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Going back in time .

Well I am starting this blog to record my return to an older type of shaving . Like most of us I at present use the ubiquitous supermarket disposable razors , and have done so for , well I don't really know how long . When did these disposable and cartridge type of razors come about ? I guess I have been shaving regularly since I was around 16 which ,as I was born in 1953 , make it around 1969 when I started . I have a memory a very faint one I admit , to having a razor that twisted to open and receive a double edge blade of the kind that came in little rectangular boxes . I remember that the blades came wrapped in paper and the used blades were posted into a slot in the back of the box . Now that is all I actually remember of these things and as soon as the more modern types , disposables came out I started using them. Well you would wouldn't you how many teenagers want to do things as their Fathers do most of us wanted to look modern I guess , well I did anyway .

So where is all this rambling leading to , I am glad you asked ! As I am getting somewhat better at sharpening knives My poor weak mind seems to be taken with the idea of buying a straight razor from an antiques centre ,something from the 1880's to around the demise of the Old Queen , in 1901 I think . I admit that I only knew the date of Queen Victoria's death from watching my favourite John Wayne film The Shootist . So the thought of going from a modern razor to an inexpertly sharpened cutthroat is for me a daunting prospect and unusually good sense has prevailed and instead of leaping straight back to the end of the nineteenth century perhaps the 1950's may be a better place to start .

I have now checked out a few video's on YouTube and have found that the razors that I remember from my youth are indeed called DE or double edge . In fact this whole retro shaving lark is alive and kicking without me knowing anything about it . Youtube is awash with helpful young fellows scraping the whiskers off their finely honed chins with razors that they certainly don't remember from the first time round . Mind you I have learned an awful lot more about shaving than my Father ever taught me ,I guess it must have been him that showed me the ropes though I don't remember the lesson .

So I now have an Edwin Jagger DE89 razor and am waiting for those fine folks at Amazon to deliver the rest of the not inconsiderable amount of gear that it seems I must have . A styptic pencil ,what a word from the dawn of history , anyway I have forgotten to order one so in the short term things may get bloody !! The razor looks nice and I am thinking that it is probably of a lot higher quality than I would have had in the late sixties. I would likely have had an old one of my Dad's to start .

I hope to return to this blog in the future , blood loss allowing , and record my return journey to the shavings of my youth and hopefully back in time to the days of the Old Queen and a wonderful straight razor . Got to get through my lack of a styptic pencil first , can't imagine what a young girl in the chemist will think if I ask for one of those .

Tags: ., DE, Ramblings, Razors, Shaving, Time, Travel

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Comment by allanm on May 16, 2016 at 16:14: I am also impressed John, however I don't have the courage or need to try it as you are. Since deer camp last year I came back with a beard and decided to keep it. For now at least. I'm not keen on the idea of putting a straight razor to my face or throat though! :-)

As it was, I gave myself quite a nasty gash last Sunday and that not even with a knife. My wife was baking and left some of her equipment to wash. I decided to help out, washed and dried all, and the last thing to dry was a small stainless steel top from her scale, about 4 inches square with a lip maybe 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep. Removable for washing. Somehow in drying it I managed to slip, and an edge that is not even sharp gave me a nasty cut about 3/4 inch long, easily 1/4 inch or deeper and left a flap of skin and flesh with blood all over.

I managed to stop the bleeding with pressure while my wife got excited and wanted to take me to a doctor or urgent care for stitches, now she stops me doing anything possible with knives because I do have a bit of a history. But when deer camp comes again I will be field dressing, the skinning and quartering while wearing my big boy pants alone in the woods. :-) I did but some "No-Cry cut resistant gloves" for this season because last season I came home with quite a few nicks.

But my neck and a straight razor ... you have more courage than me, and you have my respect!

Comment by Jan Carter on May 10, 2016 at 17:56: John,

I am extremely impressed with your adventure and everytime you post I become more so. We spend a good amount of time saying we should be passing on skills to the next generation. This is a skill that has missed the better part of 2 or 3 generations. BRAVO!

Comment by John Bamford on May 10, 2016 at 12:42: I have been making progress with this straight razor shaving business and can now compete a shave in a reasonable amount of time . This is helping to motivate me to use the cutthroat , I do hate that word, every morning so helping to make this a more natural process .

