Wilkinson Sword Self-Adjusting Safety Shaver

pjgh

pjgh

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Perhaps this should be in the SE section, but it is actually a DE razor ...

Fitting somewhere in between the Roller Safety Shaver and the Pall Mall, Wilkinson Sword experimented with a double-edge razor!

The patent described a "hollow ground wafer blade with two edges" ... secured with a central screw. Upon release, the central screw was removed and the blade captured by a sprung head. The purpose of the razor was to permit the shaver to unscrew the handle and flip the head over, so as to make use of the two edges presented ... I guess since mid-shave, you might experience some dullness in one edge.

I think I would have been inclined to use the downward pointing side to shave the first pass and then use the back edge to shave back up, against the grain, just like the Durham Dorset.

Anyway, here's the razor:

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You can see where the Pall Mall came from.

Press the tab at the back and the blade plate opens up, secured at each corner by a retaining tooth.

Now, with those proprietary blades unavailable, with modern single edge blades we can still have some fun ...

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So, an experimental double edge razor from the annals of history brought back into use with modern single edge blades.
 
PhilD said:
What sort of year is that, Paul? Strange looking fruit.. Thanks for posting it
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Early 1900s ... the patent was 1908 and I've seen adverts up to 1915, but I think it would have waned around there, what with the release of the Pall Mall.

majortom said:
Interesting razor Paul. Have you tried it out yet?
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Not yet ... it's in the rotation for the coming week.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say it's going to be like a Pall Mall with an SE blade but with a comb up front rather than a roller.
 
pjgh said:
Early 1900s ... the patent was 1908 and I've seen adverts up to 1915, but I think it would have waned around there, what with the release of the Pall Mall.
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That handle reminds me of something I saw in the old Royal Doulton works before they closed down. The dates tie in with mains beginning to be distributed in British cities and the electrification of the London underground. I think the handle shape could have been modelled on the newfangled ceramic electrical insulators which must have looked pretty strange and exotic at the time...

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pjgh said:
Perhaps this should be in the SE section, but it is actually a DE razor ...


So, an experimental double edge razor from the annals of history brought back into use with modern single edge blades.
Click to expand...

Another fine addition to your shaving crap House of Horrors! That thing looks like it would be used to shave Frankenstein.

Martin
 
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Gosh! To say this is the very razor that they used to shave Frankenstein's Monster, it's smooth. Smooth, but aggressive.

The angle is quite fine - too shallow and it feels nasty, too steep and you're just getting the raw blade scraping, but just right and the thin guard up front can be seen in the lather and the blade feels comfortable, able to do its thing.

Angle nailed, it's smooth - it glides, but that is not to say that you don't feel it cutting, hence my secondary description of aggressive. Less so than a GEM blade in a Pall Mall, which is ostensibly a frame to hold a blade and little else although it strikes me that I tend to wind the roller guard all the way back; certainly more so than the Empire, which curiously, I see to bring the roller guard forward. Go figure.

Anyway, enjoyed. Not the closest, but no cuts, nicks or weepers ... just a good, old-fashioned shave.
 
Good grief Paul, if you don't know what it is - what chance have the rest of us got! LOL You do come across some weird & wonderful shaving equipment, always intrigued to see your latest acquisitions...
 
Cheers, pal. This came as part of a mixed bag of "old razors" which included a near mint (but musty) Ever Ready DeLuxe Heavy Flat Top (the star of the show, really), this razor, a seven day Wilko Pall Mall Set, Wardonia, Gillette Tech and some other guff. £10 :D

It is a weird one, this ...

Wilkinson Sword designed it as a double edge razor, but I guess going out on their own in the early 1900s when everyone else was doing wedges was a risk. Lucky for me, the contraption takes modern GEMs.
 
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