Thread: Update re: Derivation of "Rattler"

Some time ago there was a discussion about the original meaning of the word rattler. Some, including PapaBull, got near the truth but what was missing was anything concrete - something in print.

I was reading a book by Charles Holtzapffel the other day (Turning & Mechanical Manipulation, 1850) and came across a reference to rattlers:




Clicking on the images makes them full-size, but the relevant paragraph is:

"...In some few cases the edge of the razor is ground lengthways [...] and in this way any degree of thinness may be given [...] This mode of grinding the razor is however more difficult, and the feebleness of the edge may be thereby easily carried to excess, and from the vibration which they are liable when applied to a strong beard, they are called by the Sheffield cutlers, rattler razors..."

Charles was quite an authority. His father John Jacob emigrated from Germany to set up a lathe and tooling firm in London in 1793, in Charing Cross Road. Charles joined the firm in 1827 and eventually took over the running of it. His legacy is impressive, from printing banknotes, ornamental turning, inventing a new mathematical scale to his most famous work - Turning & Mechanical Manipulation, regarded as the 'bible' for generations of woodworkers.

Regards,
Neil