Round points in history

[bentheduck]

Over the past few months or looking through different vendors of vintage straight razors I've noticed that the vast majority of them are square point.

When did round points start becoming popular? Was it a change in culture? Maybe engineering advances made them easier to manufacture more consistently?

I'm sure I could find a very specific Google answer, but I'd like to see what your opinions are on the subject.

 

[uacowboy]

I think it may have at least in part been a regional thing. A lot of old Sheffield blades i have seen are barber's notch types which are normally rounded at the toe but were not what you would call a round point today. A lot of the razors out of Solingen do tend to be square from what i have seen. The other thing is that a square point makes it much easier to shave around facial hair you want to keep and facilitates a nice clean edge. you have to be a lot more aware of where the cutting edge stops on a round point.

i would also say round points may be more popular today because they are normally the most forgiving to a new SR user.

 

[Brew]

I am going to guess that the square tip was first, then the barber's notch, then the round tip, French and Spanish. My reasoning: I think it likely that the Barber's notch was an improvement on whatever came before. It seems that it would more likely be created from a square tip than a round razor.

Pure speculation, though.

 

[dkeester]

The "Round Point" is also called a "Dutch Point" on some of the informational sites that I found. My cursory Googling didn't find out when this innovation was first introduced.

I imagine that the introduction of it occurred early in the evolution of straight razors since I have seen many straights in antique shops that were modded aftermarket (many times shoddily) to round-off the toe. It probably wouldn't have taken long for manufacturers to adopt the Dutch Point after seeing that people were already doing it at home.

 

[bentheduck]

Interesting ideas, guys.

@dkeester I didn't find much either after I posted my first....post. But your hypothesis makes sense to me. I'm sure somebody saw those crude aftermarket alterations and figured they could do it better, faster, and likely safer.