The Shake Sharp Razor

Quick update. I tries gorgo's sharpie trick, and the Bakelite shake sharp removed the ink along the entire bevel of the razor. Interestingly though, when I repeated the experiment on the 2nd generation Shake Sharp, it only took off the ink right along the very edge.

 

Here's the pics and comparison shots. If you want a specific angle that I didn't get, just ask for it.

 

Forgot to take a picture of the most important difference of all. Edge Exposure! The razor on the right is the Bakelite Shake Sharp. For those of you wondering why I didn't include the Chrome Shake Sharp in any of these comparison photos, it is because the chrome razor is identical to the gold razor.

 

It means I might be able to use this razor with Merkur blades. It certainly couldn't make them shave worse than they already do.

 

No chips. And they do make a nice display. I'll have to post a pic of all the razors in their cases soon. I'm starting to realize that some of the reviews that called the Shake Sharp an aggressive razor, may have been based on the Bakelite model, which I will tentatively class as an aggressive razor, pending further experimentation.

I'm still trying to figure out how a SE blade could work in a design like this along with a DE blade. The flex of the DE is one of the reasons this razor is so effective, but SE blades are thick enough not to need the added rigidity provided by a curved silhouette. I think the best approach would be to market this kind of razor as a replacement SE razor with more blade options. It already provides a SE type shave, but with a bit more flexibility, both in the shave and in the blade choice.

I wonder if there is enough interest and talent in this forum to design and have made a modern shake sharp style razor for a co-op or something. It would be interesting to have an "Official" Shave Den razor, made for the forum, by the forum. I would be willing to scrap one of my razors for measurements and dimensions.

 

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2337595.pdf
Apparently you are not the only one. The inventor of the Shake Sharp designed a razor that would take both SE and DE blades in Jan. 1943, and part of that design was used in the Shake Sharp.
Interestingly, the Patent that seems to be the one that applies to the first Shake Sharp razor is this one: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2397555.pdf filed in September of 1944. The inventor is one P. H. Lotthamer, but the Assignee is J. C. Friel, the inventor of record for the first patent listed.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2359028.pdf is also listed as a patent applying to the 1st generation shake sharp, invented by J. C. Friel, and is the patent noted in the very first post in this thread.

 

After shipping, it cost me just over $58. About 2 months before I bought my first shake sharp razor a NOS Bakelite shake sharp sold for thirty some bucks. It still had the cardboard blade placeholder in it.

 

I knew that when I started this thread and did the pass around, that prices on these would go up. At the time they were an almost unknown razor and were considered to be uber-aggressive because people either treated them like a DE or a SE razor when the shaving style favors more of an injector approach.

In my opinion, a fair price for these razors should be as follows,
Bakelite Shake Sharp:
without case: $30
with case: $40
NOS: $50

Gold Shake Sharp:
without case: $50
with case: $75
NOS: $100

Chrome Shake Sharp
without case: $45
with case: $65
NOS: $85

The chrome and gold razors are such big improvements over the original design, I can't see the Bakelite version, no matter how rare, justifying a premium over the other two razors. The gold razor should be worth a little bit more than the chrome because the gold razors have a better finish and fit. In all other regards the chrome razor is identical to the gold razor.

At some point, I would love to have my extra chrome razor replated in rhodium.

Do you know if RE replated the razor or sold it "as is?"

 

I think I saw that one, they were asking too much for it as I recall.

Are you ready for the ongoing adventures of Ryan's experience with the Shake Sharp? I've had two more shaves with it, the first a follow-up shave with the Sputnik, which went about like the first did. The last shave was with a carbon blade (Gillette Super Blue blade) and here's where the razor really shines. I think that the biggest problem I'm having with this razor is the fact that it sharpens the blades (both stainless and carbon) too easily. It does not take much to get them into the too sharp range, especially for an aggressive razor.

I've been giving some thought to a modern redesigned shake sharp and will probably start an article on it soon. I agree with what others have said, that the sharpening feature is largely useless to the modern shaver. If we took that feature out and replaced it with a dual adjustment system, one that lets you adjust both blade exposure and blade gap, you would truly have a razor for the masses, especially if you were also able to adjust handle length by removing sections of the handle. I think it is doable, and would be a fairly simple build, easy to clean, with a minimum of moving parts. The trickiest part would be the cap.

 

I don't think so. Or rather I do think so, but I also think that being able to adjust exposure would also change the characteristics of the shave. With minimal gap and large exposure, you would have a razor that is mild, but produces loud feedback. Large gap and large exposure would give you a super agressive razor, while the opposite would give you an extremely quiet, very mild razor. Think about it for a bit. Every razor that you've ever used has shaved just a tad bit differently, usually because of the combination of blade gap and exposure. The curve of the blade has a bit to do with it as well, but I feel that the curvature of the 2nd generation shake sharps is already optimal.