1839] 



F A R JVl E R S = REGISTER 



103 



tempered instrument ; the point must be perlect. 

 After having it several times tempered over, I 

 found it impossible to bring it to a perfect point. It 

 was thrown aside as useless ; not less than a half 

 dozen times I sent to the north, and had new nee- 

 dles made, directing two or three prices to be offer- 

 ed for them, so that they might be made of the 

 best kind; none of these instruments were as good 

 as I wished them to be. As I frequently practice 

 this operation on dead eyes, as well as on 

 brute's eyes, to save my new instruments this 

 old needle was cleaned of rust and sharpened 

 again ; and upon trial, it was now found to be 

 the best instrument I have. 1 have, of late, ope- 

 rated successfully on perhaps a dozen blind eyes 

 with this old instrument, and I should certainly 

 consider it the best instrument I have seen. Some 

 time ago, I went from home to amputate an old 

 man's thigh. I had to use a borrowed set of in- 

 struments ; and when I examined them I hesi- 

 tated whether to operate. They looked so old 

 and rough that I feared to use them. As the knife, 

 however, appeared to take a fine edge when strap- 

 ped, I proceeded to operate. After [ had cut down 

 to the bone, I passed the knife several times round 

 the bone, pressing it hard, that the bone might be 

 perfectly clear. As I calculated I had destroyed all 

 edge on the knife, I concluded I would sharpen it 

 before I returned the instruments to the good old 

 worn out surgeon. To my surprise, I found, upon 

 examination, that the knile still retained a perfect 

 razor edge. I tried these instruments many ways 

 to try their temper, as I considered them the best 

 I had ever seen. I went to see the old gentleman, 

 determined to own them at any price ; but they 

 could not be purchased. Heinforn)ed me that they 

 were a very old set of instruments when he was a 

 young man and a surgeon in the army. He told 

 me of several high officers' limbs they had ampu- 

 tated ; that they had done much service since he 

 had them, and that they were considered old worn- 

 out instruments when he received them. I now 

 inquired if he valued them because they were of 

 superior temper. He told me they were the only 

 ones he had ever used, and that he did not know 

 that they were better than common ; that he only 

 valued them for their age. These are the best 

 tempered instruments I have ever seen, and the 

 oldest. When new, I have no idea they were bet- 

 ter than common ; in fact, every person in the habit 

 of using tempered steel or iron, in any way, will 

 be able to recal facts to prove that the older they 

 are the better. It may be laid down as fact, that a 

 newly made razor will seldom shave well, and that 

 the older the better. Therefore, in selecting a 

 good razor, an old rusty razor will be 'generally 

 better than a newly made one; for rust also im- 

 proves the temper. But even with the best mechan- 

 ics, a perfect temper is only an occasional good 

 hit ; and many razors may be tried before a good 

 one is got. The old-fashioned direction, to buy 

 many cheap old razors, and keep trying until we 

 get a good one, is a good direction. 



Time, or age. has an effect on the edge of a ra- 

 zor that no art can produce. The instrument- 

 maker, after grinding and honing a razor or other 

 instrument, gives it a slight strapping on a bad 

 strap, and it is finished. Now, this newly tem- 

 pered razor, fresh sharpened, could not be made 

 to shave well. The instrument-maker knows if 

 he straps off the wire-edge he leaves it rough like 



a saw. full of little gaps. It would now shave very- 

 rough, but it may be months or years before the 

 shaver uses this razor, by which time age has en- 

 tirely taken off the wire-edge and left a smooth 

 fine edge. Time takes off the wire-edge per- 

 fectly. No art can. Therefore, when we buy a 

 new razor, (^lor this new razor may have been 

 made many years,) we should select a sharp one, 

 for we may never get as good an edge on it again; 

 this edge should be saved as long as possible^ ne- 

 ver putting it on a strap while it will do without. 

 By only strapping it on a clean silk handkerchief^ 

 or the palm of the hand, if the razor is a good one, 

 it will keep its edge a long time. 



But after the razor has become dull, the object 

 is to sharpen it, and make it shave well. Ob- 

 serve, although lime has put a good edge to the 

 razor, the maker did not. For, in addition to 

 other reasons why he cannot put on a good edge, 

 his strap is in such frequent use with newly 

 ground instruments, that it is full of particles ot 

 wire-edge, stuck in it, which, if the razor is much 

 strapped on it to make it perfectly sharp, will make 

 it worse. Sending a dull razor to the instument- 

 maker to be sharpened for immediate use, will al- 

 ways result in disappointment; therefore, this 

 must be done at home. Every man with a hard 

 beard, who wishes to shave easy, must keep more 

 than one razor. Now to sharpen it, the hone 

 must of course be a good one, and for the most 

 part, a fine oil-stone is better than any hone. 

 Thick oil is better than thin ; therelbre, use cas- 

 ter oil in preference to olive oil. Now bear par- 

 ticularly in mind, that it is wholly impossible to 

 put a good edge on a razor if it is well tempered 

 while cold. Rubbed as gently on the hone as 

 we can, the edge will fly. After sharpening, pass 

 it along the thumb and it will be rough. Examine 

 it with a microscope, and the edge will be found 

 full of little gaps, and an irregular wire-edge. 

 Rub off the wire-edge, and it will be rough and 

 wholly unfit for shaving. The only way to guard 

 against this, (and without this caution to put a 

 good edge on a razor is an impossibility,) is to 

 put the blade in hot water. Make it as hot as 

 boiling water can make it, and rub it gently on the 

 hone with little more than its own weight, fre- 

 quently dipping the blade in boiling hot water. 

 Now if the razor is a good one, and sharpened in 

 this way, the heat of the water expands the metal 

 and thickens the edge so that it may be brought 

 to a very fine edge; while at the same time, heat 

 so toughens the edge that it will not fly. Exa- 

 mine it with a microscope, and it will be found to 

 have a smooth regular edge, with a very fine wire- 

 edge all the way ; for the edge becomes so per- 

 fectly fine, that the very extreme point (so as to 

 say) of the edge, has no substance to wear it off; 

 ami, therefore, turns up all along. Now, how to 

 lake off thit! fine wire-edge. Every strap-maker 

 gives directions ; and every direction, if fbllowed, 

 spoils that fine smooth edge that is essential to 

 easy shaving. Rub it across the thumb nail, as 

 directed, and examine it with the microscope, and 

 we have broke off the wire-edge in places and 

 made the blade flill of little gaps, while in other 

 places, we have turned the fine edge and made 

 more wire-edge than before ; go to strap it off, 

 and, by much of the wire-edge breaking off and 

 sticking in the strap, the straf) is ruined and ren- 

 dered unfit to put on a really fine edge any how, 



