Thread: Barber rolled edge Nooooooo....

So the last time I was at the barber I said I would bring in my straight and have a shave. The mirrors are nice and big and the lighting is better than the small unit we rent. I spent the morning retouching the edge and had it popping hairs nicely on the test. So in I go and set everything up, there were a few punters and some young kids taking an interest. The shop has a good atmosphere and everyone generally kidds around. To the point of the story, I have my strop attached to a balsa board with hair elastics stolen from SWOMBO as I just like the feel of a mounted strop. The barber has had a look at my technique and gone no mate you should do it this way removed the strop and told me to hold it. He then proceeded to do what looks like a stropping motion from a film, big crashing fast strokes however I can hear the edge kind of grinding on the strop.


I have not had a test shave with it yet but I did rub off a little strop dust because he had used it at such an obtuse angle. The art is dying gents, it is our duty to educate the world one shaver at a time. Oh well, back to the preverbal grindstone.

Try shaving with it. Light pressure and an "obtuse" angle when stropping can create a very sharp and smooth edge by removing any trace of a bur. I do it all the time. It is not a beginner technique, but a barber is generally not a beginner.

Did you get that sinking feeling in your gut? So I guess you never did get to shave....
I had a local Barber tell me if a razor had a chip in it, it was no good. He said it in such a way to lead me to believe that they were thrown away........

Originally Posted by JeffR

Try shaving with it. Light pressure and an "obtuse" angle when stropping can create a very sharp and smooth edge by removing any trace of a bur. I do it all the time. It is not a beginner technique, but a barber is generally not a beginner.

Fair enough, I am going to give it a go. The strokes looked really aggressive and sounded like a lot of pressure was used. There was strop residue left on the blade which I have never had. The barber was in his mid 30's and In a previous conversation said that his dad had used a straight but he hadn't. It will be interesting to see if I have learnt something new. Even if I have not from him I will give the angle thing a crack JeffR.

Originally Posted by Trimmy72

Did you get that sinking feeling in your gut? So I guess you never did get to shave....
I had a local Barber tell me if a razor had a chip in it, it was no good. He said it in such a way to lead me to believe that they were thrown away........

I guess back in the day they weren't worth the effort to repair, especially if you were a barber. Just reach into the drawer and get the next one out. Tools of the trade, while not disposable as we think of items these days, were no doubt expendable.

BUT...
Back in the day few people wasted things so I would guess the chips had to be pretty large to justify the razor being discarded rather than repaired. Of course a barber would want to work with optimal tools but I doubt many would discard any that could be repaired.

Originally Posted by Crackers

The barber was in his mid 30's and In a previous conversation said that his dad had used a straight but he hadn't. JeffR.

That is a little scary. I have watched shows on surgery but I wouldn't want to demonstrate to someone how to do it. Have you tried the blade after that stropping to see how it is?

Bob

No, have left the blade in the car because we went to the launch of Duff bear at Woolloomooloo hotel Sydney. Mmmmmm beer, will give it a go on Tursday to see.

Originally Posted by Trimmy72

Did you get that sinking feeling in your gut? So I guess you never did get to shave....
I had a local Barber tell me if a razor had a chip in it, it was no good. He said it in such a way to lead me to believe that they were thrown away........

Could have been, there may have been enough around for it not to matter. When you see some of the old early 1900s boxes, though, they have prices like $3 or $2. That was a day's wage for unskilled labor and half a day's wage for skilled. I'd imagine they figured it wasn't worth hours to repair a razor when they probably didn't have the stones available to do it. First thing any of us would whip out is a big diamond hone, and they didn't have that option. Carborundum stones were probably available but a big one cost as much as a razor back then.

Perhaps your shave will be less than satisfactory and perhaps because of your 'concept' of how the razor was stropped. Please check out this link!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY46z9I90p0

And Then The Story Behind the Man who was doing the stropping.


Straight Razor Place - Conversation with Liam Finnegan

'I' Never Judge A Book By It's Cover"