Thread: A 1810 razor with all the bells and whistles ?

Grab your seat, because if I am not mistaken, what I am about to show you might be the oldest safety razor with removable blade ever documented





What I know for sure is that there are very few framebacks that old, even fewer with a blade mechanism. The earliest example I knew until now was a circa 1820, as M Charles patented the invention in 1819.
But that seems to be older.
that
Now I'm going on a limb, but I'm quite sur I know why the slit in the nose is for


Perret's "rabot" (woodworker's plane) is the name of this safety mechanism, invented circa 1790 and which was apparently extremely popular in the late 1700s.
Nobody has ever found the ebony or tortoise attachment so far though...

I don't think I am hugely mistaken, but dare not hope that I am that right.

When I look at the drawing the slit in the nose is actully on the end of the tang, not at the end of the blade like the one you picture. The left side drawing is sort of confusing.

Very cool razor!
I don't see the relation to a woodworking plane with regards to the slot. I doesn't seem to have a purpose other than to open the blade.

Originally Posted by 32t

When I look at the drawing the slit in the nose is actully on the end of the tang, not at the end of the blade like the one you picture. The left side drawing is sort of confusing.

The confusing one for me is the one to the far right. Either the perspective is off or he's shaving with a cane knife.

The only slot pictured is on the right. The rest of the pictures show a verticle seam beteen the blade and the tang.

Cool razor though

Ya, the drawing is obviously not of the razor shown. It is just a drawing of a frameback with a slot in the frame.
There is no screw attachment in the drawing either. (the mechanism)

The slot and the hook are used to add a kind of comb-like piece described top left (the little squiggle is the front picture). Much like on a DE or SE the comb provides the gap and exposure. Perret just saw it as the sole of a plane rather than a comb.
In his book Perret said such combs should be made of tortoise or Ebony, none have been found so far AFAIK, only the blades

According to a French fellow enthusiast (Lohar) who is far more knowledgeable than I am, the "plane safety mechanism" has been so popular that there even was "patent trolling" about it.

Here is said enthusiast's rabot, from famed cutler Pouzeau


On a not-frameback razor you would need the hook at the tang to hold the safety mechanism in place. It's not needed with a FB.

Obviously industrial technical design was not all the rage at the time so yeah, proportions are off

This makes much more sense now and I see what you mean.

So as it happens, I have had new information regarding this type of razors.
I can now confirm that said razor is indeed a "Syst?me rabot de Perret" (Perret-system plane) frameback, which should normally come with 6 other blades and a guard.
Knowing what to look for, I went back to Renzo Jardella's extraordinary book, and found he has not one "rabot", but two of them, one of which sports the same mechanism as mine.

Nobody has ever found an ebony or tortoise guard, true, that's because the system has been simplified.
In such a razor, it should actually look like that


The grey circle in the top left corner is actually a rivet which slides in the slot on the frame the same way the slot in the hook at the right slides in the screws.

So there you have it, it's a bit less rare that I had imagined, because I have now seen four of them, but they still rank at the top of the rarest things I've ever seen.