Thread: Rolls Razor

On ebay I see a thing called a Rolls razor. It looks like a neat piece of kit but for the life of me; I can't figure out what the damn thing does?

Any help?

I bought one that was NIB, just for the history of it. What it is is a single edge razor blade attached to a frame that slides in a track. On one side of the box is a stone, on the other is a piece of leather. The blade flips when the handle is moved in the track, so you strop one side, then the other. You then remove the blade and attach it to the included handle and shave away.
It's pretty ingenious. I believe it was originally developed before the disposable razor, but was made all the way until the 50's.
I haven't shaved with it, or stropped with it. The one I have is pretty pristine, and I would like to keep it that way. Maybe on day I'll get one that is used but in good shape.

yes it was probably the first self contained and integrated shaving system. Parts can be hard to come by these days but some guys use them and report they give a very good shave.

It works exactly how souschefdude explained. I have one and it really is an amazing little shaver!

They're usually inexpensive, fairly plentiful, and actually fun. If you get one that's sharp and well stropped it will shave you like a demon ---- except under the nose, where the design fails (or the design of my nose fails). An ingenious little machine.

One just sold for $40 on the Bay, looked in good shape. I got mine for less than that.

Thanks for the info. I might pick one up some time.

Here in the uk these are in almost every antique shop i visit, i have 2, a nos and a leather cased one which i do use now and again, the one thing i have found though is sharpening the blade, the only way i got my blades sharp was to use my honing stones, the supplied hone just did not get it sharp, to short, once i got the blade sharp via my stones, the supplied hone/strop will keep it touched up, but from my experiance they need a good honing first, once that is done they do give a very good shave, kinda like a straight on a stick

I have Rolls and i use it when traveling at work. It is an excellent shaver but little tricky to get sharp. I used my hones and it turned out ok. Could be very difficult to sharpen with the supplied hone.

Damn the RAD, I want one too now! Lucky for me and my low funds, they aren't that easy to find in Australia...Or I'm just not going (game enough) to look in the likely places to find one!


Mick