• 15 parts
  • Checked September 2026

Parts of a Razor

A straight razor opened out, then a safety razor standing beside its head taken apart.

Parts of a Razor

Name Date

Tap any part to read, rename or leave it out

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
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Write the name of each numbered part.Answer key

  1. Blade
  2. Handle
  3. Edge
  4. Back
  5. Point
  6. Heel
  7. Shoulder
  8. Shank
  9. Tang
  10. Pivot
  11. Head
  12. Razor handle
  13. Cap
  14. Razor blade
  15. Guard

Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry. Licence: own work.

Each numbered ring is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a part is answered.

Next step Another blade to learn: the parts of a knife

All 15 parts on the diagram

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Straight razor 10

  1. Blade The wide steel part. It folds into the handle.
  2. Handle Two protective pieces, also called the scales. The blade folds between them.
  3. Edge The sharpened side of the blade, also called the cutting edge.
  4. Back The thick side of the blade, also called the spine.
  5. Point The free end of the blade. Some call it the head or nose.
  6. Heel The corner where the shoulder meets the edge.
  7. Shoulder The curved part of the blade between the shank and the edge.
  8. Shank The narrow piece of steel between the main blade and the tang.
  9. Tang The curved end beyond the pivot. It works as a lever to raise the blade.
  10. Pivot The pin the blade turns on. It passes through both sides of the handle.

Safety razor 5

  1. Head The top of the razor, where the blade is held.
  2. Razor handle The grip. A post on the cap screws into its end.
  3. Cap The top plate of the head. The blade is clamped under it.
  4. Razor blade A thin blade with two edges. It is clamped between cap and guard.
  5. Guard The plate under the blade. It sits between the edge and the skin.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two independent sources use it. (1) Wikipedia, text only: Straight razor (pivot, handle or scales, tang, shank, shoulder, heel, cutting edge, back or spine, point), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_razor; Safety razor (a protective device between the blade's edge and the skin), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_razor; Razor (a handle fixed to a head that takes a removable blade), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor. (2) Standard Textbook of Professional Barber-Styling, its list of the parts of a straight razor read through the Internet Archive's full-text search: https://archive.org/details/standardtextbook0000unse (head, back, shoulder, tang, shank, heel, edge, point, blade, pivot and handle). (3) A. B. Moler, The Barbers' Manual (1911), public domain: https://archive.org/details/barbersmanual00mole (shank, heel, point, back, edge, blade, handle). (4) Indian Standard IS 7370:1974, Razors, Safety: https://archive.org/details/gov.in.is.7370.1974 (handle, cap, guard; a separable razor comes apart into cap, guard and handle). (5) United States Supreme Court, 299 U.S. 94 (1936), an opinion on safety razor patents: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/299/94 (a guard, a cap, a blade, a handle; a post on the cap passes through the blade and the guard and screws into the handle). (6) How Products Are Made, volume 5, Safety Razor: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Safety-Razor.html (handle, blade, head). Hints and detail lines are in our own words. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's product, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

Start with the parts of a straight razor: ten names from the point to the tang. Then the safety razor: the head on its handle, and the cap, razor blade and guard that make up the head.

Read the full guide

Along the straight razor

The blade has a thick back and a thin edge, and ends at the point. Where the edge stops is the heel; the shoulder curves up from there to the narrow shank. The pivot pins the steel to the handle, and the tang curves out beyond it.

Inside the head of a safety razor

The head holds the blade. On a three-piece razor it comes apart into a cap and a guard, with the razor blade clamped between them. A post on the cap passes through the blade and the guard and screws into the handle.

  • Shank, pivot, tang: that is the order along the steel, going away from the blade.
  • Back and spine are two names for one side; both are accepted.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a razor called?

A straight razor has a blade with a back, edge, point, heel and shoulder, then a shank, pivot, tang and handle. A safety razor has a handle and a head; the head is a cap, a razor blade and a guard.

What is the tang on a straight razor?

The tang is the curved end of the steel beyond the pivot. It works as a lever that helps raise the blade from the handle.

What are the scales of a straight razor?

Scales is another name for the handle: the two protective pieces, one on each side of the pivot. The blade folds between them.

What are the three parts of a safety razor?

A three-piece safety razor comes apart into the cap, the guard and the handle. The razor blade sits between cap and guard.

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