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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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In Memoriam Comment by D ale on July 31, 2016 at 20:04: I found it .. never mind.

Sure .. after I post the question .. I find the answer :)

Re: the packaging. In all seriousness .. I didn't want the stone to be broken if the package were handled in the common manner I've heard horror stories of. i.e. driven over .. crushed .. thrown .. etc. Nor the razor for that matter. Their steel is tempered very hard ..AND.. brittle. It's not impossible to crack the thin part of the blade or severely chip the cutting edge.

After finding an exclamation of the pencil test .. it makes sense. Machinist will coat one side of mating surfaces with a bluing compound .. then mate the parts together .. then dis-assemble & note where the bluing compound is no longer present .. indicating a "high spot".

In Memoriam Comment by D ale on July 31, 2016 at 19:47: Alright .. you'll likely get a chuckle out of this ..but.. What's a pencil test ??

I googled it .. I can find reference to it .. but I'm not finding an explanation / definition / description.

.. and ..

I could tell what "brusque" meant from the context it was used in ..but.. had to look it up to verify.

A good vocabulary will always serve you well. i.e. will help you accurately & concisely communicate while simultaneously presenting one's self as .. well read.. well spoken .. having the benefits of an education .. etc.

One also often comes off as more convincing .. if in possession of a good vocabulary.

.

I started the video ..and.. you're right. I sometimes run out of patience before they get to the point. In which case .. a bit more brusque would be good ..as in.. cut to the chase !!!

I will finish the series ..but.. not tonight.

Thanks,

D ale.

Comment by John Bamford on July 31, 2016 at 14:37: Dale with your skills you would have little trouble restoring those old razors but if you did need some idea's then I was watching a bunch of videos last night . Some times I think the guy could talk a little less but the again I am from Lancashire and as my Better Half say's rather brusque , good word brusque don't you think .

https://youtu.be/uurBeF1u83U

I used the hone today , a brief rub on an old Osgar razor and will have a shave with it tomorrow .

In Memoriam Comment by D ale on July 31, 2016 at 13:56: My children do .. good nature-ably .. chide me for my packaging "skills" when I send them schtuff. It's an engineering thing :)

Re: gifting / trading. I do have self serving motives .. it makes me smile !!! At this stage of my collecting .. I've "accumulated" to the point that some schtuff just sits in boxes. Where's the good in that ? I'd rather see some items actively used !!

..and..

This discussion, the attached links, & conversation has rekindled my interest to re-handle some of the razors. i.e. I purchased the Wade & Butcher w/ the masonic emblems with the handles already broken .. with the idea that perhaps .. one day .. I'd re-handle it. That was ever so shortly after becoming a mason ..sooo.. that's a good long time ago. From a practical side .. I'll do a couple of "not so good" razors first ..then.. the Wade & Butcher.

Thanks for the kind words.

D ale

Comment by John Bamford on July 30, 2016 at 16:12: Your right Jan Dale is a great guy and you should see the way he packs a parcel , I wish I had taken pics as it was undone . This packing would have survived any situation you could possibly think of .

Comment by Jan Carter on July 30, 2016 at 15:59: I cannot wait to hear about the first time you shave with this one!

It was nice to hear about how you worked the stone and then reworked it to get it flat and ready for use.

D ale,

Your gift to a friend speaks volumes for the person you are !

Comment by John Bamford on July 30, 2016 at 11:27: A wonderful parcel from the States arrived the other day . The razor and Barber Hone that my good friend Dale kindly sent me . If I had bought the razor cheaply on the Bay I may have just sharpened her up and had a shave . As it is a gift I think it would be best to do a "proper job" of cleaning her up before sharpening so tomorrow we will see how 2500 grit wet and dry works on Yankee steel .

Now for the Barber Hone I have heard of these Swaty hones on the web but have not tried one so far , course I have only been wielding a straight razor for a few months so my knowledge is rudimentary to say the least . I looked Swaty hones up of course and got the usual mixed reviews but the majority of people think they are very good . Course there are an awful lot of people out there who will not recommend anything that doesn't cost an arm and a leg or doesn't have a fancy Japanese name . Not me though Barber Hones were used by , well Barbers and they must have known what they were doing back in the day after all they were shaving people every day . The thing that was most recommended was to lap the thing flat even though some opinion pointed to these things being so hard that it would break your heart , I decided it would have to be done .

Wet and dry paper or a series of diamond stones are said to be the preferred tools for the job they say . The only diamond stones that I have at present are for that Edge Pro and they are great for knives with hard modern steel , however one inch by six won't do the job that I want here .

Wet and dry was the route I went yesterday I didn't want to put very deep scratches on the stone so started of on 800 and went to 1200 then 3000 Wastikivi stone and polished on a Belgian Blue stone and the job looked great .

It looked great till the stone had dried properly and then I could see that although I had got a good polish on the stone it wasn't properly flat , oh dear as they say !! Back to it today this time I am going at it heavy duty ! Aluminium Oxide dry 40, 60, 120 now that is more like it , its flat all right tried the pencil test and it is flat .. very flat . Scratched yes it's scratched but at least it is flat . Smoothed out the scratches with the same wet and dry routine as yesterday and polished up with the same two stones , it is smooth now even though there seems to be a couple of little scratches on the photo they aren't big enough to be felt . It now feels about as smooth as my 13000 grit stone . Haven't used it yet though so until I do it's best not to say too much I guess it feels good though .

In Memoriam Comment by D ale on July 16, 2016 at 15:28: John

This isn't something you requested .. it is something I offered.

As such .. let's wait till you actually receive the package & determine if it's anything useful

..or..

simply a curiosity.

.

Oh .. and the declared value is $11.37 .. presuming .. odd amounts less questioned by customs .. as opposed to .. a round # .. i.e. $10.oo or $15.oo.

.

Enjoy .. in 2~3 weeks.

D ale

Comment by John Bamford on July 16, 2016 at 14:59: Thanks for the info Dale , and thanks once again for the generous gift , I hope the shipping wasn't too gruesome I am sure I could find someway of getting a few dollars to you .How do you manage without Paypal , I use it all the time ?

Postage always takes at least a week from the States and often more like three weeks !

In Memoriam Comment by D ale on July 16, 2016 at 14:40: It turns out, I had 4 of the Franz Swaty barber hones. Note: interesting thread here & here on Franz Swaty barber hones. You may already be aware of the threads ..but.. just in case ..........
I shipped by the least expensive method. First class ..but.. no rush or tracking or insurance ..so.. it may be a week or so before see anything. No tracking # ..but.. Custom # is LC466521334US.

I soaked the stone in Dawn dish soap & hot water long enough to remove the "antique store" sticker. There is still a visible square outline (lower left of stone) .. you'll probably wish to further clean. Lapping ... I don't think you'll need to ..but.. use your own judgment on that one.

I used 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper to remove some surface tarnish on the razor. I checked .. you will need to sharpen the razor before using.

.
I genuinely hope you find them both useful.

Enjoy

D ale