Now I never underestimate the power of a simple object to draw you in and bring you closer to your family.
This is a Rolls Razor which until yesterday I didn’t know existed.
Our Jillian brought it north to join the other bits of family memorabilia.
It will have belonged to Uncle George but with so many things he owned, I am never quite clear whether he used it or just “collected it” at some car boot sale or second hand emporium.
Either way it is a nice object, still with its cardboard box and in pretty good condition given that it will be nearly 90 years old.
The metal case is solid and chunky and came in a variety of finishes from nickel plated, to silver and even gold.
But what makes the razor unique is that it was designed so that the blade could be re-sharpened, using a strip of leather and a honing stone which were contained in the box.
I have to say I have read the description of how it all works, taken the bits out, moved them around but have been defeated as to how the thing did the business of sharpening the blade.
In time I will work it out but for now it is just a nice object, well crafted with functional beauty.
The device was patented in 1927 and was in production until 1953 with our model dating from sometime after 1930.
I can’t recall Uncle George ever using it at our house when he visited, and given that it is still in its cardboard box I suspect it was a casual purchase.
That said it could equally have been Dad who bought it. He too had a habit of buying up objects, with one purchase being sixty copper bars which were fluted with a screw and terminal cap at one end and a sharp point at the other.
They had been manufactured by Frederick Smith in the Anaconda Works in Salford.
It took me a while to work out what they were and finally discovered after reading the box that were for a wireless, which dated them to a little earlier than our razor.
Such are the things you find knocking around in the family store cupboard.
Pictures; Rolls Razor Imperial No 2, circa 1920 from the collection of Andrew Simpson
Our Jillian brought it north to join the other bits of family memorabilia.
It will have belonged to Uncle George but with so many things he owned, I am never quite clear whether he used it or just “collected it” at some car boot sale or second hand emporium.
Either way it is a nice object, still with its cardboard box and in pretty good condition given that it will be nearly 90 years old.
The metal case is solid and chunky and came in a variety of finishes from nickel plated, to silver and even gold.
But what makes the razor unique is that it was designed so that the blade could be re-sharpened, using a strip of leather and a honing stone which were contained in the box.
In time I will work it out but for now it is just a nice object, well crafted with functional beauty.
The device was patented in 1927 and was in production until 1953 with our model dating from sometime after 1930.
I can’t recall Uncle George ever using it at our house when he visited, and given that it is still in its cardboard box I suspect it was a casual purchase.
They had been manufactured by Frederick Smith in the Anaconda Works in Salford.
It took me a while to work out what they were and finally discovered after reading the box that were for a wireless, which dated them to a little earlier than our razor.
Such are the things you find knocking around in the family store cupboard.
Pictures; Rolls Razor Imperial No 2, circa 1920 from the collection of Andrew Simpson
My father had one of these and to sharpen it you had to lift the handle and push it backwards and forwards several times. It gave a sort of flip flap against the leather strap which acted like a strop.
ReplyDeleteMy father had one and the way to sharpen it was easy. You just lifted the handle and pushed the blade backwards and forwards against the leather strop.
ReplyDeleteGood, but SO noisy when using the stone.
ReplyDelete