Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1889-07-18
HOW no HANDLE A RAZOR.
'Th ere;ls a Knack in 1t Which Few
Persons Are Able to Discover.

OUT on the W est Sluc VINO mas DaQ some
Experience of late that may be chroni-
I,cled briefly for the benefit of some way
faring soul TO whom it may come as
wise counsel or timely advice Wishing
only to relate the circumstances as
they actually occurred, his identity
need not be made known further than
by calling him Davis
There is one thing this estimable
gentleman has already prided himself
on, and that is his carefully kept face.
See him when you may-about the
house, downtown, ut the baseball
park, or the races-and he will look
as fresh, sweet, and clean about the
! face and neck as n dimpled babe.
| Every one remarked it over and over
again, but it grew day by day to be
more OF task and burden-this keep
| ing sweet and cleanse that it seemed
TO him about one-fifth of his time was
spent hanging around the blrber-shoD.
There were a great many things he
lwas not compelled to do, or could neg
! lect doing, but shaving WAS not one Of
! them.
1t got TO be regular "hoodoo." His
wife and daughter made all kinds Of
sport OF him. Even the neighbors
fused to joke about it until his wife
was made miserable. One day he
made Il desperate resolve; SAID that
from thenccforth he intended to do
ihis own shaving, and would see if he
had to always be at the beck and call
'of any 'beEgarly barber" The first
step was to get an outfit, and, knowing
IShat there are kinds and quantities Of
almost everything else in the world,
he rightly supposed that the same
lMle applied to razorS, and made up
bis mind to have "the best"
OF course he didn't say anything TO
his barber; didn't ask any advice and
did not want any.
lie didn't know anything more about
the qualities of the blade than he did
of the mechanism of fire-alarm box,
but said he was going about it intelli-
gently and read up. In looking over
the article on edged tools in the ''Cy-
clOpedit of Common Things" he dis
covered that the first attribute of
| first-cldss instrument is weight by
that he understood il should about
balance between Il broad-aX and an
automatic button-hOle cutter.
Tho next attribute he learned is
'form,n which he inferred TO mean
something that no well-regulated razor
can do without.
Then he went ON to read "as IL was
written" in the said cyclopcdia that in
the selection of razor great care
should be exercised as TO the weight OF
the 'tang."
That was a stumper; he had never
heard OF that word before. A little
! further on he read in clear, bold. cold
bloolcd type: From the foregoing the
merest novice can at once perceive the
necessity OF preserving the requisite
proportion between the blade and the
tang"
BY this he saw that tang" must re-
| fer to the wooden or bone handle and
went on. Passing rapidly the refer
ences made to such qualities as con-
cavity, hardness, durability OF edge,
! length. etc, it was all easy enough un-
! till "thickness" was reached; that was
snag, sure enough. He was caution
ed to observe when about to purchase
n weapon "that the thickness OF the
back Of the blade should bear a corre-
spondent proportion TO its breadth. :"
This was the last and it was poser.
In day or so he bought complete
tonsorial layout as per encyclopedia,
and one or two price-lists.
1t so happened that Davis is one OF
the most unreasonable protectionists
in Chicago He believes there is no
cunning in the world like the Yankee
cunning, and it so happened that the
very first blade they showed out to him
at the store was q handsome, pearl
handled, full hollow-ground American
made at Worcester, Mass.
There is no better razor in the
world, but he wouldn't have it, and, OF
course, bought one of the best English
make.
The next day was Sunday. Davis
went out and got shaved, but it was
the last time.
He had learned how to select good
blade-,had, in fact, made the seec-
ton. Now the next thing in order
was TO learn TO use it. He had the
supervising care of mule at one
period OF his life. and in his younger
days had devoted some Of his genius
to the management of billy goat, but
the fostering care Of u razor had as yet
never fallen to his lot
He was convinced however, from
observation that it is las easy as fall
ing off log and after carefully
reading the directions printed on the
case of his new strop, that were writ
ten in 1926, he lighted a cigar and
proceeded TO "whet her up" From
the advice CLEANED by reading several
works on "Iow to Keep Razor" he
understood that the general purpose
of stropping is TO remove all injurious
roundness that may accumulate from
time to time, and thea strive to pro-
duce fine, keen, fiat edge.
That was clear enough for any man
TO grasp. and he went at it. In the
course oftwelve minutes he lifted three
separate pieces Of cuticlc off his new
elastic strop about as large as the
thumb nail, and then stopped to smoke.
After giving the other razor a round
and shaving two or three more slices
OIL the new elastic he examined the
edges OF the blades through field
glass and pronounced them ready for