Thread: Metal-scaled razors other than Wapis?

Originally Posted by outback

I have a George Butler, HM GOVT.

Attachment 319532

I gifted you that!

Originally Posted by Geezer

Simple answer, SS was invented during 1913. Used for various purposes. Available as razors/ scales during WWI.
Probably surpluses after the war. Where and when would you have used them?
Let the thread drop and do some of your own research.
JMHO
-Richard

Yes, stainless steel was invented in 1913 but I believe one of the first straight razors with a stainless steel blade was made post WWI by George Ibberson and marked Firth Stainless on the blade. Go to post #87 and 88 for info on that https://sharprazorpalace.com/razors/...-razors-9.html . No idea when stainless steel was first used as scales for straight razors.

Bob

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I cannot think but too much is being put into this. These razors with heavy stainless scales were part of surgical kits.
Scales were handled same as all instruments so as to be cleaned and sterilized and survive the process.
Lots of maker's names were upon them as could be expected.

None of these were ever intended to be used by a private individual for shaving and were not sold as such.
As has been said, scales are much too heavy for any other use other than one they were designed for.

Not such a phenomenon at all.

YMMV, of course!

Many thanks!

This accords with my hunch and what I wanted to confirm, which is that very few or no razors with stainless scales were originally intended for shaving outside a surgical context. There do seem to be limited (recent?) exceptions, eg Dovo 'Metallschale'; https://www.dovo.com/wp-content/uplo...compressed.pdf p12.

I find that quite interesting, and am glad to learn something.

Originally Posted by BobH

Yes, stainless steel was invented in 1913 but I believe one of the first straight razors with a stainless steel blade was made post WWI by George Ibberson and marked Firth Stainless on the blade. Go to post #87 and 88 for info on that https://sharprazorpalace.com/razors/...-razors-9.html . No idea when stainless steel was first used as scales for straight razors.

Bob

As we are talking about razors in a surgical context, it is reasonable to assume that stainless (or surgical) steel scales were first used on razors at the same time that other surgical instruments began to be be manufactured in stainless steel. It seems that this took place in the 1920s:

"The thermal sterilisation of instruments, established between 1885 and 1910, proved destructive to equipment handled in ebony, ivory, and tortoiseshell and necessitated the manufacture of all-metal instruments which initially were nickel- or chrome-plated. After 1925 stainless steel gradually superseded all other metals except silver for tracheostomy tubes and various alloys and titanium for prostheses retained in the body."
(J R Kirkup FRCS, “The history and evolution of surgical instruments,” Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England Vol. 63 (1981): 279-285, 284. Available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/art...01507-0048.pdf)

So it seems that surgical razors with stainless steel scales will essentially be post-1925.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I gifted you that!

Yessir.! Ya did.

Originally Posted by outback

Yessir.! Ya did.

Explains why I could not find it!



Montgomery.....While you are searching, what is the meaning of life?

Clearly that one has been long established Tom.
42

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Explains why I could not find it!



Montgomery.....While you are searching, what is the meaning of life?

Good question! I find it in absurd levels of ultimately meaningless detail.

I suppose it keeps the old gears turning, eh?

I find stainless cleans easier after wacking someone’s jugular Just my observations