Dovo razors strops and  accessories - get your Dovo razor here!

 

 

Dovo razors strops and  accessories - get your Dovo razor here!

 

The straight razor may be a simple tool but that doesn't mean to say it's crude. Far from it. The modern (1950-ish onward) straight razor (from here called a 'razor') is a distillation of design that has been evolving since about 1600. That's a long time. The reason the razor is a simple tool is one of refinement - modern razors may not have the collectability value of the ones made 100 years ago but we suspect they're now made of better steel.  

 Razors reached their design high point in about 1930 or so, in our opinion (that will be no doubt hotly contested). About this time the blades were made of the best steel around, the profiling of the blades reached a peak and - let's face it - they couldn't get any sharper. We have no doubt that this will have absolutely no effect on the desires of collectors (including us here at The Edge) so what follows is as objective as we can make it. We don't have examples of all the early razors to show you (yet) but here's a tour through time -

1500's - 1600's.

Razors looked like small hatchets and didn't have maker's names or any form of branding. It was as likely that these were made by the local blacksmith as anyone. What shaving was like with these razors is anyone's guess (perhaps that’s why most men grew beards!) but they were used widely and were the forerunner of the straight razor as we know it.

Pre-1800

Both blade and handle were wedge-shaped, the blade being wider at the point than at the pivot. The profile of the blade was a 'wedge' - no hollow grinding - and its edge straight. Blades had no tang as such and very often no 'monkey tail' (the curved 'trigger' piece at the end of the handle). If this was present it was short and stubby. Typical handle materials were horn, wood and bone, though tortoiseshell and ivory were also used. The handle surface was almost always flat, not curved, though handles (called 'scales' from now on) were sometimes bevelled. The pins at either end of the handle were sometimes of brass but generally made of iron. Razors made between 1740 - 1830 were sometimes marked with the words 'warranted' or 'cast steel' to show that this type of metal, invented in 1740 by Robert Huntsmann of Sheffield, had been used. By the standards of today the razors from this era look a bit crude - but they were the cutting edge (pun intended!) of their day.

1800 - 1820

This period showed small but subtle changes. A 'shoulder' began to develop on the blade - forerunner to the stabilising piece - and the overall size became a bit smaller. Scales started to show a slight curve, moving away from the earlier totally straight handles. Decorative handles of pressed horn began to appear.

 

Straight Razors - a brief history of their development 1500 - 1820

Wedge-bladed razor C. 1850(?) with tortoiseshell handle inlaid with crown motif - typical of the period. Note totally straight scales, a leftover from earlier days. (TIE collection, NFS.)

Cast steel razor by Clayton, C. 1780-1790. Notice the complete lack of a shoulder and no tang to speak of. Scales are horn. This used to belong to a Buddhist Monk - honestly. (TIE collection, NFS)