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