Thread: Curious about bellied hollow blade grinds and their rarity...

Hi all,

I've been collecting straight razors for a while now. I've probably got at least one razor from most of the well known historical manufacturers and a couple of new custom razors. I know as collectors/users of SRs we all have our preferences as far as what we consider the best blade. After using various razors (big choppers to small shaping blades), I found that my favorite blades tend to be between 5/8 - 7/8, shoulderless, but most importantly, they MUST be bellied hollows to pique my interest. However, when searching for razors to buy, these blade grinds are very elusive, or so it seems. I can find W&B FBU, etc all day, but not bellied hollow grinds.

Which brings me to my curiosity and the question I have: are bellied hollow blades special in some way that makes them rare? Someone said they were how bladesmiths showed off their skills back in the day. That these blades were limited releases or something, but I've never had it corroborated.

I added a few pictures of examples of the grind I'm talking about. Can anyone provide more information about these particular grinds? Any information is appreciated.
Have a good day.

Bellied vs Saber Grinds vs Double Concave

What you are showing are mostly Saber Grinds, they are more rare and many were "Showoff" grinds

But they are not Bellied Hollow grinds nor a Double Concave grind (George Korn Patent)

I have a George Wostenholms in that grind.



Does shave really well.!

Originally Posted by gssixgun

... they are more rare and many were "Showoff" grinds ...

Okay, so you're supporting what I've heard before. Awesome. Can you elaborate on how they were meant to be shown off? Does it mean there were only so many produced for public sale or were few made for trade shows/exhibitions?

Never heard of a sabre grind before, although I can definitely see how they get the name. Based on this picture though, they look like full concaves.

That is freaking gorgeous!!! <3 That's exactly the kind of blades I collect.

Mine is concaved on the top half, and a rattler grind below

Originally Posted by outback

Mine is concaved on the top half, and a rattler grind below

I believe this is the first time I've seen that grind combination. Very nice!

Originally Posted by JRM

Okay, so you're supporting what I've heard before. Awesome. Can you elaborate on how they were meant to be shown off? Does it mean there were only so many produced for public sale or were few made for trade shows/exhibitions?

Never heard of a sabre grind before, although I can definitely see how they get the name. Based on this picture though, they look like full concaves.

First let's clarify

Regardless of how many times you see them on a chart there is no such things as a Real "Wedge" grind there are near wedges but a wedge simply won't geometrically work

There are some that have been hone worn to be really close but they all left the factory with at least a bit of a Hollow

A bellied hollow is a Double grind if you have a Filarmonica they tend to be a very distinct Bellied Hollow

The Korn Double Concave I think was first talked about here and as you can see we were at the very beginning of the search for the differences between them all

https://sharprazorpalace.com/custom-...al-scales.html

The Saber grinds are wholly different from both, someplace on here I have a piuc of one I restored years ago for a customer that has two grooves grouns out of it

Even the name Rattler changed meanings after the invention of the Double Hollow machine "The Witch"

At first it referred to the longitudinal grind we often call a Faux-Frameback leter it just meant any razor that was ground thin enough to make noise when shaving

This gets a little vague as each brand pretty much did what they wanted, perfect example is that "Damascus" razor I linked to we all know it wasn't really Damascus

Have fun, search a bit, but don't get too hung up on absolutes in this hobby, for instance when I said there was no such thing as a real Wedge Razor there was one exception that is on here someplace, made by Livi sent out with a Clip to act as a spine, much like a Knife Honing clip

This should be close to the ones pictured. It's from somewhere in the forum.

For clarity, this is a bellied hollow grind.



Hard to see in that picture. Here's one from the toe.


As mentioned, they didn't really show up until Carl Friedrich Ern invented the Hexe machine (German for witch) in the 1880s-90s. It was a double wheel grinder which mainly made it more practical to produce full and extra hollow grinds. The bellied came later and was patented or attempted to be patented. There is an article around here somewhere about it.