Rolls Razor Restoration and Use

[PLANofMAN]

The Shave Den (R.I.P.) had an excellent 39 page thread on restoring Rolls Razors and maintaining them. That thread contained information found nowhere else on the internet. This is my attempt to condense the important information I can remember, plus my own observations, into a few posts.

(Edit: Here is a link to the thread from archive.org, and from what I can tell, almost all of it has been preserved. Page 11 is missing, but the rest seem to be there.)

The "what is" and " how to" thread for the Rolls Razor

[ATTACH][ATTACH][ATTACH] I'm going to start a thread on and for anyone who is interested in the Rolls Razor. I'm going to focus on those elements...

web.archive.org

My first observation is that no YouTube video on the Rolls Razor contains 100% correct information. This includes Matt's and Keith's videos on the topic. I respect them deeply, but some stuff they just get wrong. You should still watch their videos anyways for the visual aspects and nuggets of insight they drop.

As this is primarily a British forum, I expect many of you have a Rolls Razor in good condition, tucked away in a forgotten cubby years ago after one or two attempts at a shave. Some of you, sadly, probably re-sold them to fund other razors. Here's why that might have been a mistake.

Millions of Rolls Razors were sold. If it were a bad razor, that wouldn't have happened, regardless of the stories of a Rolls being a 'traditional' graduation present or 21st birthday present. There are also stories of hotels being filled with the clatter of the rolls razor as dozens of men prepared to shave in the morning. King Camp Gillette confessed that the Rolls Razor was the only competitor that he feared. In 1937, during the great depression, the Rolls Razor sold for $5, an exorbitant amount of money for the time.

The traditional British stoic stiff upper lip only goes so far. A razor that once serviced a million faces is now only used by a handful of wet shaving enthusiasts. Nothing about the razor changed except for time. It's a crying shame that one of the best razors ever made languishes in relative obscurity, regarded more as a curiosity, rather than as an effective tool.

Time has not typically been kind to these razors, and lack of maintenance has made them completely unusable. Luckily, it's a fairly straightforward task to return one to service.

Part One: The Blade.

The NOS fallacy. You may see many blades advertised on eBay and other sites as being "New Old Stock," unused blades. That does not mean it is usable straight out of the packaging.

A blade with a good edge will be in a bakelite or metal case, inside a paper sleeve, covered in Cosmoline (or rather, the U.K.'s equivalent), a translucent coating of gold and brown goop that, once cleaned (a moderately difficult task made easier by the application of petrol or carburator cleaner), and lightly stropped, will shave as well as any newly honed straight razor. I suspect it truly was a NOS blade. It also remains the only vintage blade I've ever found that required no honing.

All other blades will require honing, outside the case, on stones more suited to the purpose. The steel is good Sheffield steel, slightly softer than the steel found on a Wade and Butcher razor from the turn of the previous century. I have encountered a few blades that I would consider softer than average (older blades BTW), but for the most part, the temper on the blades is consistent. I messed around with various contraptions to make the honing job easier, and settled on the best combination being simply NO strip of electrical tape (optional, some use up to two strips) and the guard left in place to make handling easier (imo, NOT optional. The guard does not interfere with honing the edge, nor does it touch the stone during honing.) Once honed, it gets stropped using the mechanism in the case.

The reason I don't typically use tape is because the blade touches the hone and strop on both spine and edge, and they didn't have electrical tape in the early years, so it would make no sense for them to have taped the spines when doing a factory re-hone. A well used set might have a more acute bevel due to wear of blade, strop, and/or stone.

The guard makes the Rolls technically a 'safety razor,' which is why this thread is here, rather than in the straight razor section of this forum. I can assure you that as far as facial protection, the guard is more or less cosmetic. It is there to protect the edge of the blade and your fingers, not your face.

There is typically a two digit number on the spine of the blade (i.e. "47") this is the blade's (and razor's) manufacturing date (1947). If it lacks those numbers, it is a replacement blade, and not original to the set.

There are enough Rolls Razors left in the world for a person to be picky when purchasing one. Look for rust free blades, and select for blades that still have most of their length. Zoom in to make sure there is no pockmarks or pitting (devil's spit) near the edge. That is generally a death sentence for that particular blade.

