Thread: What Would These be Used For?

A couple months ago my wife and I were at a flea market and I was looking for...... you guessed it- straight razors! I found a wicket tucked away in a corner, which had a display case with one straight in it. The vendor was a crabby old German guy who was not very personable. He showed me the razor in the case, a vintage 5/8 round point with NO manufacture markings at all. Not being very impressed I asked him if he had any more. Then he pulled out a Safeway bag (a grocery store chain here in Canada) and dumped out probably 20 additional razors. As I checked them out one at a time I noticed a trend; all of his other razors were no more than 1/8" at most! As I continued my search I found every one to be absolute crap - rust, chips, you name it. After about five minutes the old German got mad when he sussed out that I wasn't going to buy any of his junk, berated me a bit, and then I left. So the question is of what use is a 1/8" razor? Were they made that way, or just mutilated version of a formerly nice razor?

I haven't seen any razors that were manufactured under 3/8, but that isn't to say they don't exist. As razors are honed, metal is removed. This reduces their width. While you may not notice it, every time a razor is honed, it becomes a bit narrower.

Some say narrower razors were intended for more delecate or harder to reach areas, such as the moustache or trimming the back of the neck. That may have been the case, but for me, width is all about personal preference.

I'm not an expert by any means but I'd say that a) the width of those razors is the result of many, many years of honing or b) razors made specificaly for delicate purposes such as hard to reach and trim areas of the face or intended for ladies' uses. I never heard of 1/8 razors before, but I'm no expert as I said... Some careful examination of the blade's geometry might give you a closer to the truth answer.
My thoughts, only...

They may have been made that way for hair styling, razor cuts. I recently honed a straight for a local barber and it was a 3/8s blade he called a styling razor.

Yes... but Ryan is talking about a whole bunch of 1/8 razors. Would that be used for styling mice?

I've seen many razors that were cut down, shaped, and otherwise modified for various aspects of woodworking. Particularly model building. The straight resergence has not been going on very long and there were a lot of razors out there without a good purpose. All it took was somone to recognize that here was some high quality steel and viola! A new tool that could be customized to any purpose. Also, but cutting the blade back to an 1/8" or so, you are typically into the more stout section of the blade near the spine; still able to be honed wicked sharp, but the bevel is not as fine and would hold an edge better when subjected to the abuse of cutting material other than whiskers.

Just another data point,
Ed

Originally Posted by fpessanha

Yes... but Ryan is talking about a whole bunch of 1/8 razors. Would that be used for styling mice?