Thread: Barbers notch

Originally Posted by Seraphim

After his bottle opening incident, he developed an aversion to beer.

"Most people hate the taste of beer - to begin with. It is, however, a prejudice that many people have been able to overcome."
Winston Churchill

The problem with most forum software is that the search function is so terribly bad at bringing you relevant information (since it just searches for a word and doesn't rank the information that much). One way around this is to use Google to search this site, which works quite well, or we should get all important info up on the wiki!

The Barber's Notch was put into the blade to improve balance!

I understand that searches don't always provide the results expected but I agree w/ Holli. I'm not complaining because I feel everyone should be able to ask any questions that fit in the forums but I wonder how many of the members that have been around for a while just skip past threads that have been asked over and over again and eventually just fade out of the group. Gotta say it has crossed my mind more than once.

Why have a forum at all then? Just have a wiki page with all pertinent info.


I say "NO!"

It's not like the same question asked again and again is wasting our precious time....c'mon guys, we're here precisly for the sake of wasting our time! It sure beats working!

And the thing that was added for balance were the scales, and thus came the name for them: "scales" as in balance.


I don't know if that's true or not, but I have decided to use this thread as a clearinghouse of various fables, half-truths, tall tales, and such....

Originally Posted by Joed

I understand that searches don't always provide the results expected but I agree w/ Holli. I'm not complaining because I feel everyone should be able to ask any questions that fit in the forums but I wonder how many of the members that have been around for a while just skip past threads that have been asked over and over again and eventually just fade out of the group. Gotta say it has crossed my mind more than once.

Nahhh, it's a self correcting/balancing thing. As long as you have an influx of newbies there will always be someone willing/wanting to impart information that they have just acquired. It gives everyone a chance to contribute. If almost all the population has moved past it and skip it then the poster will probably revert to putting more time and effort into a more extensive search. As long as older members continue to deal with more advanced/new issues and topics they remain for that. You know, like waiting on... who was it? ... to post further results and observations on something like a ceramic razor

Originally Posted by Seraphim

Why have a forum at all then? Just have a wiki page with all pertinent info.


I say "NO!"

It's not like the same question asked again and again is wasting our precious time....c'mon guys, we're here precisly for the sake of wasting our time! It sure beats working!

At first I thought the wiki was a necessity... and then I had an epiphany re: your above statement.


Also: when straights were in their heyday, ONLY BARBERS were allowed to use razors with the above mentioned notch.

If you look in the old catalogs, it stipulates that "razors with this configuration are only salable to professionals who have passed all necessary licensure etc etc."

It was a way for the customer to determine if the guy shaving them was, in fact, a licensed professional.


So there you have it!








Of course, I am lying.

A careless worker at Wade & Butcher was grinding a round point and took a divot out while rounding the end. Rather then regrind the razor he had a brainstorm and created the barber's notch. His co-workers took a look and all of them said that looks really cool and the barber's notch was born.

Originally Posted by Quick

Nahhh, it's a self correcting/balancing thing. As long as you have an influx of newbies there will always be someone willing/wanting to impart information that they have just acquired. It gives everyone a chance to contribute. If almost all the population has moved past it and skip it then the poster will probably revert to putting more time and effort into a more extensive search. As long as older members continue to deal with more advanced/new issues and topics they remain for that. You know, like waiting on... who was it? ... to post further results and observations on something like a ceramic razor

Thanks Quick. I know for a fact that when I only had a few months in the group I was very happy to reply to threads just as this one and came to the same realization after pondering my post above. Maybe it's the winter fatigue setting in that is making me so grouchy. Lately some of the posts have just been setting me off like "Can you suggest a good Tony Miller Strop?" when there has just been a lot of new threads in the past few weeks addressing just that topic. Not saying the person asking is wrong for asking, just lazy or lost any my feeling is why should I spend my time on this if he isn't willing to spend the time to look. Like I say, probably just the winter fatigue, but from a lot of the replies in this post and others, it looks like the 'fatigue' is spreading.

The winters in upsate NY are particularly looong as well! My wife grew up in Syracuse.