Thread: Barber's notch????

I was just browsing Manah/AlexT's thread here about an old razor catalog, and I realized something..
Has anyone seen the point we so commonly call a Barber's Notch, actually called that in any of the old advertising????
I can't think of one time I have actually seen it, in fact in that W&B catalog it is called, "Hollow Point"...
I have honestly only seen Round Point, Spike point, Square point, Oblique point and French point on anything printed pre 1970..and now Hollow point..
Does anyone have something old printed with those words???? Barber's point or notch????

Or has my memory gone to hell in a hand-basket?????

I've also seen hollow point, but I have never seen barber's notch.

Just a thought, since many of the "For Barbers Use" blades have that point could an adjective describing the point have become popular parlance the way that kleenex has for any brand of tissue ?

Edit; Or has it become a noun ?

I've only ever seen them referred to in old literature as a hollow point, too.

Jimmy has a good point - there must have been some reason for them to pass into common parlance as barbers point/notch...

Regards,
Neil

I started thinking about this with the Irish Point/ French Point bruhaha that I didn't recall ever actually seeing it referred to as a Barber's Notch/Point... I looked at all my "Old" stuff and didn't find it then remembered about it when I saw Alex's post today...

Well if anyone finds it Please post it up...

I've only seen it as hollow, not barber's notch (except for here of course )

Same here, Glen. I've never seen an old reference to it having anything to do with a barber.

I often think, seeing as for all our conjecture it still has no real purpose, if it is just an aesthetic ornament to make the toe end of the big old sheffields look nicer.

Just took a look at my dog eared copy of "Collecting Straight Razors" by Robert Doyle circa 1980. He is an auctioneer and was an avid collector of straight razors. This was "the" book to have some years ago, if you could find a copy, and is still the best on the subject I've found.

He has a chapter on blade history with many photos. He shows a few pre 1800 razors and one has a slight notch point. Looking at the photos it seems that by the early 1800s the notched point as we know it was fully developed. In the book he does refer to to that point style as a 'notch point, never a barber's notch.

Speculating once more, I think that it was probably notched so a shaver could more easily maneuver around his nostrils to trim a mustache. OTOH, I've read that it was for more easily opening the razor.

I've read speculations that it was simply meant as a mark of quality, and that's why the razors made for barbers' use ended up being the ones with the notches. I've used plenty of huge W&B notch points and I have no difficulty getting the edge anywhere it's needed; nor can I find any practical cranny exploring with the use of the notch, largely because if you used the notch as a pivot point around a nostril, say, then you'd be turning the blade in a most unhealthy cutting motion, rather than sliding it across the skin.

Right now, to me it seems to be the British mark of excellence, a profile ground to announce that this is a superior razor.

The ideas and speculation about what it was used for are endless...and have been discussed at length in mutiple threads with no conclusion...

But does anyone have any old Pre-1970 advertising the has those words in it...
Calling that a Barber's Notch or Point...