Thread: A safety straight???

I received a package in the mail today, with 9 vintage razors I won on Ebay for €12.
Most are good candidates for restoration.
There was also a weird specimen, that looks like some sort of safety straight razor. There was a detachable blade locked in the razor, and it shaves my arm hair right out of the newspaper it came wrapped it.

On the tang it says:
PAT. U.S.A.MAY 28.07
AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES

On the other side:
MADE IN U.S.A.

on the front piece of the blade fixture:
DURHAM DUPLEX

and a logo with two lions and the initials "DD"

If anyone can share any further information, I'd be much obliged.

Thanks,
Bart.

I googled and found this:
Durham Duplex - Carbon & Stainless Steel Razor Blades

Seems like i could even still get some blades for it.
Anyone any experiences to share?

Bart.

Cool, never seen one like that before..I can imagine it was perhaps used by barbers and hairdressers

I've looked at razors like this before.

I always thought it was for hair or beard trimming.

OK not to burst any bubbles here but these things are a dime a dozen on E-bay and in the antiques stores...

Normally billed as "Extremely Rare" !!!!

I think I still have two of them tucked in the junk box under the sink, they came in a lot just as you described, I also have a few "Corn" razors around too but I actually use those for scraping off rust on restores....

My grandmother's hair stylist used those. She would cut the hair on the top of the head with it. I'm not sure if they are meant for shaving faces.

Originally Posted by Whiskers

I've looked at razors like this before.

I always thought it was for hair or beard trimming.

I was under that impression as well, for the hair on the top of your head. That's what the ebay adverts seem to say most of the time at least.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

OK not to burst any bubbles here but these things are a dime a dozen on E-bay and in the antiques stores...

Normally billed as "Extremely Rare" !!!!

I think I still have two of them tucked in the junk box under the sink, they came in a lot just as you described, I also have a few "Corn" razors around too but I actually use those for scraping off rust on restores....

I had no bubbles about it. I actually wasn't even aware that such a thing would be included in the package.

Upon checking out that website, I started wondering if the original use could have been shaving of animal skins (tannery industry), and industrial use a like.
There was an amount of short whiskers left in the fixture that looked like hair from a paint brush (boar).

What I do find highly interesting, is that Durham Duplex still offers a variety of different blades that would seemingly fit the fixture, including ...
Stainless Steel Blades
Carbon Steel Blades
Tungsten Carbide Blades
P.V.D. Blades
Titanium Nitride (TIN) Blades
Titanium Carbo Nitride Blades
Ceramic Slitter Blades
Endurium Razor Blades

Maybe I have some experimenting ahead.
Let's see if Durham responds to email.
Bart.

Go for it Bart, I always thought they were the in-between razor... in between a straight and a DE....

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Go for it Bart, I always thought they were the in-between razor... in between a straight and a DE....

Glen is correct. The Durham Duplex was a transitional razor that was purely intended to be used for shaving the face. All of the literature that came with the razors give instructions for shaving and not hair styling. That is something that came along much later. There were four types; the Duplex, the Domino, the Demonstrator and a DE configuration. The cased sets came with a stropping attachment that allowed you to resharpen the blades. Blades are still available commercially because there is now a fifth style with the razor attached to a straight handle used for dog grooming. As far as value is concerned, these are at the very low end of the scale.

Regards - Walt