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

 

 

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

 

1850 - 1870

The golden age of the wedge razor. During this period some truly stunning etched blades were produced, company names began to appear on the tang and even the spine of the blade was sometimes decorated with fancy designs. Handles were made out of many different materials - Ivory, horn, bone were all used and inlaid with silver and even precious stones. A notable introduction in 1868 was the use of celluloid for scales - designs really did take off from this point! This period also saw the introduction of the 'frameback' razor, a blade with a heavy spine and the thinnest possible blade (non-removable) that gained immediate popularity.

1870 - 1880

Celluloid handles became extremely popular as makers discovered the huge potential of this versatile material. Sculpted and coloured scales began to be seen and this decade more or less saw the final demise of the wedge-shaped blade as hollow grinding reached its final stages.

1880 - 1900

Machine-forged blades became common, hence the appearance of blades stamped 'hand-forged' or 'hand-made' as older-style makers strove to retain sales. A new process allowed the hollow-ground blades to be etched similarly to the old wedge blades and other processes such as gold wash further enhanced the blades' appearance.

1900 - 1920

Celluloid was by now used almost exclusively for scales, though the new 'Bakelite' plastic began to make inroads. By this time the hollow-ground blade profile had reached its zenith - in 1914 the firm of J. A. Henckels offered no less than sixteen different degrees of blade profile, from full-wedge to extreme hollow-ground and  four blade end-shapes in ten blade depths ranging from 3/8" to 8/8"!

Straight razors were still popular up to the 1950's, although an invention in 1901 by a certain King Camp Gillette spelt their demise - until now!

 

Who knows if men are just fed up with paying through the nose for a bit of cheap steel set in plastic that gets thrown away after a few days or if the desire to be macho is rearing its head once more? Let's face it, if scraping off your stubble with three inches of unguarded, horribly sharp steel isn't macho, we don't know what is!

Whatever the reason, there’s no doubt that more and more men are now  using straight razors for their everyday shave.

 

Straight Razors - a brief history of their development 1850 - 1950

‘Spike’ American razor, C. 1950’s. Note the square-ended blade favoured by American companies over the ‘French point’ (round-ended) blades preferred in Europe at this time. Also the blade is quite narrow - another typical feature of American razors of this era. (TIE collection, NFS)