Straight Razors

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Straight razor use, honing and restoration

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"Butterfly" Straight Razors (sub.wetshaving.social)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I have seen a few times on ebay what is called in French a Butterfly Straight Razor (coupe choux papillon). Basically, these are straight razors with two blades in a single unit of symmetrical scales. My attempts to find information on these razors ended up without any results (probably also because I don't know what they are called in English, and because TTO DE razors in French are also called "rasoir papillon".

Does anyone here have any info on these, and what they are designed for? This is what they look like.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've seen these around too, they're neat but I resisted the impulse to pick one up since they seem a bit awkward to actually use.

I don't know anything about them but would guess perhaps this is a handy way to have two good edges for travel when you won't have time or equipment to touch them up and want it to pack down compactly?

I am vaguely aware a French shaving forum exists focused on straight razors (though I'm not fluent) so I took a shot at some searches:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22papillon%22+site%3Acoupechouclub.1fr1.net&tbs=li:1
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22deux+lames%22+site%3Acoupechouclub.1fr1.net&tbs=li

Best I could come up with though was this picture of an old catalog listing a new one: https://coupechouclub.1fr1.net/t29535p50-les-derniers-trouves

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for the links, I didn't know this forum!

It seems that these razors were built by French sailors, steel quality isn't very good, and it's not that clear why they're the way they are.

What seems to be consensus is that you shouldn't shave with these 🤣

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What seems to be consensus is that you shouldn’t shave with these

I dunno, the razors in that Duvert Frères catalog look pretty legit, I think if I wound up with their double bladed one I'd give it a try...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

One guy on the French forum wrote that they don't hold the edge from the beginning of the shave to the end - but still, he was happy to use it 🤷‍♂️