Consumii . tIterest
Close Shave
By LESLIE ADRIAN of those pipedreams that might not be dreams at all, like the Swedish everlasting match inven- tion, said to have been bought up and suppressed by ruthless tycoons many years ago, is the everlast- ing razor blade. From what 1 have been learning • near enough to this to merit attention.
BY using a resharpening device some of these careful shavers (and they seem to be old rather than young) can manage to make a blade last them six months. Of course, a lot depends on the blade, and the state of the subject's facial skin and hair. With a tough beard and a tender epider- mis it's got to be either dad's precision-made cut-throat or a new Gillette Extra every morning. With the new, well-guarded secret chemical pro- cess these blades have a touch so soft that it does not feel like an ordinary shave, but it costs as 'Nub or more as a barber's shave before the war.
Wood Brothers, glass manufacturers of Barns- ley, make a curved glass hone (delightfully named 1-illicrap's Hone) which is made 'with a specially Prepared surface . . . designed to conform accur- ately with the curvature of the safety razor blade When this is fixed for shaving.' With hone dampened or lightly oiled the blade is rubbed back and forth, on each face, twenty times. and 'lay be able to lengthen the life of the cutting edges from four or five uses to hundreds. Capital outlay_.] s. 9d. Boots tell me that they do a roar- mg trade in blade sharpeners.
Another, more expensive sharpener, which has quite a wide sale is the Swiss Allegro, sold by ,I!uots and Selfridges, at £1 19s. 6d. with a re- placeable strop costing 9s. 4d. It can take all makes of double-edged razor blade, and tomes also in a de luxe version in stainless steel at £2 8s. 9d. There is also an English make of sharpener called Falcon, 13s. 9d. 1 gather that these devices are especially popular with Indians (blades are expensive in India) and the older generation of shavers. For those with a tougher skin and not too dark a growth, and for whom money is more precious than time, there is always the old and tried method of using the inside sur- face of a straight-sided glass tumbler, finishing the stropping (carefully) on the palm of the hand. This is particularly satisfactory in the event where a blade gives out when the shave is 90 per cent. complete, or when the odd idiosyncratic blade is met with in the packet.
One of the facts of life that Which? left out of its survey of razor blades earlier this year (when economical males were delighted to learn about the existence of Woolworths' Double Life, twenty-five for Is. 9d) was the almost human variation in character between blades of the same make, out of the same packet. Not only do these delicate wafers of highly finished steel have un- stable temperaments, they fall short of reason- able expectation in performance. Having been privileged to see these little oblongs of metal being produced from specially prepared steel strip, with careful sample inspection and fanatic- ally meticulous wrapping (each wafer stuck to its waxed paper cover by four little dabs of grease) I fail to perceive where they could acquire their unwanted individuality. The makers insist that the slightest touch on the paper-thin cutting edge can turn it into a miniature version of a battered bread knife, and produce micro-photographs to prove it. But Lillicrap's Hone can put matters nearly right again.
From reports this summer (one camper boasted of using a blade with cold water for three weeks running, but I know he has a high pain threshold) I should say that a devastating combination for the medium hirsute male with a resilient skin is the stainless Wilkinson Sword blade and Wood Brothers little glass hone. 1 am now planning an article on styptic pencils and sticking plaster.
At the end of summer, especially if it has been wet, woodwork is apt to look as if it might not last out the winter. If plywood has been used to face the outside of a summer chalet or a houseboat it can start to show signs of not living up to its reputation as 'external plywood.' It is too late now to tell unfortunate customers that they should have insisted on WPB (weather and boil proof) ply, marked B.S. 1203/1954. but a little protective work can still, be put in.
Thames Plywood Manufacturers, of Harts Lane, Barking, Essex (Rippleway 5511), have published a short, frank and valuable leaflet on plywood protection, applicable to all makes, This tells you how to cut and finish the wood, how to paint or varnish it and which of these Ireatments is the most effective. As for Informa- tion Bulletin 13, it may be lucky,
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