Shake Sharp Razor. Picture one shows the razor with blade installed. Notice the extreme edge exposure. It is about double that of a fatboy set on 9. Picture two shows the blade installed. Picture three is the same as picture two, but without the blade. Picture 4 shows the opening directions. You push down on the cap, slide it up (shown) and flip it open. There is a spring in the handle that presses the hone up against the cap, locking it in place. Picture 4 shows the razor from the front.
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I just received a G.E. Jones Shake Sharp Razor in the mail earlier this week. G.E. Jones made three versions of this razor. A gold plated, a chrome plated, and one with a gold plated head and a plastic or Bakelite handle. These razors were produced in 1944 or 1945 and were made at least until the early 1950's. I have the chrome plated one and am expecting a minty gold plated one with the box to come in later this week or early next week. They are not pretty razors, or fancy razors. They were built to do a job in the most efficient manner possible. It appears that there were two different versions of this razor. The earliest had a gold plated head and a bakelite handle. The top of the head was removable and just clipped on. later models were made entirely of metal and were either gold or chrome plated. The heads on the later models did not have removable tops, instead they used a slide lock and hinge arrangement. The hone was also redesigned on the later models.
At first glace, these razors resemble GEM single edge razors, but there the resemblance ends. Can you imagine a self sharpening razor that looked like a single edge, used double edge blades, and shaved like a...well, I really can't compare it to anything, it's one smooth shaver though. I'll be honest, I haven't tried the sharpening feature, nor do I really care if I do. I got a one pass near BBS shave from this thing. I love the way this thing shaves.
The design is incredible. It was designed by a person with the mind of an engineer. The actual construction materials appear to be a combination of cast zinc and stamped brass, and possibly steel. This would give the shake sharp razor a competitive cost advantage over Gillette in my opinion. Why didn't this razor succeed, why did it languish into obscurity? After all, the marketing claims for this razor include "makes all other razors obsolete!" I believe it was a case of marketing and design. G.E. Jones continued to produce the same two models of razor for nearly ten years, with only one apparent change in design, early in the life of the razor company and they failed to target the right audience. They targeted the older generation, those who had lived through the Great Depression and were thus frugal minded. Gillette had provided razors to the young men of America during WWI and WWII. Those generations continued to use the razors they had learned to shave with and Gillette and Schick continued to produce new and improved models. Schick and Gillette also embraced the idea of "sell the blades, not the razor." G.E. Jones promised a lifetime of use from their razor and once everybody who wanted one had one...the market dried up. Without repeat customers, they were doomed to oblivion, as indeed turned out to be the case.
Back to the razor itself. This is a single edge razor that happens to only use Gillette type double edge blades. Only one edge was exposed at any given time and the razor had to be opened and the blade flipped to expose the other edge. The blade has some serious edge exposure, about double that of any Gillette razor, but because of the way the head is designed, it is in fact a mild shaver. I have read that it shaves like a cross between a DE and an injector, and I've also read that it shaves like a cross between a DE and an SE. Some people have called it aggressive. To me the most aggressive razors I've shaved with are the Schick Types B & C, and a Hoffritz Slant razor. This razor falls right in the middle ground between a Gillette flare tip and a red tip as far as feel, but cuts closer than a red tip. It is really hard to describe the way it shaves, especially since it is something as subjective as, well, describing how a razor shaves.
The late, great "Cooncat Bob" had this to say about the shake sharp razor:
"I have one with a black bakelite handle.
It shaves more like an injector then a DE.
Out of all the self sharpening razor designs, it's the most practical and best handling."
"Out of all the self sharpening/honing razor the only one that is practical is the "ShakeSharpRazor" It take regular DE blades and shaves like a Gem or Injector."
Bob's original "What the heck is this" post from 2006:
I picked up a "Shake Sharp" Razor several weeks ago and I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about their history? It takes a regular double edge blade, though only one edge is exposed and there's a pivoting steel hone attached to the guard and when you shake it the hone sharpens the underside of the blade. I'm wondering if it was designed to take double edge blades or if it orginally had a special blade that is no longer made like the Valet Auto Strop or Christy razors? The angle of attack is similar to a Gem and It has nice balance and give a good shave, I don't know how well the hone works. Thanks, Bob.
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The following pictures were taken from Rocketman's post in The Original Safety forum.
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For more threads and information about the Shake Sharp view these threads.
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/201074-Shake-Sharp-razor
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/101927-Shake-Sharp-Razor
For the patent documents, view these:
The first patent
The second patent
The third patent
For an old advertisement:
Popular Science, November 1952
Another one:
Milwaukee Journal, February 15, 1946
U.S. Patent No. 2337595, 28 Dec 1943, filed 7 Jan 1943., James C. Friel, Beverly, Massachusetts. Also by same inventor: No. 2359028, 26 Sept 1944.
Shake-Sharp Razor, Inc., Shavety First Corp., 271 Fifth Ave., New York 16, N.Y. Tradmark first used for safety razors 5 Oct 1945 by Shake-Sharp Razor, Inc., Long Island City, New York.
If you have any questions, feel free to post, I'll answer as best I can.
Here's some more pictures from posts later on in this thread.
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The razor on the left is a second generation Shake Sharp, the one on the right is a first generation Shake Sharp. Notice the edge exposure is much more pronounced on the first generation razors.
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Edit: Additional Reviews and Links
Rocketman's Shake Sharp Razor porn
Samjax's Shave Nook Shake Sharp Review (This review does a really nice job of comparing the shake sharp with a variety of other razors, even if he does misspell my name.)
One thing I would like to add, as Samjax appears confused by the way the blade acts in this razor. The curvature of the top piece stiffens the blade to a remarkable degree, and when you factor in that half of the bottom plate is spring loaded, it should be no surprise that this razor displays a remarkable degree of both flexibility and stiffness that one usually finds only on a straight edge razor.
Gordo's Review of the Shake Sharp on his blog
Gordo's Observations on using stainless blades in a Shake Sharp razor
I posted this later in the thread, but I feel that it should be up here in the original post as well.
Click to expand...
