Monday, December 26, 2011

Razor blogging

Seems to have had some interest lately, so I'll throw mine in.
Back when I was doing a lot of black powder stuff, hitting rendezvous when possible, I did a lot of research, both for general data and to find patterns for ironwork I could make. Among the stuff I found pictures or drawings of were personal gear that included shaving stuff. So, decided to give it a try. Here's the shaving case I made, copied from that drawing
Hinge pin for the lid at the bottom, and used a brass tack to lock it closed. I took a piece of walnut and cut the top off so I had a thick body piece, and a thin top. Cut the top at a suitable angle and bevel. Then used a router to hollow out the body. Glued the handle end of the top back on, then used a coping saw to cut it to shape, then sanded a nice bevel all the way around. Put the door on, drilled the base for the pivot and used that to hold it in place while sanded it all smooth, then oiled it. The pivot is held in place with a small brass tack in the end. Here it is open
I used to have a flat horsehair brush for the soap, and a small piece to carry, but they've disappeared; I'll have to find or make another brush.

On the back, the notes in the book said there was a piece of leather glued on for stropping the razor, so did that
and worked some fine buffing compound into it.

The razor I picked up at a flea market, not having tried my had at those blades yet
It's marked 'Carl Monkhouse Illicottville N.Y.' on the tang, and yes, I did shave with it for quite a while. Once you get the hang of it, works quite well.

Y'know, I think I've still got grandpa's mug and brush around here somewhere...

7 comments:

BobG said...

My great-granddad used one of those up to the day he died; he was born in the early 1880's and refused to use a safety razor. Of course, he also wore a red union suit all his life too, just like you see in old westerns.

Sigivald said...

How's the locking mechanism work, exactly?

It's not really visible and I'm having a hard time imagining from the description.

(Also, I might just hate you for making me want to shave with a straight razor just to make kit like that.

Then again, not trying to do mountain-man era re-creation, I might just cheat if I do such a thing, and use a spring fastening like on a toolbox...)

Firehand said...

In the top picture, if you look just down from the top left corner you'll see a black dot; that's actually a 1/16" hole. It goes through the top piece and the corner of the pivoting lid; I'd just stick a brass-head tack in to lock it closed.

On the wood pivot pin, if you look a the right end of the box there's a little bump; that's the head of the tack that goes in to keep the pivot pin in place.

og said...

That is some high end shit right there.

Firehand said...

Why, thank you, sir!

Evyl Robot Michael said...

Thanks for shooting me the link! That's some great work. I really love how you routered out the box so it has no seams other than the lid. You did a really beautiful job there! I suppose I need to make myself a strop now...

Firehand said...

Thanks. The original was only drawn, so I don't know if it was made from separate pieces, or the hollow space chiseled out of the block. But a router works very nicely