Vintage razor sharpener - GIF

**VinnieL** · Sep 20, 2018, 10:19 AM

Now that style is the one I have seen most often areound antique stores and malls.

**Drew1966** · Sep 20, 2018, 04:30 PM

They look nice but I’ve always polished my razor blades on the inside of a tumbler glass and found that it works rather well.

**N00b Machinist** · Sep 23, 2018, 09:39 AM

How did these devices to sharpen what I understand to be disposable blades make the "business case," at the time? Were "disposable" razor blades much more expensive, at the time? I don't believe disposable safety blades were used in barber shops; barbers mostly used straight razors, as I understand. It was a point of pride to wield one well. Safety razors were for amateurs. As I was told, you had to shave a balloon with a straight razor to graduate from the trade school. So these sharpening tools were sold for personal use, i.e., two or three shaving person households, right? You can only squeeze so much cost-savings when you're just going through a few a month.

How do you manufacture and sell a complex mechanical device as well as the case for investing the time to perform the task, to sharpen a throwaway blade? The same blade you use a few times, then re-purpose it to line the wall behind your medicine cabinet?

**VinnieL** · Sep 23, 2018, 12:28 PM

I've been wrong before, but I believe that back in the day when these were made the cost of razor blades was very high. Razor blades are high IMHO today for what they are. Also our society was not as mobile back then and it also might have been more difficult to go to the store to get blades. At one time barber shops also sold razords and blades. And you are correct about the straight razor being king back in history. That is why going to the barber shop to get a shave was a common thing. Many men never learned how to weild a straight razor without drawing blood. Many barbers would also hne and strop your straight razor for you for a small charge. Remember we were not a "throw-away society" many decades ago as we are now. I have also read stories of men who stropped their straight razor or a blade on their denium pants in order to get the edge back again. In today's era many newer barbers do face shaves , changing the trend from about the 1960's forward until now.

**mklotz** · Sep 23, 2018, 02:18 PM

During the depression there would have been a call for sharpening razor blades. An individual probably couldn't have justified buying a machine but a barber or entrepreneur might have invested to make a few coins.

During the war, were razor blades scarce for civilians? Considering they're made from a good grade of steel, it seems likely. Again a market for sharpening machines created by the economic conditions of the times.

**will52100** · Sep 23, 2018, 05:52 PM

Economics, pure and simple. I don't know what the machine would cost, but when I was using the Mach 3 blades, I'd get two to three shaves out of them, and those suckers are expensive, and with the oilfield flat money is in short supply rite now. If someone made a sharpener for it I would have invested in it for sure. Since going to a straight razor solved this issue, along with razor bumps, and I already had the stones to sharpen, that's what I'm using.

**VinnieL** · Sep 23, 2018, 07:07 PM

Good for you! I have in the past shaved with a straight edge, but have kind of gotten out of the habit lately due to time restraints. Nothing shaves like a good straight edge. I do purchase blades from the Dollar shave Club and find them as good if not better than other brands. In history there were two Gillettes, Only one company survived and it was King Gillette. Although others such as Shick also make blades and razors, but all are now expensive. I understand that this Dollar shave Club has put a big dent in Gillette's sales, selling their blades for $1.00 each. This company has generated some good competition for them.

**ranald** · Sep 23, 2018, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by will52100

Economics, pure and simple. I don't know what the machine would cost, but when I was using the Mach 3 blades, I'd get two to three shaves out of them, and those suckers are expensive, and with the oilfield flat money is in short supply rite now. If someone made a sharpener for it I would have invested in it for sure. Since going to a straight razor solved this issue, along with razor bumps, and I already had the stones to sharpen, that's what I'm using.

What grit stone do you use (water stone I presume).

**will52100** · Sep 23, 2018, 08:31 PM

First, I only shave about twice a week, if I had to stumble into the bathroom and shave every day before coffee then I wouldn't be using a straight edge, or at least not more than once as I'd kill myself with it. That said, I haven't shaved with a regular razor in a couple of years an

As for honing, I use a set of Sharpton ceramic water stones, final grit 8000 grit and strop with leather. I'd like to get a 16,000 grit stone, but this is what I had for honing wood chisels.

**Frank S** · Sep 23, 2018, 08:53 PM

I haven't used a razor since I was 23 I figured all that shaving every Morning at 5 :Am for 6 years was enough for a life time. Many times having to shave again in the evening before going on night duty. For the past 40 years I have just used the electric clipper that I use to give myself a hair cut once in a while when my beard starts to bother me