Why a 7 Razor Set?

[rbscebu]

I have noticed a few mentions of some having a 7 SR set, all the same. I expect this is to rotate use of the razors during a week of shaving.

The question is, if each of the set is basically the same, why rotate during the week?

 

[Seveneighth]

I have noticed a few mentions of some having a 7 SR set, all the same. I expect this is to rotate use of the razors during a week of shaving.

The question is, if each of the set is basically the same, why rotate during the week?

Well it's controversial but historically you are meant to let the razor rest to let the edge reform. The edge is like a spring and will tend to return to its original shape. I was given a pair of straight razors when I was taught to shave as a teenager to use alternately. I believe one or other of the German manufacturers recommend this.

Certainly the tradition in my family, passed down from ancestors in service was never to visit a barber because they didn't know how to keep their razors sharp, including that they didn't rest them. The aspiration was to have a full set in order to change razors over the week - differentiating working and middle class.

Now having said that, most forum members will say this is all a load of old nonsense. And I do personally think that if you have your stropping down it doesn't matter a jot. General consensus in conversations is that is was a marketing ploy to sell more razors.

Still, the old superstitions hang around for me. I find it very hard to reach for the same razor two days in a row.

 

[Namkcakram]

Also if you were paying someone else to hone your razors, a 7 set makes it a less than once annual inconvenience.

And anyone who had the money for a 7 day set I’d expect valued their time enough to outsource their honing.

 

[rbscebu]

Thank you for the explanation. Being definitely middle class, I will stick with just two different straights for a while. Will order my second today.

 

[Seveneighth]

Thank you for the explanation. Being definitely middle class, I will stick with just two different straights for a while. Will order my second today.

That's what they all say...

Hang around here for very long and you are sure to find that you end up with more than two... [emoji3]

Having said that, there is nothing more satisfying for me than the periods where I have stuck to 2 razors only.

 

[Polarbeard]

Only two straight razors? I've heard about it, but I thought that it just was an old wives' tale. Then again don't fret you'll soon find yourself to be the owner of a nice small collection of far less than a hundred.... at least initially.

When it comes to seven day sets they were most often made up by really exclusive razors and made at a time when the price of one good razor was a weekly salary for most men. Hence having a seven day set was quite popular among the kind of men that today would have a bumper sticker saying "My other car is a Porche too".

A special case is the late seven day sets made in Solingen just after WWII. They were made as souvenirs for the American troops (the only people in Ruhr that had money to spare) and thus today mostly found in the USA.

 

[rbscebu]

I have ordered a Titan ACRO steel SR from their "private" collection through the Titan store on Alibaba. USD 78 including delivery to the Philippines and a Titan strop (which I like using). It should be delivered late January or early February.



By the time I receive it, I should have sorted out a lot more of my SR shaving technique so this should be a good progression.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Why a 7 Razor Set?

Don't you mean why seven 7 razor sets?

The current (2019) Boker catalog suggests having two straights and tells why. Link. It's actually a very interesting document. Of course they are trying to sell their wares.

Truthfully I think a gentleman could do just fine with one well maintained straight razor not that I plan to test that notion!

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Slash McCoy]

I believe Dovo still preaches the "let the razor rest" nonsense. Sort of like the "shave ready factory edge" BS. Not putting Dovo down... their midrange and top shelf razors are very good. But their instructions and claims and descriptions do not stand well in the light of current knowledge.

No reason now to have a 7 day set. Except that it is very classy. I tried for years to make a 7 set of modified Gold Dollars but could never achieve 7 perfect examples that were sufficiently identical to meet my standards. Most serious straight shavers lust after a perfect 7 set, either openly, secretly, or subconsciously. You want one. You KNOW you want one.

 

[iamryan25]

7-day sets are nothing more than bourgeois gifts or souvenirs.

It's a neat way to market a razor package, but is still a gimmick in my opinion.

I've got money that says you'd be hard pressed to find a barber that actually used a 7-day set in their day-to-day in lieu of their 1"+ wide "For Barber's Use" blades.

Will admit, I do lust after a 7-day set, and have imagined what it would be like to shave with a razor dedicated to each day... Isn't that the magic of the gimmick though? You can actually picture it being used that way, even though it isn't really the way people use these tools.

