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Post by mjclark on May 6, 2014 16:35:43 GMT -6
My Empire came with two different types of proprietary blade, a wedge and a frameback, both much shorter than a GEM SE blade. Has anybody got any info on these blades, when the different types were made, adverts etc?
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Post by PJGH on May 7, 2014 5:40:09 GMT -6
The wedge goes back to the beginning ... 1903, used from the first models which were a frame on a stick with a sprung back clip, not at all dissimilar to the Le Grelot I've been using recently. Models? The Roller Safety Shaver (various models from 1903 to 1920), Pall Mall and the '1920' (1920 ). These are about an inch deep. Hollow ground came in around 1920 and fitted the Hollow Ground Safety Razor using the same format, the longer blades. Likewise, these are about an inch deep. Shorter (about half an inch) hollow ground blades came in with the Empire model, so 1929. The Wilkinson, Commemmorative Edition, Alfred Dunhill and so on used these. Some Seven Day sets used a similar blade, but they clipped in like the Rolls does onto the friction pin. The Empire was the format all the way through to the early '50s, so the spined thin blades will have been post-WW2, at a guess and would have been produced for some years to support these models until the new double edge variants really started to take over in the '60s and '70s.
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Post by mjclark on May 7, 2014 8:41:25 GMT -6
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Post by PJGH on May 7, 2014 12:06:56 GMT -6
Good find! You know I've never made the connection, but British Fencing was heavily supported by Wilkinson Sword back in the day and the company that really keeps sponsorship afloat today is Beazley. I know it's not Beasley, but you have to wonder ... I'm going to do some digging. EDIT: Entirely co-indicental: www.beazley.com/about_beazley/history.htmlMeanwhile, folks who saw that nice Wilkinson Sword Sabre on eBay, GERROFF! It's mine!
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Post by mjclark on May 7, 2014 13:36:04 GMT -6
Turns out that tomorrow May 8th is the 130th anniversary of Tom Beasley joining Wilkinson when he was 24. He forged the Stalingrad Sword, and his picture is on the gorgeous NOS hollow ground blades that I just got from Paul. Magic! I notice that in the advert, Wilkinson claim a three month shave life for each of those blades with stropping. They come in boxes of four which should last a year! That's pretty good going, and I wonder if the paste can extend this even further.
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Post by PJGH on May 8, 2014 15:00:50 GMT -6
Anniversary shave coming up? Good old British Pathé ... here's Tom in action, making a sword for 'Ike': www.britishpathe.com/video/eisenhowers-swordEisenhower was a fencer. General Patton was a fencer, too, in fact prepared the Allied Forces for "that kind of fighting" when they met the Japanese. Here he is in action at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm: I wonder if Wilko made him a sword? Gotta say, from the picture, it looks like Latrie is about to kick Patton's ass! That was the Pentathlon, rather than straight-up fencing and I'm struggling to find out the result. Fencing was all Nadi, Nadi, Nadi back then. Aldo or Nedo, one or the other was always top of the heap. Wilkinson Sword's main line was ceremonial swords, later, fencing equipment. They still make ceremonial swords. I think Tom was very much one of their inner celebrities. He seems like a down to earth grafter! How cool to shave with something he made. This really brings that fascination that straight edge shavers get but into the single edge fold.
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