The bakelite razor case fits neatly in the gap above the stropping mechanism, and I always keep a spare blade (or two) with my kit. When installed, it puts a slight amount of pressure on the mechanism, lifting the blade just off of the strop. I see this as worthwhile enough to always keep one in the case. The metal cased blades also fit in the slot, but the cases are slightly smaller and tend to rattle around a bit.

Part Two: The Hone.

These appear to be substandard synthetic light gray carborundum (?) aluminium oxide hones with an apparent grit rating of about 5k to 6k. Respected honemeisters tend to agree on this point.

What they actually are, is 'permanently lubricated' synthetic barber hones in the 8k to 10k range (if we're being generous on a drinking night). Permanently lubricated becomes a bit of a stretch after 50 years, and 100 years is well beyond the "sell by" date. And it's still a 'toothy' 8k.

One of the key components of the matrix that formed these hones when they were heated and pressed into shape is petroleum jelly, perhaps better known under it's most famous consumer brand name, 'Vaseline.'

This esoteric ingredient can often be found on your wife's makeup stand/desk/bathroom sink. If you lack one of these useful things they can be found at the pharmacy. Or in the U.S., at the grocery store. And yes, they sell petroleum jelly in those places too.

Slather a goodly amount across the surface of the hone and walk away. 4 hours is fine, 24 is even better. Come back and wipe off the hone with a soft cloth that you don't mind throwing away. The color will have darkened to a deep charcoal and the surface will become far less friable. The surface texture changes from a fine sandpaper feel to a smoother slate-like feel. Repeat this treatment every decade or so to keep your hone in proper condition.

When honing on it, you want to use it slowly and deliberately. You should hear two distinct faint clicks, one from the guard touching the stone's surface, and another from the blade's edge touching the surface. If you don't hear them, you're going too fast, and could damage the hone. For myself, I found the company's directions to be true. Do only a few strokes, strop, and check the edge. I have never needed more than six on a previously properly honed blade, and typically only do two.

You are probably thinking, "That's absurd."

No doubt. You must also remember that the combination of lower grit (for a touch-up stone) combined with the softer steel rips more metal off the blade than you would expect. It also can be one or two degrees steeper than my initial honing angle, so it either only contacts and reprofiles a microbevel to the apex, or makes full contact with the hone and preserves the original bevel angle. From what I've seen of the various Rolls I've handled, there's enough "slop" built into the system to allow both spine and edge to contact the hone and strop while in use. And finally, a properly maintained system puts a fair amount of pressure on the blade, more than a honer would typically use on a finishing stone. In this case, less really IS more. Also, the case should be placed on a hard flat surface when honing.

At this point, I usually take the blade to my surgical black for further refinement, or to one of my coticules for a few swipes. It's not strictly needed, but without it, the first shave off of the case's stone and strop can be a bit harsh feeling. It settles back down in subsequent shaves.

A damaged or broken hone can still be used. The grit on these appears to be consistent throughout, so if one side of the hone appears badly battered, you can flip it over to access a "new" side. Be warned, I've flipped over a few, only to find the other side of the hone in even worse shape from fellows who had the exact same idea.

Broken hones can be glued back together with super glue/crazy glue on a dead flat surface. It doesn't seem to affect the honing. Use a sacrificial piece of paper or shrink wrap between the hone and flat work surface. It can be razored off the hone once the glue has set and cured.

On flattening. You can do it, and I don't think I've seen one that was truly flat from the factory. It's very much a case of "good enough." The hone isn't there to put a finishing edge on your blade. It's there to rip a couple microns off the edge before you finish with the strop. If it makes you happy, flatten it, it's easy to do. Just measure the thickness first and stick something behind the hone to maintain that thickness once you've lapped it.

Over the years many folks have entertained the thought of using alternative hone materials, including myself. The biggest hurdle to overcome is that the hone must either be a self-lubricating hone, or be used dry. You don't exactly want to be potentially adding a bunch of water or oil to the insides of the case. Besides, honing is easily done outside the case, unlike stropping.

I still occasionally wistfully wish there was a world where a coticule or thuringian slab was in these cases, just for the "cool" factor. Black Welsh slate, like "dragon's tongue" would probably be a better candidate, though at that point, I'm not sure it would be an edge improvement over the stock setup.

One enterprising hobbiest made a plate and lapping film setup for his Rolls, which, from all accounts, seemed to work quite well.

