I was researching some razors to put up for sale and was reminded of a sad story I saw on James Bingham’s Hawley entry:
He was interviewed by a government commission on child labour, when he stated that when he was ‘first in the trade the average age of razor grinders at death was 34’. He said that exhaust fans had improved matters, so that ‘we have some men of good age. The effect of the work depends very much on the temperance of the workers’
…we really don’t fully appreciate the labour standards we have, wow.
And, lead was used as material for bushings in rotating machinery in those days too.
But … the work those guys did was amazing. So much style and attention to detail was put into those razors. Far too few people get to appreciate them.