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SOTD SATURDAY MORNING, JANUARY 22, 2022
I have a passion for Japanese straight razors because of the level of craftsmanship they represent. My father treasured his self-winding Lecoultre, luxury, Swiss wristwatch until he passed in 2013 at age 99. That firm had its start as a modest blacksmithing concern started in the 1730’s in Sentier, Switzerland by Abraham Joseph Lecoultre. His grandson, Jacques David Lecoultre designed and built, with his son, Antoinne, a trained watchmaker, one of, if not the first, replaceable blade razors that have come to be called Framebacks.
After Jaques Lecoultre et fils’s very successful presentations in Lausanne in 1829, Bern in 1848 and finally at the Great London Exhibition of 1851, they began exporting their precision built razors to North America, England, Germany, and Russia. The razors were quite expensive in their day and were sold in upscale jewelry and the finest men’s haberdashery shops. Each razor was sold with two blades and a screwdriver. There were three models - the entry level black case with pointed scales, the mid-level green case with squared-off scales, and the red-cased luxury model with ivory scales.
The razors had their start in the 1830’s with the height of production being the 1860’s. After Jaque’s death in the early 1880’s the firm’s emphasis switched from razors to watches and clocks which are still made to this day. Razor production ceased in 1919. After acquiring a mid level model, I became fascinated with the precise specifications and fittings of these remarkable little razors. When properly cleaned up they still deliver an amazingly close shave.
I recently scored one of the ivory scaled models complete with case, blades and screwdriver. The blades and Frameback were badly tarnished and the scales yellowed and filthy. Thanks to the accumulated wisdom and know-how from various friends in the community it cleaned up quite nicely. It arrived fitted with the N1 (5/8) blade, but I swapped it out for the badly rusted and tarnished N2 (6/8). I have a N3 (7/8) blade on the way, and will swap that in after I clean it up upon arrival this coming Monday.
I cleaned up the N2 and ran it through my Shapton progression to 16k. Then finished it on the 9 Ball Slate with final burnish/polish on the Jasper stone until it passed the styrofoam peanut test. The wonderful thing about vintage razors is bringing them back into service and imagining the prior generations who used this same little precision tool.
The mug shave was a delight. Even after 160 yrs there’s a real feeling of precision in using one of these little Swiss razors. I’m definitely on the hunt for the black cased entry level model. Two and a half passes and yours truly ‘s mug was dolphin smooth. The following excellent noggin shave was a foregone conclusion as soon as I picked up the little Cooper Monobilt which completed this morning’s superb dome shave leaving your happy narrator smooth from noggin to neck after two ATG passes.
RAZOR: Lecoultre Frameback N2 (Mug), Cooper Monobilt (Dome)
BLADE: Feather DE (Dome)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a heavy scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: MrEE LE #007 Knurled Aluminum Handle with Hybrid Knot
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys WH. Finished with Pre de Provence Bergamot & Thyme AS Balm.
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