Thread: Thoughts on Craftsmanship and Questions as to the reason why?

I think its safe to say we all have heard or studied up on some of the vintage artisans who put together many of the blades we revere. Ive run through my cycle in my collection and I swear I can tell differences in the way certain manufacturers behave, and they are all sooo different. So as a curiousity i thought I might post a thread that asks for the opinions of those who work with these vintage blades on a daily basis. I'll give you a run down of what my observations are and perhaps you might have an idea as to the why behind the observation.

Ground rules, 20 passes on linen followed by 40 on leather pre-shave. Hot towel, lather, hot towel, lather, shave (2 pass method), post-shave rhetoric.
Dovo 5/8 full hollow (bought brand new) so contemporary steel and manufacturing methods. A short cut pass method works better then the long streight cut, I have very course growth that mum has always said reminds her of a horses tail. Looses edge and starts to grab about half way through, requires a restrop before second pass or I end up with random assortments of uncut growth everywhere.

Wade and Butcher 8/8 full-hollow (pre-1920 mfg.), I can do single long cuts on the first pass, does not require a restrop and leaves no uncut growth. It is a real pain in the bum around the nose and chin areas however.

Boker King Cutter 5/8 full-hollow (1860-1880 mfg.), Such a freaking close shave that a long first pass will bring blood in tiny little pinprickles and I haven't had the courage to attempt a second pass, almost damn scary to use on the neck, nose, and chin areas...actually I break a sweat using it, doesn't require a restrop and leaves no uncut growth that I have found, quite the opposite actually.

So there are the base lines, I have others a Sears, a big SSA which rides like a cady, a Smith and Wesson which is a monster and would be better suited to hacking down rain forrest then shaving with. I've examined them all closely the grinds are the same from eye level, the steel of the two vintage blades I would believe comparable, why then do they all shave differently? The Boker is lighter and easier to sharpen as well, I probabily could do half the strops and get away with it...the others behave best with the aforementioned treatment. Why do the vintage blades behave better then the contemporary ones? What were the manufacturing differences between the different companies? Oh the Boker tarnishes a little faster then the others, I have to make sure to keep it in mineral oil especially, or I end up having to polish it.

Anyway, I am sure that opens a few doors for huge debate and or other observations by others.

Cheers!

Sasha

That is a very good question and I have a few observations.
There are many differing reasons that I know about for the differences even within the same brand. These are my opinions only.
Time, now, is precious. So any method of doing things which saves man hours is considered good. Some of these changes in process take a long time to show up in a large scale manufactured item because the labor and processes are separated by days and weeks. Writing a process and getting total adherence to that process in an industrial situation is very difficult. Just one part of the process not followed exactly will cause problem way down the line or, worst of all, in the hands of the end user.
Skills are thought to be placed into the machines to remove the human components. After spending my life in industry, that is not always a good idea. Machines do malfunction and that flaw may not be noticeable during inspections.

The quality of a given lot of steel and the trace elements within it will make a difference in the entire process of hardening and tempering of the blades. A steel lot is usually within a few hundredths of a point of the qualifying formula for each trace element and carbon. That will make a difference of a few degrees one way or the other during razor heat treating.
As a machinist, I found differences in both machining qualities and tempering temperatures and hardness achieved of commercial tool steels over time. What happens if the furnace forge controller has a slight offset??

If you watch the videos of razors being made, you will see, usually, a whole rack of razors going from one heating, quenching and tempering bath to the next.
If they are not plunged perfectly in to the hardening bath with no side movement they will harden differently.
The ones on the end will probably be a little harder and or may warp slightly more than those in the middle due to some heating of the tempering bath.
All the razors may be warped by a side motion in the hardening quench if the razor or rack of razors is moved sideways during the critical moments of quenching, That will cool one side of the blade more than the other.

When we get to the grinding of the razors by hand or machine, the use of wheels by hand or machine is very dependent on the cooling water/coolant supplied perfectly to the entire blade and wheel at all times. Any coolant malfunction will overheat a blade and reduce the temper of that blade. I have found a few hollow ground razors with a bad spot of the edge one to two inches from the tip.

Polishing is another process which can quickly cause loss of temper.

Anything which has a human component is subject to error. In the prewar era the processes were in the hands of masters of trades and their livelihood depended upon the proper accomplishment of their tasks. Even so, I find differences in hardness of old blades. You are correct, in that, I have never found a bad Böker. There must have been some, though.

Have you ever heard the expressions: "Never buy car made on Monday?" "Buy a car made on Wednesday!" We do know, instinctively the trouble which can be caused by the human factor!

~Richard