The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-16
ABOUT RAZORS.

history 10 write upon razors, real razors, sharp
things of fat steel, with which people who aspire
+ to smooth chins daily cut of their boards and
exasperate their tempers. 1t was great writer,
however, who said that he questioned whether
! the habit OF shaving in one sex-we fear he said
the necessity of shaving, but then he lived before
4 the beard movement-was not fair compensa-
ton for the pains of collaborating in the other.
Each is in some degree the result of civilization,
BfUr while savage women bear their children and
go to work the next day without any percepdble
i'll consequences, savage men either exempt
themselves from shaving altogether, or adopt
means more summary and of less frequent re.
currence than the daily operation with steel. One
race uses fire, another pumice stone, another
lime, and fourth the hard inner cuticle of the
oyster shell, device which seems ingeniously
4 adapted 10 combine the largest amount OF ugli.
Hness with the greatest quantity OF suffering
The civilized world, however, and the semi
#civilized, so Tar as il shaves, which is exten
Hsively-the Mussuman world alone attaching
real sanCtity to the beard-has adopted the
razor, and 1t Is worth the while OF three-tourths
= OF those who Will read these lines to consider
what really Is the best shape and make of an
instrument so necessarily in use. Upon that
point we have little information to give them
which seems to us obviously sound, and which
is derived from an essay by a cutler, or, as he
proudly styles himself ''raZor maker" one
Benjamin Ktngsbury, of Bond street. In an
d. Exceedingly verbose and slightly pompous but
livery sensible pamphlet, he gives the lay BARRIERS
y lat least one very valuable hint, "wTnklen
which we should have thought 1t q cutters
interest to keep very strictly to himself
B OF course his advice is Of no use TO pro.
q They learn to know a good deal by practice.
r they are masters OF the mystical, and to most
men unattainaDle, art called "stropping," and
they can make up Tor any temporary
defeat by skill in manipulation. 1t is not given
ITO lay shavers to make those long sweeping
Istrokes, any more than 10 unframed oarsmen,
nor did any layman that ever we met acquire
that 1netiable, and, as it were, spiritual mystery
the art of giving the last fine edge to the weapon
by stroke or two on the palm. Besides, the
Z BARRIERS have an advantage none of their sub
ects, or patients, or clients, or constituents, or
whatever they call them, can ever hope to rival.
They cannot shave by the aid OF a leverage on
their own noses. Teaching BARRIERS is waste of
time, but 10 the outside World-the Wretched
majority who have neither time nor patience
nor nerve to be artistically shaven-there Is one
& little secret about the operation worth knowing,
and that is this:-The only test for razor is
microscope. AS rule, almost all English
q razors are intended to be good, the cheap
+ specimens as we'll as the dear, and,
indeed, the cheap specimens are good just
as often as the dear The present writer was
fool enough once, when prouder of having
beard than he is now, to give gninea for
pair OF razors supposed TO be by the best maker
In England, and declared next day his belief
i
an nnjustifable exaggeraton, for properly
managed they would have cut it; but they
were very bad, many degrees worse than the
worst of the shilling and two shilling razors to
which in expiation he thereafter confined him
self. The reason is explained very clearly by
Mr.. Kingsbury, rather more clearly, perhaps,
than he exactly intended. razor Is nothing
more nor less than saw, with very minute and
thin teeth, which does not cut-nothing cuts
but saws OF the hair OF the beard. If those
teeth are straight and continuous and even, the
razor is good one; and if not, not; and there is
81 no other possible test for raZors When you Guy
one at any price over shiling-it is hard to
criticize at that prce-look steadily along its
~ edge, through strong magnifyer uLtl you find
~ one whose teeth are even as those CT saw.
& That nine times out of ten will be good razor,
e while one with uneven or broken teeth never
can, by any chance, be good. The edge OF
razor, a penknife, and every other very keen
- instrument, consists of very great number of
minute points, commonly called teeth, whicn, if
the instrument Is in itself good and in good
n condition. follow each other through It's whole
extent with great order and closeness, and con-
stitute, by their unbroken regularity, its exces-
sve keennesss The edge OF such an tnstru-
ment acts on the beard, the skin or anything
else, not so much by the direct application Of
weight or force as by being drawn, even slightly,
along it, because, by this operation, the fine
teeth of which it consists pass in quick sue
cesson, in the same direction, and over the
same part ofthe substance. My readers will be
convinced of this 1t they will make the follow
ing experiment on their glove or their hand as
they like best. Let them hold the razor either
perpendicularly or obllquey, and press on it
with some considerable lorce in direct line
from right to lett, and they will have no great
reason to tear the consequences. But let them
move 1t from that direction, let them draw il
towards them. or push 1t from them, in the
Smallest degree. in the gentlest manner, and
it will inst tantly make an incision. When they
have made this experiment, they will be con
vinced of the truth OF what have asserted
IA namely, that in the operation OF shaving
< very little weight and even very little force
are necessary. There Is, of course, always
3X possibility that the razor may be made
of steel so over tempered that 1t Is brittle
or so under tempered that 1t Is soft, but as {
rule cutters, though they cannot and do no
quality of steel. Hardness is essential, bu
. they are responsible for this, and 1t Is onl.
necessary 10 remember that heat soitens steel
and that consequently the trick OF steepinl
razors in hot water makes them much les
effective than they we're at first. Weight is o
no importance, except to the caprice OF tn
Z buyer The highest are probably now the best
because very dear razors are usually light AM
more care will be used in selecting the blades
but the weight in itself is matter of no momen
whatever. Neither is shape. Ninetenths o
the razor blades made in England are now @
the same form-a thin knite OF steel, thicker
ing towards the back and broader at poin
than shoulder-but they are not better an
not worse than the blade OF even thickness sc
II in q thick back which came into favor abou
fifteen years ago, or the blade of equal 6readt
- throughout, still sometimes sold. or couTs
the edge ought to be straight, or they cannot
stropped properly, and English cutters assum
universally that they ought TO be hung loosel
In q sort of case handle. We have lived anon
people who use their razors set straight lik
& Knives ard the true model would seem TO b
one which fastened the razor at the angle pr