Assembled
perhaps sometime during the early 1900s, this straight razor belonged to the
grandfather of the artifact’s donor. Writing this as a female individual, it is
hard to believe ever having used such a thing, but even harder to imagine
someone having used this razor knowing what is available today. Turns out,
though, men started using this style of razor in the 1600s and it was still
ongoing in the 1900s, so I guess it must have been fairly safe – or maybe it
was easy enough to learn the trick to shaving! I can only imagine watching someone
attempt to use one of these and the next thing you know a gash appearing right across
their cheek! 
This
straight razor came to us in this stylish, yet still masculine, maroon case
with the trademark, “The Clauss Shear Works, Fremont Ohio, USA”, during the
1970s. A company started in the late 1800s by two german brothers, it quickly
developed into much more. Starting with only five employees and a handful of
products to be manufactured, the company merged with Henkel Company in 1919 to
form Henkel-Clauss. The merged company had more than 1,000 employees and the
largest payroll in the United States in 1919.
The
blades, like anything else with a metal edge, work best when they are sharp.
Apparently, the only way one could cut themselves is if they were moving the
blade in the same parallel fashion as the blade itself sits. Even though this
may be true, I don’t know if I would trust someone else, or even myself to
place that – very sharp – blade near my face!
Do
you have or know anyone that has one of these razor blades? Better yet, do you
still use a blade like this?!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_razor