 

[Gamma]

I don't know that anyone ever 'needed' one, but a nice 7 day set is a pretty sweet thing to have in a colllection. It doesn't suit my line of thinking, but I can appreciate them. I had a really nice one in an alligator covered case, all were Engstroms in ivory, and the set was from Tiffany's in NYC. Pretty posh stuff, made me smile. But it wasn't my thing.. Cest la vie...

 

[GeronimoWSB]

I have enough separate straights like most here to make my own set. BUT a full set made by the same place would be pretty sweet. Then again I would want different grinds for each day or different sizes as well lol.

 

[Polarbeard]

I don't know that anyone ever 'needed' one, but a nice 7 day set is a pretty sweet thing to have in a colllection. It doesn't suit my line of thinking, but I can appreciate them. I had a really nice one in an alligator covered case, all were Engstroms in ivory, and the set was from Tiffany's in NYC. Pretty posh stuff, made me smile. But it wasn't my thing.. Cest la vie...

You just made me realize that my life isn't complete without an Engström set like the one you described.

 

[dmatcuk]

Not going to lie, I am working on collecting a 7 day set to curb my razor purchasing. I am trying to put together a 7 day set of 1893 Columbian Exposition Razors. From the looks of it I should be able to find at least 7 different manufacturers that had a razor for the fair. Other than the Boker (in which I have a pretty nice one already), they have been rather hard to find. We will see how this goes!

 

[rbscebu]

That's what they all say...

Hang around here for very long and you are sure to find that you end up with more than two... [emoji3]

Having said that, there is nothing more satisfying for me than the periods where I have stuck to 2 razors only.

You were right. I now have 22 SR's, just in a matter of months. That includes a matching seven-day set and parts towards a second M7DS.

A few observations with regards to having and using a M7DS:

• Psychologically it feels good.
• I find the challenge enjoyable to try and get all 7 in a set up to the same edge standard as the best in the set.
• I haven't yet got bored with using the same type of SR day after day. About once a month I give my M7DS a week's rest and enjoy my other SR's.
• To help prevent boredom setting in, I am working towards a second and possibly a third M7DS of different SR's. I can then change sets each week.
• I think it would be great to pass my M7DS's down through the family over generations.

 

[Straight up]

I have recently fanticised about a 7 day set of a cheap, but good enough, razors. I can make a nice case for them no worries, thing is they come in black or white scales. So I might have 5 black and 2 white (for the weekend) or 5 white and two black, or go for a piano look and have 3 & 4. I guess the biggest issue is getting them laser engraved. The economics start falling apart at that point, as rbscebu says, when the cost of engraving is ~20% of the total value.

Of course the simple solution is to replace the cheap/good enough with a set you'd kill for ie 7 TI Spartacus or Napoleon set . Now that's a set the family would hold near and dear to their hearts.

 

[rbscebu]

....
Of course the simple solution is to replace the cheap/good enough with a set you'd kill for ie 7 TI Spartacus or Napoleon set . Now that's a set the family would hold near and dear to their hearts.

I don't necessarily think so. Would you scof at being offered a matching seven-day set of rather mediocre SR's that your grandfather used?

I dare say that you would treasure them more than the fines set of expensive SR's that you bought for yourself.

 

[razorboi]

Seven-day sets didn't die out because they were a gimmick. They did so because the open-razor market declined in the 1930's, due to the rise in popularity of disposable blades. The same thing happened with single-edged safety-razors with wedge blades. They came in seven-day sets too. Wilkinson made some popular sets in England before the war.
The reasoning wasn't that a razor couldn't be used two days in a row, rather that the edge would re-align more fully with a day of rest and stay sharper longer, thus lengthening maintenance intervals and longevity.
I don't assume it's bunk.
The same advice has for ages been given for fine leathern or cordovan shoes, that after use, they should immediately be returned to shoe-trees and provided at least one day of rest before putting on again.
A cynic might remark that they're just trying to sell more shoes!

 

[camoloc]

Thank you for the explanation. Being definitely middle class, I will stick with just two different straights for a while. Will order my second today.

what happened to just two????



camo

 

[rbscebu]

what happened to just two????



camo

It's grown to three with the third (Japanese) set going to the engraver's tomorrow. The fourth (old English) set is waiting for its case to be made. I'm still waiting to receive the final four SR's for my fifth (Chinese) and definitely (maybe) final M7DS.

That will give me 44 SR's and 2 DE razors. Surely that's enough for just one man.

Now, about these jnats, .....