Part Three: The Strop.

Before we get to the strop itself, I want to touch on the Rolls Razor Strop Dressing.

It typically comes in their trademark black and burgundy bakelite containers, now oxidized into a non-descript dark brown color. The pastes show no evidence of drying out or deteriorating, and all retain their deep red color. A dab on the tip of a finger is more than enough to treat a strop. I suspect it is a mixture of tallow, lanolin, and fine red oxide powder. One could easily substitute leather conditioner and red oxide paste for the long discontinued strop dressing. I've even, in a pinch, used red oxide automobile rubbing compound as a substitute. It made for an acceptable "stropping paste," but it was very slow and noticeably finer than the Roll's strop dressing, which indicates speed and brevity continued to be the most important criteria among the shavers and barbers of yesteryear. I've found the best way to apply it is to wear a nitrile or latex glove, dab my finger in the strop dressing and rub it in well. After a few strokes with the blade, I pop the blade off and wipe excess dressing off the edge and spine with a bit of toilet paper before continuing. The strop dressing will stain anything it comes into contact with, so i tend to use readily disposable things to work with it.

Fromm's red oxide paste can be used as a substitute for the original strop dressing. It's a 2 to 3 micron paste, and coarser than the original Rolls strop paste, but still fine enough to be usable.

The strop should be flat, not warped, dried out or cracked from water exposure. Gouges are not necessarily toxic to the edge, but I try to avoid strops that indicate a dragged spike in general. Nicks can be repaired with leather glue, or if shallow enough, sanded out. The company recommended a light sanding of the surface with 100 grit sandpaper before any new application of strop dressing anyways.

Early strops appear to be thick pieces of vegetable tanned shell horsehide. Post WW2, strops were thinner, likely cowhide, though perhaps still shell, and backed by a glued on canvas webbing material. In the last remaining years of the business, they switched to a felt backed, pasted cork strop. These were considered inferior when introduced, and time has reduced most to crumbling ruin. They don't have the longevity of their leather counterparts.

The strop is a consumable, but the reasonable expectation is that it will last a lifetime. In any case, it's fairly easy to DIY a replacement if needed from scrap leather or an old strop.

 

[PLANofMAN]

Part Four: The Rube Goldberg Contraption. Also known as the "case and stropping mechanism."

If this machine can be said to have a soul, this is the heart of how the Rolls works. It came in three distinct models, the first of which is rare and of interest only to collectors. We'll pretend it doesn't exist because it isn't relevant to someone who actually wants to use these to shave with.

The Imperial. Easily identified by the triple row of Greek keys on the doors (which spell out continuous repeating stylized "R's"). Most of these were nickel plated brass, though they had gold and silver plated versions as well. During or right after the war years (I don't recall which), they also made them in aluminium. They also had an uncommon model which had a stainless steel frame and doors. It can be polished up a treat, but suffers from being a fairly early model, so it doesn't include later improvements to the track design.

The Viscount. Easily identified by the single row of Greek keys on the doors, and a much more rounded profile. Almost always made of aluminium, it was marketed to the travelling man who wanted to pack light. They also made some in nickel plated brass.

Both the Imperial and Viscount are functionally identical to each other and take the same replacement parts. The friction clip, blade, strop and hone are interchangable. The very first model, the (not very) Popular (which we did not discuss) does not share any compatible parts with the Imperial and Viscount, including the blade, though gear tracks and some other parts were used in some Imperials. Likely left over parts from the end of the Popular.

Much hullabaloo is made of the shortness of the strop and stone, and many a straight razor user has deemed their length inadequate for the task. I will insert an observation here. The fellow over at science of sharp determined that any improvement to the edge of a straight razor significantly decreased beyond the first few strokes on a strop. Any improvements beyond that were marginal at best...something to think about.

I also have vintage paddle strops that are not much, if any, longer than the Roll's strop. An old-timer would probably say "git gud." We modern folk would say "skill issue." No doubt longer strops, like longer stones, are more fun to play with. That doesn't make shorter ones useless, especially when they are pasted.

One thing to note, is that one should never, ever, remove hone and strop from their holders simultaneously. While the holders themselves are cleverly constructed with both a 'fat' and 'skinny" tab, to ensure a door panel only fits on one particular slide of the hone; there is nothing to stop a person from swapping inserts between the holders. A trailing stroke on the hone isn't a disaster, but an edge leading stroke on the strop will render it useless in short order. Best to insure it never has the opportunity to happen in the first place.

