Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
not my George Morley. It doesn't have a straight edge. It has a smile like a clown that just cut a fart.
Why is a str8 razor called str8?
- Thread starter BladeRunner001
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not my George Morley. It doesn't have a straight edge. It has a smile like a clown that just cut a fart.
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- #22
This does seem to be most everyone's "gut feeling" too. I also think that nomenclature and hardware evolved lockstep with each other.
Thanks Davy
Call 'em what you like...but PLEASE don't call them "str8" razors - degraded text speak is bad enough on SMS phones but on a forum like this it's unpardonable.
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NO thats not true ....have you seen the round under arm razors...or many industrial razors are curved or bent...ever seen the hooked vinyl flooring razors?
Just playing devils advocate here
I have also seen them referred to as open razors. But I suspect that probably came into use after safety razors became popular.
Looking into this (I love etymology), I agree that "straight razor" is a retronym (term coined in response to developments).
Check out this article from 1953:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...mYsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PcsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5579,1841970
And going back even further, this ad from 1920!
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...JIgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WmYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3091,1156980
Here's another from 1921 about the invention of the "electric safety razor"!
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...IUjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tXUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3704,5057872
Check out this article from 1953:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...mYsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PcsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5579,1841970
And going back even further, this ad from 1920!
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...JIgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WmYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3091,1156980
Here's another from 1921 about the invention of the "electric safety razor"!
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...IUjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tXUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3704,5057872
4 year old thread revival?
I'd almost like to think that a "straight" was called only a razor back before there was any other option. I think "straight" implies "straight up"... Like that's a straight up razor with no filter, shortened to simply straight razor, while not referring to the geometry of the blade or any of the tool. The name being derived only after the notion of safety. That's my 2 cents.
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They are called a strait razor, because you'd have to be crazy to use one!
I don't think "cut-throat" razor isn't a very old term either it seems. I can't find instances of either "straight razor" or "cut-throat" razor pre-1900.
(Of course even "razor" only seems to go back to circa 1300 in English, an import from Norman French. The Old English word is "scearseax" (with various spellings), something like "shaving[shearing] knife".)
(Of course even "razor" only seems to go back to circa 1300 in English, an import from Norman French. The Old English word is "scearseax" (with various spellings), something like "shaving[shearing] knife".)
In Sweden we call any manual (non electric) shaving device a "rakhyvel" which word by word means straight plane (plane as in hand plane for planing wood). "To shave" is called "att raka sig" which translates to "to straighten one self". Maybe the straight in straight edge comes from "a sharp knife edge used to straighten one self up with".
I have no idea, but IMO it is likely due to the geometry of the blade. I am not sure when Double Edge razors were first called double edged or when single edged versions of safety razors first appeared (whether any single edged were before King Gillette). But I imagine that the long-straight-line geometry of the blade had something to do with it, to provide a contrast against the double edged safety razors that was introduced later (with two sharp edges...two halves...not a straight contiguous edge). Though I would have doubts that the original King Gillette was known as a safety razor at their introduction...but again I don't know the history around their introduction that well.
First single edge patent was 1878. "Safety-Razors" term was used in a SE patent application in May 1880. Gillette patent app was 1901. Injector razors 1920's by Schick. FYI.
Thanks for the information. So single edge razors were introduced first, that makes sense.
When was the first disposable blade introduced? Was it designed a DE or SE razor? I ask out of ignorance and some weak memory from years ago of reading about how the motivation for the DE was to have a second fresh edge...that it put off touch-up honing and made more efficient use of materials (steel). And could this have also contributed to the coining of the straight razor term. Since there might have been a need to distinguish between all these blade types.
If the first GEM was disposable, 1898 so SE would seem to predate the DE by 3 years. Gillette's patent was a disposable blade from the get go. That was how he planned to make his money, from blade sells. A marketing model still in use today most notably by ink jet printers.
