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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 John Bamford on August 2, 2016 at 10:48: Oh Alan didn't you see my lovely new soap scuttle, wonderful warm lather round your face in a morning , and that Cella soap smells so good you could eat it .

I have moved around the UK over the years and thought that I had lost my northern accent but apparently not !

I seem to remind people of Coronation street !!

I keep thinking that as most people on here speak American that I should change to US spelling but it is hard to do that when you are the wrong side of 60 .

I keep seeing some lovely knives made in SA Arno Bernard comes to mind . I would love one of his knives with the Warthog Ivory handles , don't have much use for a fixed blade and they aren't cheap but they do look good .

Also there is always so much to spend your money on , today has made a hole in the bank balance with new furniture and a new phone !!!!!

Maybe Warthog Ivory isn't too exotic if you have lived in SA but to me it sounds great .

Comment by allanm on August 2, 2016 at 10:31: And for the record, I'm still lacking the courage to put a straight razor near my neck like you, or the desire to use any razor at the moment since I came back from the last hunting trip in November unshaved, and have kept with that. Just a trim every now and then. :-)

Comment by allanm on August 2, 2016 at 10:29: John, I'm there with you in the cultural differences, and I am used to beige or cream colored (coloured) masking tape too from being a colony (Africa) - but after 17 years in the US I have become bilingual speaking and writing both American and British (colony) English! :-)

I don't flip flop accents though. My daughter did at one time, coming over at 8 years old, my son was 11, they were novelties in school for a number of years as white Africans. But the the novelty wore off and they didn't want attention, so they modified their speech a bit - my daughter more than my son.

I know you have the Queen's English, and common English (for lack of me knowing a better term) - and I think we tended to speak the Queen's English with e.g. class and grass rhyming with what you would call your rear end, rather than ass as people here would say. So my daughter would talk to us at home about "claaass", and when her friends were over and talking in another room, she would switch to cl-ass. One day we were all talking in the kitchen and she came to say the word, and stopped suddenly, confused and not knowing if she should say it the American way or the Queens English way. That was a funny moment, but we didn't tease her in front of her friends over it.

Comment by John Bamford on August 2, 2016 at 8:14: That kilo of Cella soap arrived today , I don't know how Amazon get stuff through the postal service so quick guess the GPO just have to get their finger out for such a big client .

Anyway it is great stuff the best shaving soap I have tried so far , I usually use Proraso , and such a fantastic smell I do like almonds a lot but ohh the smell of this soap .......

Same razor fantastic shave again and it is not always the case with this straight razor business in my , short , experience . Some day's the shave is great and I think I have got this sorted and then the next day it seems to be pulling and tugging a lot . About a year I am thinking from first shave to having this fully worked out .

Comment by John Bamford on August 1, 2016 at 13:34: I used this razor today after refreshing the edge on my new Swaty razor hone , fantastic shave from the little Osgar 4/8ths

Comment by John Bamford on August 1, 2016 at 13:22: Today's topic is my new Scuttle and a kilo of soap !

Lot's of old soap scuttle's are available on Ebay so I thought it would be best to try one out . You can buy new ones but as I had no idea whether it would be useful I thought it best to go cheap and buy one for a "fiver ". Took a while to find one that fitted in with the colour scheme in the bathroom , it may seem cowardly but I know what will get me in trouble and what won't . I will admit that not too long ago I didn't know what a soap scuttle was either but here for your delight is.....

As I am sure you can guess the point is having and keeping warm shaving soap . Hot water goes in the bottom and soap as can be seen sits on the top then you put your brush into the warm water to soften . I tend to tip most of the water out when everything is nice and warm and then keep my soapy brush tucked into the water reservoir to stay warm between passes . It seemed an awkward business at first but now I have used it for a couple it seems very nice to have nice warm soap for shaving . Not much use if you are rushing off to work but then neither is using a straight razor .

I do like the smell , and the taste but in this case just the smell of Almonds , so I have been determined to try Cella shaving soap which I am told is Almondy . You can of course buy this soap in sensible amounts and I do have a few shaving soaps now , but why bother when you can get a Kilo of the stuff !! Never bought a kilo of soap before but this shaving business is leading to a few purchases that a few months ago I wouldn't have thought essential . Just love the picture

As I was saying this shaving business has meant buying all sorts of necessary articles , it used to be a three blade razor from the supermarket and a bit of soap from out of a can . Now I have had to pinch two shelves in the bathroom from Sue .

And the one above

Great fun though and even though it has meant fewer knives this year I have learned how to turn something from a chore into an enjoyable ritual.

Comment by John Bamford on August 1, 2016 at 2:08: Jan the link to the series of razor restoration video's is

https://youtu.be/uurBeF1u83U

As I said to Dale they are very interesting and a comprehensive guide . The guy does witter on though especially in the first video .

Comment by John Bamford on August 1, 2016 at 1:39: Yes you are right Dale , I wasn't testing you about the "pencil test"it was just one of those times when you don't stop to think . A bit like the "Sharpie trick" or test or whatever , those waterproof markers are commonly referred to as just marker pens here so I had to look up Sharpie when I first heard of it . While I am on the subject of Anglo American misunderstanding Your "painters tape" seems to come in blue our "masking tape" is always a beige sort of colour. That isn't a problem till you buy an Edge Pro and are told to cover a part of it with painters tape and you can't find any of this blue stuff anywhere until you Google it !

Anyway yes I appreciated the great packaging as I was wondering how a sharpening stone would survive the journey and razor are quite brittle , they say contact with bathroom taps are a common source of breakage when rinsing the soap off . Surprising how many broken razors are put for sale on Ebay some have pretty scales and you can understand that , but others are very plain and ready made scales are available on line.

As for the video's there are quite a few about but this series is pretty comprehensive and I did wonder about wedges in the scales and over arcane questions which are dealt with there . The guy does a good job and takes a lot of pride in his work , you can see that in the way he finishes the horn scales at the end .

In Memoriam Comment by D ale on July 31, 2016 at 21:22: It is where one scribbles all over the surface of the stone to be lapped .. and then takes a couple passes across the lapping surface. Anywhere the scribbling is removed is a high spot .. low spots will be identified by the scribbles still being present. And an easy & relatively inexpensive lapping surface is ... a sheet of wet/dry emory paper laid upon a very flat surface such as a thick sheet of plate glass.

Once I read what was posted here .. I recognized it from a process used by machinist ..only .. they use a bluing compound (Re: 5th response down). e.g. in steel fabrication tooling .. if they've two mating surfaces that need to be flat against one another when assembled .. they will coat one of the mating surfaces with this bluing compound .. assemble the tooling .. then dis-assemble & note the blued surface. Any spots where the bluing compound is gone is a high spot.