Which brings us to the friction clip assembly. If this part isn't correctly serviced and maintained, it renders the entire system unusable. In the old days, one would send a little money to Rolls Razor Ltd. and in short order, a new 'spike,' new 'wings,' and a new friction insert would arrive in the post neatly packaged in a little cardboard tube. Quite rare on the secondary market these days. Luckily, an abundance of used Rolls Razors themselves supply extra parts if needed. With a small amount of finagling, and a sideways twist, the spike can be removed, followed by the clip with the wings. Don't futz about with that clip. The 'wings' can easily break if bent. With those out of the way, the friction clip tube can be popped off the roller. On the inside of the tube is a black, brown, or red piece of 'paper.' Likely it will be black with verdigris from the brass rollers. Do not try to remove the paper unless you have to. I've had good luck cleaning them a pencil's eraser, followed up with q-tips soaked in isopropyl alcohol run down the tube. Others have used various solvents with good effect. Repeat until the q-tips come out clean.

Forum members figured out that this stuff was/is commercially called 'fish paper,' and seems to be a type of fiber gasket material. If you break the friction paper, you can use it as a pattern to make a replacement. Best to not try to remove it in the first place, and then you won't have to worry about replacing it. If you do remove it, handle it very carefully.

With the friction assembly serviced, and the rollers cleaned, it can all be reassembled. In the future, this can be maintained (without disassembly) by rubbing a dry q-tip on the brass rollers as you slowly run the strop back and forth. When no black streaks are visible on the rollers, the job is done. This must be done about once a month or so. When you notice things are getting just a bit too 'zippy' and edges just aren't getting as sharp as you would like them, disassemble and service it again, maybe once every few years.

With this done, you should feel a fair amount of resistance when you operate the stropping mechanism (never do so without a blade attached). This is the heart of the system. If it isn't maintained, the razor will look like it works, but it won't actually work. You NEED that resistance. No resistance equals 'no pressure,' and no pressure means no actual sharpening is taking place.

All that is left is the frame itself and the gear assembly and track. Those get cleaned as well, in any manner you see fit, including dropping the whole frame in an ultrasonic cleaner. One drop of light oil is sufficient to lubricate the gear and track. This is one spot where you don't want an overabundance of grease or oil. It can migrate to the friction assembly, hone, or strop and muck everything up. Of course, leaving it un-oiled can lead to excessive wear and bits of metal floating around in the innards of the Rolls.

So now everything is set up, the hone and strop are refurbished, the friction assembly has been cleaned and the case refurbished. The blade, freshly honed, is ready for stropping and shaving.

Have we missed anything? The razor handle. It's quite a complicated bit of kit. Most handles follow the same basic design. A "C" shaped slot the blade slides into, and a spring loaded plunger, that when tightened, clamps the blade securely. An earlier "collapsible" handle uses a friction fit instead. The newer handles are a vast improvement over the old design, and should be sought out for use. This seems to be the one bit of the kit that goes missing frequently, along with the blade. I've never read a good argument for storing either outside the case.

 

[PLANofMAN]

Part Five: Pre- and Post-Shave Care and Routine.

Pre Shave:
I've settled on 40 laps (20 per side of the blade) on the strop as optimum for my comfort level. More than that, and the edge is keener than I prefer. Less, it tugs. This is something you will need to dial in to match YOUR preferences. YMMV. On the rare occasions I've needed to touch up the blade on the included hone, I'll up the number of laps on the strop to 80 or more. On one side of the case, there is a slight depression that the lid slots into. I've found this is an excellent spot to 'park' the stropping handle when I'm done stropping, as it leaves the blade vertical.

When stropping or honing, care should be taken to exert some downward force on the stropping handle to fully engage the friction clip.

The case and lid get set aside somewhere where I don't inadvertently splash water or lather into it while I shave.

Skin stretching is considered somewhat optional by DE and SE razor users, and necessary and vital by straight razor users. The Rolls Razor falls into the latter category. If you don't stretch the skin, the Rolls Razor can and will 'bite' you.

