The World of Razor Sharpenersby

Tom Willard

STROPPERS

• There are approximately 2000 known razor sharpeners/stroppers, not including leather strops, leather strops with handles and straight razor hones.

• These range from using leather, glass, steel, bakelite and etc. to magnetic fields.

• Types range from simple blade holders to complicated mechanical devices to magnets and may be manual or electric.

• www.stropper.com or www.shaveworld.org • The first patents found are as follows:

1839 – Strop with a handle 1877 – Cylindrical rollers 1902 – Magnetism

Stropping

• Microscopically, razor blades have minute teeth like a saw blade.

• Dull blades have projections to these teeth that cause pulling, when hair enters the spaces between the teeth.

• Stropping a blade realigns these teeth by drawing the projections back into line.

Honing

• Honing a blade with a 4,000 or 8,000 grit hone removes the teeth completely.

• New teeth must be developed using a 12,000 grit hone or a leather strop.

Diamond EdgeUSA1864

TorreyBlasdell RollerUSA1904

King BeeUSA1896

Other Straight Razor Strops and Hones

WizardUSA

Single Roller Type

Eversharp, England, 1927

TarantellaGermany1934

LeslieUSA1909

AffilexFrance

Two Roller Type(Note different roller actions)

CompaxEngland1921

MosshtampRussia

Blue BeardUSA1925/32/34

Strop Rotates

Circular Types

Blade Rotates

RotelloGermany1927

RatioGermany

Hone is pulled back and forth

AllegroSwitzerland1921

Blade is pulled backand forth across hone

ApolloFrance

Machine Pull Handles Type

Zig ZagUSA1910

IngersollUSA1925Handle-Like Ingersol

Handle-Like Valet TypeHandle-Like Ingersoll Type

FoxUSAStropper - 1892/94 (Schmitz)

Sets with Sharpeners

KampfeUSARazor – 1889/1901Stropper 1900/02

Auto StropUSA1904

Wilsonium

Blade Holder Type

RacidCzechoslovakia

Pull String Type

Buki, Brazil

Aero-StropUSA

Hone-Glass/Other Types

EverkeenUSA1925/29Magnetic

Magnetic Types

Ball Bearing / Marble Type

De HavenUSA

Shake Sharp Types

Multi-Blade StropperEngland

MulcutoGermany

Rotary Belt Type

Edge-BakUSA1934

Edge-Bak Type

SimmonsUSA1933

OlympicUSA1938

Electric Types

LutesUSA

Other Types

DeyUSA1888/89

USA ---------------- 754England ---------- 166Germany --------- 154Switzerland ------- 29Austria ------------- 25Australia ----------- 18Japan --------------- 14Czechoslovakia - 12Russia -------------- 11Sweden ------------ 11Canada ------------- 10Denmark ------------ 6Hungary ------------- 4Italy ------------------- 4Ukraine -------------- 3Argentina ----------- 2Holland -------------- 2Brazil ----------------- 1Netherland ---------- 1Spain ----------------- 1

Rollers-2 ------------------ 203Set -------------------------- 166Hone-Glass/Other ----- 145Machine-Pull Handles 115Blade Holder ------------ 100Hone-Carborundum ---- 90Handle-Like Ingersoll -- 80Strop ------------------------ 77Allegro Type -------------- 69Handle-Like Valet ------- 66Pull String Type --------- 62Auto Strop ----------------- 39Other ------------------------ 30Rollers-4 ------------------- 29Marbles-Bearings ------- 26Rollers-1 ------------------- 23Circular --------------------- 18Electric ---------------------- 13Magnetic -------------------- 11Shake Sharp Type -------- 8Edge-Bak -------------------- 4Rotary Belt ------------------ 3Marvel Type ----------------- 2

DISTRIBUTION BY COUNTRY AND TYPE

Stropper Collections

Tom Willard USA 1500+Wilhelm Neubert Germany 1100Martin Elshoff Germany 900Guenther Janisch Germany 700Bruno Lacoste France 400Alan Zimmer USA 350Aart Roelandt Netherlands 300+Morten Danielsen Norway 200+Per Dahlstrom Sweden 200+Stan Henry USA 200+Danny Rosculet Holland 200Richard Lefebvre USA 180Rob Kesner USA 150Dominique Huet France 100