Rolls Razor Daily Use

[Ski-Patroller]

Does anyone actually use a Rolls Razor on a regular basis?

My father bought one for my grandfather in the early 50s, but it has been lost somewhere over the years. I keep looking at them on Fleabay and think about buying one either to collect or actually use.

 

[GEM-AHOLIC]

I have seen a bunch of Rolls Razors in antique stores lately. $25 to $40 each. I thought about buying one but didn't. Never have shaved with one.

 

[texbilly]

Fellow member MajorBurnz uses his quite regularly and may soon chime in. I never used the ones I had but am told they're actually easy to master, perhaps much like a GEM or Ever Ready SE. They certainly are beautiful!

 

[DESkydiver]

I have a Rolls Razor "The Traveler" (Made in England) in the felt and silk lined reptile case. S/N A556145. It has two blades (for rotation), the 2-piece shaving handle, operating handle, the leather strop is on one cover and the whettstone is on the other cover (hone lid). It also has the original 16 page illustrated manual from "Rolls Razor, Inc. 338 Madison Avenue, New York 17, N.Y." It's all there.

It was my father's razor that he used every day... I would hear the flopping of him strop the blade every morning, and it was the very first razor I shaved with. I have not used it since 1971 and the handle and blades have tarnished a little over the years.

I have recently been thinking about reconditioning it and start to use it, kind of like transitioning from a DE to a Straight.

Any tips or ideas how to go about reconditioning?

EDIT: Online searches show the 338 Madison Ave address was post WWII
http://shaveworld.org/shaveworld_web/images/RollsPage2.html

 

[Slivovitz]

I've got one, with two blades, bought on eBay last month for just under $26 shipped. Was going to ask about getting it ready myself, specifically:

1. Are the built in strop and hone all that are needed to get the blades ready? Should I send them to be professionally honed the first time instead?
2. Do I need to do something to get the strop and hone ready? How about maintaining them?
3. Should I strop first, then hone, then strop again?
4. Is there a danger of overdoing the honing part?
5. What else do I need to know?

 

[newboy]

I've got a couple, but don;t use them because the built in hone is not able to get the old blade shave ready. I've tried a lot of honing and stropping, it just won't get sharp enough.
So yes Slivovitz, you should get the blades professionally honed the first time.
If I knew a honer in australia, I'd have sent my RR blades out and probably would be using them a lot, as I use a lot of SE razors already anyway, so using a RR is what I want to use next.

 

[kadett]

I used one daily for about 4 months. In the end the bottom line is that you are better off using a straight. I just switched to using a straight and my skin sure as hell thanked me.

For me the daily use of the Rolls had a number of significant problems. The first is that the strop isn't really long enough to get the blade nice and smooth, this is an essential design problem. Second, the hone isn't really that good and you need to use a regular hone. The problem is that when you use a regular hone to sharpen the blade the angle of the bevel is not quite the same as the in-built hone, so you have to choose either to use the built-in hone or an external one. Thirdly, in the original Rolls adverts it used to say the blades were guaranteed for 5 years and I must say that I have found the steel is not as good as a decent straight razor.

In the end just using a regular straight is both easier to maintain, and in the end, provides a vastly superior shaving edge IMHO. You see alot of hardly used Rolls Razors on Ebay and unfortunately there is a reason why they have hardly been used. Just my two cents and of course YMMV.

 

[MrGuy]

There's a really good Rolls "guide" on this thread. I've found a couple of unused blades since then, and I can say that blades go rough very fast! They sure are fun to use though, especially when I have to get up early and I wonder what the people in the apartments next to mine are thinking when they hear the "slap-slap-slap-slap" of the blade being stropped!

 

[DESkydiver]

There's a really good Rolls "guide" on this thread.

Thanks for the link... great information!!
Now to spend some time to get my rolls into 'mint' condition. It's not far from that now, but I want to get as close to 'new' as possible before using regularly.

 

[ironbrewer]

You can follow the link in my signature to get plenty of info.

 

[baba]

Perhaps the most ingenious razor ever made. Give a fantastic shave. I use it 1-2 times a week. I have a Rolls Viscount model that I shave with. Many others that I am slowly fixing up.

Wonderful shave though, not the scary razor everyone makes it out to be, it is aggressive and you need to respect the razor, but I've never been cut. No need to fear it.

It's a great razor, go to our Rolls Razor social group, plenty of more knowledgeable members that can answer all your Rolls questions.