Great article! Nice to finally know what Cordovan Shell actually is. You are fortunate to have your grandfather's strop, especially with it being in such good condition. Your mention of the Horoween Tannery caught my eye. For decades virtually all of Rawlings Sporting Goods top quality baseball gloves were made from leather provided by the Horoween Tannery. Now, almost all gloves are assembled in Japan, Korea and other far eastern countries. However, many major league baseball players who use and endorse Rawlings equipment still insist on having gloves made from Horoween leather.
Another post dump until I can get it finished up with pictures. I just received a G.E. Jones Shake Sharp Razor in the mail yesterday. 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. 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. 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 and stamped metal. 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 three models of razor for nearly ten years, with no apparent change in design or packaging 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 and those generations continued to use the razors they had learned to shave with and Gillette and Schick continued to produce new and improved models. 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, 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 shave like a Gem or Injector." http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/201074-Shake-Sharp-razor http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/101927-Shake-Sharp-Razor http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2359028.pdf ....
