Thread: I'm calling it my Waffle razor...

I saw this... whatever it is... on Ebay UK listed in the straight razor section and decided I had to have it. I'm not sure if it was originally meant to be a razor but then I don't know what else it might be. I am calling it my "waffle" razor because of the carved scales.



I've never seen its like before so I assume it might be some prototype/experiment, or maybe not a razor at all but then what could it be? There are no maker marks that I can find so tracking down any info on it will probably be difficult. The blade is a shade over 10/8, like by a 32nd, at the end so it is the widest razor I have ever had. The blade has a lovely hollow grind so I imagine it can't be that old, maybe late 1800s, and the steel blade feels really good.

The scales really puzzle me because they are solid in the middle; the edge of the blade closes inside the groove but I don't understand why the scales are so big and round if the entire blade was never meant to sit inside. Also I am not sure if the edge will be any good after storage because at least the tip of the blade hits on the inside of the scales when closed, seems like a very bad design flaw, maybe one reason why this never caught on. The material does appear to be ivory, carved in an unusual checkered pattern and with silver pins in the little pyramids. The pivot point and "wedge" running down the back of the scales does look to be silver. I used a bit of Maas to polish the blade and pivot and the pivot/spine gave off a very black tarnish on the rag just like silverware.

I did hone it but only got maybe three-quarters of an inch of the edge from the point to be shave-ready. I didn't want to try and force a bevel along the entire length of the blade especially since the heel is not usable as I had to grip it there to keep it open while honing and shaving. It was pretty awkward to use since the razor only opens 180 degrees so I had to treat it like a kamisori and the scales did get in the way. I only shaved a cheek and part of my neck and it did pop hairs off but it was just too unwieldy with those massive scales in the way.

I will just keep it as a shaving curiosity but if anyone else has seen something similar please let me know, thanks!






More, higher res photos can be found in this imgur album: Waffle razor - Album on Imgur