Post Shave:
I go through an elaborate routine for the post shave, which is probably unnecessary, but it has kept my Rolls Razor rust free for years, so I see no reason to change it up now. It's an automatic habit by this point, and only takes a minute or two.

Rinse the blade well. Remove it from the handle, and set the handle aside. Wipe excess water from the blade with a towel, taking care not to touch the edge. Blow several times into the hole on the back of the blade, and wipe any spatter off the spine with a towel.

I used to use a q-tip to dry the hole, but found that was wasteful, time consuming, and unnecessary. Should any spots of rust appear on the spike or in the blade hole, a little WD-40 will clean it up and help keep it clean.

Attach the blade to the stropping mechanism. Strop it. I tend to do the first few strokes rapidly, and this will get rid of any excess water that was missed in the initial drying. Pause for a moment to wipe away any droplets on the strop with a finger, and resume stropping. I've settled on 40 laps (20 per side of the blade) as optimum for my comfort level. More than that, and the edge is keener than I prefer. Less, it tugs. This is something you will need to dial in to match YOUR preferences. YMMV.

As far as stropping speed goes, the company recommended a second between strokes on the strop. When my wife is asleep and I'm trying to strop quietly I can count each part of the stroke individually (forward, one, back, two). When I'm not stropping quietly, I count each stroke as one number (forward, back, one. Forward, back, two, etc.).

With the blade stropped, I turn my attention to the handle. I unscrew it into it's two main components. I dry off the lower part and plunger and set it aside. The upper part, I blow into, wiping off any water that collects in the c-shaped head. Reassemble it and insert it into the side slot in the case. Replace the lid and put it away for the next use. I always depress the button on the end of the case while doing this to prevent wear and tear on the latching mechanism. Unnecessary? No. I've several cases with worn latches, and I'd prefer not to add to them.

Part Six: What to Look For When Purchasing

Like the blades, genuine NOS (new old stock) sets are much rarer than sets being advertised as new old stock. The hone and strop will have protective tissue paper covering them (which a lot of owners seemed to hang on to, for some reason), and the blade will also have a paper cover. If you don't see all three of those, it's not NOS, but it very well may be unused or lightly used. In my opinion, it's not worth the $100+ sellers try to get for them, and you have to do all the above maintenance to them anyways, simply because time does not stand still for man or razor.

You want to see clear pictures of both the hone and strop. A damaged or missing hone or strop is often concealed by the simple expedient of not including a picture of it in the listing. On the other hand, buying a set with a broken stone might nab you a razor with very little use on it.

A good user grade Rolls ought to cost between $20-30 in the U.S., and I would imagine in it's native U.K., the prices are even better.

If the razor is old enough to have a collapsible handle ask for pictures of the handle extended. These can seize up and become useless. The more modern handles can also become seized up, so it's worthwhile to ask the seller to unscrew them too. The cap on the bottom of the razor handle unscrews as well, and if you can get it off, you can clean the spring and lower part of the plunger. A drop of oil in there, screw it back together, and never take it apart again. If it doesn't unscrew easily by hand, don't worry about it, and I would say most don't unscrew easily.

An excellent resource for identifying the various sets is "Rolls Razor: A History and Guide to Their Identification," by Tony Stubbs, a noted Roll Razor collector. Self published and released last month on Amazon. Available in both hard cover and paperback. It contains many color photographs by Ray Plante, another noted collector. 184 pages. Lots of color photos, large print, generous spacing. Somewhat lacking in instructional manuals.

In many ways, this thread is a companion to that book and includes most of the information I felt should have been included in that first volume, and the first volume upset me enough to seriously consider writing the sequel, "Rolls Razor: A Guide to Restoration and Use." I groused at Tony over it, and he didn't reply. I suppose I was less than charitable in my review of it. It truly is a wonderful resource for the collector, and may very well be worth quite a bit of money someday. These kind of limited release über-specific resource books tend to fly under the radar until long after they are out of print. I don't regret buying it, but I do wish the interior of the book had lived up to the claims made on the back cover of it. Specifically, "...outlines common restoration techniques..." none of which were actually inside the volume.

 

[PLANofMAN]

Finished, aside from adding relevant photos, and whatever edits I feel the need to add at some later date. Apologies, as it's a lot of reading and a bit of a slog. I do hope this helps others get as much enjoyment from the Rolls Razor as I do. It really is a fantastic razor system.