Sorry to have been away so long, folks. Guess I was hibernating for the winter months. But now that the weather is on the up-and-up on this side of the pond (Belgium) I've found some time to get out to the weekend flea markets again. And wouldn't you know it, I happened upon a little 'find' this last Saturday morning. I picked up three old razors for a mere 3 euro ($ 4.35).
Now, I didn't post most of these shots to demonstrate "truth and beauty", but rather quite the opposite.
I wanted you all to see how bad it can get. In particular this first sad example below is a razor that had obviously been "Ridden hard and put away wet". This blade saw constant applications of the hone and/or pasted strop, so much so that although it started life as a 6/8 round point it was whittled down to a mean-pointed oblique of half that width with a pronounced 'frown'.
It and the other razors pictured here were found in a box of old razors which obviously belonged to a practicing barber. The entire box was filled with old, shot-out razors, all of which had been covered in a coating of some sort of protective grease. The majority of the razors looked very much like this one, although some of them were also chipped and/or broken. Most of them were only fit to be used for hobby knife blades. Not that any of this would have mattered to the barbers back then. "Keep 'em sharp and please the customers." would have been the primary concern.
This is by no means the first time I have come upon a cache of razors in this condition, and it seems to have been the practice for barbers to use their razors for as long as possible and when the razor would no longer serve it was put aside, being something of a trophy of chins gone by or that sort of thing.
This second razor pictured came from the very same box and as can be seen was subjected to much the same treatment, although not to quite the same degree. This is a frame back razor of French manufacture. I don't know much about the company. I did look on the internet and although they still exist they no longer have anything to do with straight razors. If you are at all interested (and you can read French) you may follow this link: http://www.hamon-paris.com/public.hamon.quisommesnous.cescreen
Finally, to show that even the darkest of clouds can (sometimes) have a silver lining, I present you with this last blade. It is a rather nice German blade with a Spanish point made by the firm of Gottlieb Hammesfahr in Solingen-Foche. You can see that this blade, too, was starting to get the very mildest of 'frowns'. What saved it from the same fate as the other razors in the group was that its scales were broken and it had been consigned to the box before it was too heavily used. After some quiet hours of hand polishing to eliminate some light surface rust it looks rather presentable. When the weather permits I shall go out to my workshop in the garage and try to buff in a bit more luster using some muslin wheels and polishing compound after which I will restore a more proper edge form and then sharpen it then on to some new scales. I tried to find more information about the company of Gottlieb Hammesfahr on the internet but have come up with very little except to note that they (along with almost every other cutlery company in Germany) once provided daggers, bayonets and knives to the German military.
- Ignatz
Now, I didn't post most of these shots to demonstrate "truth and beauty", but rather quite the opposite.
I wanted you all to see how bad it can get. In particular this first sad example below is a razor that had obviously been "Ridden hard and put away wet". This blade saw constant applications of the hone and/or pasted strop, so much so that although it started life as a 6/8 round point it was whittled down to a mean-pointed oblique of half that width with a pronounced 'frown'.It and the other razors pictured here were found in a box of old razors which obviously belonged to a practicing barber. The entire box was filled with old, shot-out razors, all of which had been covered in a coating of some sort of protective grease. The majority of the razors looked very much like this one, although some of them were also chipped and/or broken. Most of them were only fit to be used for hobby knife blades. Not that any of this would have mattered to the barbers back then. "Keep 'em sharp and please the customers." would have been the primary concern.
This is by no means the first time I have come upon a cache of razors in this condition, and it seems to have been the practice for barbers to use their razors for as long as possible and when the razor would no longer serve it was put aside, being something of a trophy of chins gone by or that sort of thing.
This second razor pictured came from the very same box and as can be seen was subjected to much the same treatment, although not to quite the same degree. This is a frame back razor of French manufacture. I don't know much about the company. I did look on the internet and although they still exist they no longer have anything to do with straight razors. If you are at all interested (and you can read French) you may follow this link: http://www.hamon-paris.com/public.hamon.quisommesnous.cescreen
Finally, to show that even the darkest of clouds can (sometimes) have a silver lining, I present you with this last blade. It is a rather nice German blade with a Spanish point made by the firm of Gottlieb Hammesfahr in Solingen-Foche. You can see that this blade, too, was starting to get the very mildest of 'frowns'. What saved it from the same fate as the other razors in the group was that its scales were broken and it had been consigned to the box before it was too heavily used. After some quiet hours of hand polishing to eliminate some light surface rust it looks rather presentable. When the weather permits I shall go out to my workshop in the garage and try to buff in a bit more luster using some muslin wheels and polishing compound after which I will restore a more proper edge form and then sharpen it then on to some new scales. I tried to find more information about the company of Gottlieb Hammesfahr on the internet but have come up with very little except to note that they (along with almost every other cutlery company in Germany) once provided daggers, bayonets and knives to the German military.
- Ignatz
The small washers around the rivet are made of the same material.
