time. The stone format seems to be fairly long and narrow. What can we estimate here, maybe 4cm x 20cm? Also, the razor looks like some kind of early 19th-century hollow ground. How prevalent were Sheffield hollow grounds at this time, or during the late 18th century as mentioned?

Well the stone is a little longer than the razor handle and the open box, so I would estiate around 18 x 3.5 (looks a bit more narrow than a typical 7'').

As for the hollow ground, well the old blades were hollow ground to a certain extent (12-15'' wheels) and blades with a pronounced/shouldered spine have been set in quite a bit.
You can find a description in Holzapfel here, with a sketch on page 1148:

https://books.google.de/books?id=fDQ...page&q&f=false

So on the first picture the razor looks maybe a bit more hollow as it is, because of the shadows. But if you look at the second picture you can see that the line of the point is nearly straight, so the hollow can't be that much actually.

Regards Peter

Thanks. An approximate proportion of 5 to 1 with the stone in either case. I'd have to see a better image resolution, but it looks like a fair amount of bevel wear, possibly corresponding to spine wear, in Beethoven's razor example. Don't see that in the second example. I'm always curious about how full wedges were honed back in the day. Spine-lifted, as in sharpening a knife? And with mildly-ground hollows like these, were they honed with spine and edge on the stone as a built-in angle guide, like modern hollow grounds?

Well also the honing is widely explained in Holtzapffels description on the following pages.
But I don't think that the people really spent much time and had the routine to hone the razors properly like we do today.

The basic geometry of this very old razors is also different. The spine of modern razors is constant in thickness. If also the lower part and edge of the razor is ground properly and even in thickness and the width of the blade is constant, that secures, that you can hone the razor properly over the hole length if you lay it flat on the hone.

But thickness of the spine of these old razors mostly varies. They are getting thinner from point to tang. That means if you really lay it flat on the hone the angle of the cutting edge changes. To balance that a bit, the blades are getting generally wider to the point. But together with the fact, that you had mostly very narrow hones at that time, the honing wasn't equal over the total length of the blade, which led to uneven honewear. And that is why you see a most of the ancient razors having a lot of hone wear at the beginning of the edge near the tang. At this point the spine is substantially thinner than at the point.

Regards Peter

Thank you for your informative descriptions, and for referring me to the passage on honing in Holzappfel's treatise. On page 1153, I read the following: "The blade is grasped in the right hand by its tang, and near to the cutting part, and is placed square across one end of the stone but tilted about ten or twenty degrees, and is then swept forward along the stone, edge foremost in a circular arc, so as to act on the entire edge; . . ." This "tilting" I take to be a lifting of the spine.

A rolling x-stroke, dem guys knew what was up.

I see. That could account for the narrow hone too.