Thread: Rich Gentlemen and Seven Day Sets?

Honey, Miles has been talking about his car restoration project. I know it cost about $26,000 by now and it's taken every weekend for the last 3 years, but I saw this great '71 Challenger for sale. I'm thinking I'll forget about buying that Robert Williams 7/8 and have it towed to our garage

I got room in the garage for a few more RW's

Sorry for being you will now be re-directed to your scheduled topic.

Just to let you know that you are not alone in liking 7-Day Sets and that you can get a Dovo 7-Day Set a little closer to home. I sell several a year, at least when I can get them. It now takes 8 to 10 months to get one after the order is placed. I curently have 3 sets in stock, 2 more in transit (delivery expected any day), and 3 more on order. You can view them on my site here ----> http://www.vintagebladesllc.com/vsho...me.php?cat=145.

Cheers Jim. They look lovely. *sigh*

James.

wow, did they really have the razors honed every week? Wouldn't that put extra wear on the blade and shorten it's life? I thought that it the reason that the rich had 7 day sets was that it would prolong the life of each balde, making it a better investment. Thus the old adage comes back to us "the rich stay rich"

Ahh to have a set of my own...

No, not at all. One of the main benefits of the 7-Day Sets was/is to increase the time between trips to barber or some other "professional" to have the razors honed.

Yeah. Most of the vintage seven day sets I've seen in the flesh (admittedly, not many) have very little hone wear compared to individual blades of the same era.

BTW, I was watching the antiques roadshow (British programme where punters bring along old family heirlooms etc. to be valued by experts - good show) recently. An old bloke had brought in an antique (18th Century, I think) gentlemen's dresser/vanity. Very nice piece of furniture. He opened the top drawer - out folds a shaving mirror from the center, with built in wooden boxes either side containing the original 7 straights it came with!! Unfortunately the programme focussed mainly on the furniture, but what a find.

James.

I just got back from a trip on which I took an old Henkels 7-day set, and no stropping gear. I used one razor each day with no problem.

Now I'm at home I'm still using that set for another week, stropping before each shave. Then I'll put it away until my next trip, sharpened and ready to go. Last time I came back from a trip I tried to strop them all at once and on the 4th or 5th razor I nicked my strop. I get kind of clumsy after stropping several razors so that's why I decided to strop them one at a time as I shave. Once this kit is stropped up I'll return to my favorite ivory-handled 7-day kit that I usually use at home. That one doesn't hit the road with me.

The seven day kit should be good for several weeks of travel without stropping. There's a long time between uses of any single razor for the edge to realign. My Henkels kit is more compact than a single razor and a hone, or a razor and a strop.

My take on seven day sets is that they were owned by wealthy men and then they had a barber or servant shave them rather than doing it themselves. Another option for the not so wealthy was a pair of razors. I have two of these. One is a matched pair of Sheffield wedges in a wood box circa 19th- early 20th century and a pair of hollow ground razors that aren't identical. One is about 4/8 and the other is around 7/16 give or take. They also came in their own wood box. I'm guessing the different sizes were so one could be used for regular shaves and the smaller might have been for trimming and touch ups.