DAMASCUS blades were mythical for several hundred years. Practically no one had one...no one had seen one....no one knew what they were or were not. All most people knew was that they would cut anvils in half, and then precede to slicing a falling silk scarf into confetti ....all with one gentle sweep. How did they know this????? - The people who used the term DAMASCUS on their advertising said so....thus it must be true.....they wouldn't lie, would they?
Since no one had a patent ,or even any real idea about damascus, the term was applied to many things as a selling hype. Sometimes it referred to a manufactured surface pattern (wire damascus shotgun barrels),sometimes to an engraved, machined, or etched pattern ( damascus/damascene on watch movements, fake "damascus" shotgun barrels, and metal work) ...., and sometimes to nothing at all ( damascus razors). Plain ordinary swords and knives....and razors..... had the term applied. The steel industry in Sheffield and Solingen well knew that the public would line up to buy a product named after such a legendary material. And there was no Internet to expose the hype, or government agencies to make them prove the claims.
IIRC, durring the late 1800's and early 1900's, Wilkinson marked a lot of swords and things DAMASCUS as well as implied it by using the "Star of Damascus" (a six pointed star which had no real meaning) on the blades. Most military swords still bear this star for no reason than hype - to imply that the steel is of superior quality.
Some razor facts:
A straight razor was a necessity of like. Every man had one..... or most likely several.
Every man hated shaving with one.
Every man wanted a closer shave with fewer nicks.
Along came marketing hype to fulfill his dreams.
A non-accurate statistic is - The planet is 50% men and 50% women...50% of those men shave at least part of their face....50% of those women shave some part of their anatomy.....
A very accurate statistic is - The razor industry is 100% aware of this.
Over roughly the past 100 years the razor has morphed from a straight thin edged blade
to a straight thin blade with a floating edge guard ( first "Safety Razors"
to a 1" piece of a straight razor in a handle
to a single edged thin piece of steel ( called a razor blade)
to a double edged thin piece of steel
to a single edged sliver of steel
stainless steel joined the party
blade holding technology went crazy
to a coated razor blade
to two blades
to three
to four
to ????who knows how many blades??
to blades that vibrate
Guy razors vs Girl razors.......
........and it will continue.
How many of us have a drawer somewhere with at least three or four different type of blades and/or handles in it?....and probably at least three electric razors we got as Christmas gifts.
Why - because we and those who buy gifts for us are all the target/victim of marketing hype.
We were probably perfectly happy with out old "Blue Blade" or "Injector" razors.
But we would feel behind in the times, .....no we would feel foolish....if we did not have the latest and greatest thing that TV hype was telling us about - long live Billy Mays.
A Fun Fact for the younger forumites to impress their friends with at your next gathering/party is -
If you are younger than 40, you may have never noticed that there is a small slit in the back of most medicine cabinets make prior to 1980 ( still is in some). It is a razor blade disposal slot. A blade lasted a few shaves at best, and was disposed of. The trash can was the normal place, but that was a worry to parents of small children, as well as the people who took out the trash. ( Today they would call it a Bio-Hazard) The answer was a small slit to slide the used blade through.......were did it go??? - Into the wall space ( which was as good as a black hole as far as never being seen again.). This slit was the marketing hype/ploy of the pre-fab medicine cabinet industry.
I have remodeled old bathrooms and pulled several thousand rusty blades from the hollow space in the wall below the medicine cabinet. If your house is over 50-60 years old and has a slot in the cabinet, it is a virtual guarantee that there are old blades in the wall.