I guess , no I know , it is fear that is the main problem in the first few weeks using a straight razor . Well it is for me anyway some folks may not find the idea of putting one of those things against their face in the morning troublesome , yeah right !! What they say is you need to relax your hand and arm , find the correct angle and use very light strokes . One guy said you just need to remove the soap with the razor and I am beginning to find that that is true . Not for a while though when I first started a tense arm and hand didn't want to relax and it is rather difficult to use a very light stroke when part of you is rather keen to move away from such a potentially hazardous operation .

It has seemed like a long business getting to grips with this way of shaving and I only have a modicum of skill at the moment but at least I can claim to have made progress . Anyone wishing to have a try at this should bare in mind the idea of making just small progress as a step too far could get messy , also a step too far today just becomes "the next step" in due course . Like learning anything lots of time practising is a major help .

Course it isn't very good to be trying to learn to sharpen the razor at the same time as trying to learn how to use it . That however is the course I have decided on and I hope that my sharpening has improved . It seems to have because I am after all shaving with the thing and managing to get reasonable results . This is where the New Razor comes in , in a day or two I should be able to test my self sharpened Ebay cheapies against a brand new razor sharpened by a well known UK supplier . I hope that I am not in for any shocks.

Comment by John Bamford on May 10, 2016 at 12:12: A fourth razor has almost arrived here , it would now be in my hands but alas Sue was busy when the postman called and the sneaky chap must have realised and pushed the card through the door before he "legged it" back to the post office ! I guess I will have to go round there in the morning .

This new razor , and it is a brand new one , is not an addition to my collection but is a necessary in fact essential model to check on the progress of my sharpening . Anyway a picture below , I would have liked a nice fancy looking job but as I come from the North of England I am too mean to buy one !!

Comment by John Bamford on April 4, 2016 at 0:45: The old wedge shaped razors seem to be popular on various forums Jan and go for a good price on Ebay . The sharpening is what really stops me going for one at the moment I am sure that hollow grind is a little easier to deal with . More on the trials of razor sharpening later !!

Comment by Jan Carter on April 3, 2016 at 18:02: John,

LOL yes the hollow grind! I assumed since the evolution of the razors shows the hollow grind gets larger it must have been an improvement but I always wondered if the wedge would work well also

Comment by John Bamford on April 3, 2016 at 12:26: I guess you mean the degree of hollow groundness for want of a better term Jan. I think that all my razors , well all three of them , are fully hollow ground and that is all I have used so far . I will have to direct you to the site below for more accurate information .

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Straight_Razor_Grind

Straight razor place is a great source of info for anyone wanting to know anything at all about straight razors .

http://straightrazorplace.com/

I believe that hollow ground razors were a German invention in the early 20th century , whereas the razors from Sheffield tended to be wedge shaped . The hollow ground razors have won the race so I guess they must be a great improvement , course most of us think that isn't the case with knives but then razors only need to cut the one thing .

They are an interesting subject to study though and a lot of razors are very beautiful in their own right , as in the photo below .

Comment by Jan Carter on April 3, 2016 at 9:18: John,

As someone that did dabble in collecting straight razors for a while but never used one, I have to ask. There are so many configurations, some with very little dip in the blade and some with a deep well! Is there a difference how they use?

Comment by John Bamford on April 3, 2016 at 3:39: Although I am not collecting straight razors , at least not officially , I am getting used to using one ! There is a definite learning curve to using these things . It does take a while to be able to relax the right hand when the razor is approaching the face ! Then of course there is the question of whether to use the left hand on the left side of the face , I was reluctant but after trying to just use my right hand I had to bite the bullet and train that stubborn left mitt to do it's part .

It was surprisingly easy to begin using the "wrong hand" to shave with . It seems unlikely but perhaps getting used to using an Edge Pro where the left hand needs to be used as much as the right has helped in this respect . Whatever the case there is a lot of satisfaction to be gained from trying to master the straight razor . I guess these things would hardly be possible without all the information available on the internet these days and there is a mass of stuff on You Tube etc which does make the endeavour possible .