Thread: Small Range of Years

I have a question and I admit there is no real basis for the assumption I'm about to make.

I took out a copy of Goins' from the library and as I go through ebay and even through these forums, I see the variety of razor manufacturers and I check the brand to get an idea of when the razor was made.

Sometimes I'll find that the manufacturer was only in business for a few years, and occasionally just 1 year.; I started to wonder why. Obviously there was a lot of competition in the early to mid 1900s, especially in Sheffield and Germany but is there any chance only being in business for 1, 2, or 3 years is indicative of the product being inferior? (obviously I don't mean in all cases)

Originally Posted by ats200

Obviously there was a lot of competition in the early to mid 1900s, especially in Sheffield and Germany but is there any chance only being in business for 1, 2, or 3 years is indicative of the product being inferior?

That's the most likely reason. There were many, many razor manufacturers, which doesn't necessarily mean their products were inferior. On the contrary, many so-called "unknown" brands (to us at least) produced fantastic razors that rival the most well known names; many members would attest to this.

A company's short life span could have been cause by any number of reasons: driven out of business, absorption by larger companies and dissolution into smaller companies are among the top contenders.

You might also consider that documentation for so many of these razor companies is extremely scarce. Many of the dates posted on Goins' are c - circa and g - guess, which indicates that the publisher isn't really sure of the exact dates of operation for most of these companies. Even with all of those manufacturers that Goins' lists, I am still amazed at how many of the razors I come across aren't mentioned there.

Regards - Walt

I agree with Walt. Yesterday I looked up FWE and they weren't even in there. On manah's site it said they were in business until 1943 yet I've seen many NOS FWEs and have about 5 of their razors. I knew barbers in the '80s who had them and praised them. Say that to say that the info is very incomplete at best. Not to say that there may not have been inferior razors made in the vintage days but I haven't run across any personally.

Ah that does make sense, I just assumed the dates were somewhat concrete just because of the fact it's called an 'encyclopedia.' Never really paid any attention to the details of circa and guess.

BTW, what is Manah's website that many refer to?

I had the good fortune to meet Mr Goins at the 1995 Louisville Knive show. At that time the 2nd edition was only 286 pages( and was just called pocket knife markings) and a much smaller format, 7x11". He was always taking notes for the next edition( the one in 98). I understand that a another edition was in the works when he passed away. Schroeder listed a thousand razors, many the same brand. Doyle listed about 750 brands. Krumholz listed at least 1400 in his book. I can not count those in Richie& Stewart's book, but perhaps 2000, and we still don't have them all.
For a comparison of scale of volume, most persons do not realize that there were over 5000 different automobile mfgs. before 1942.

In a place like Solingen for instance you had a district which was nothing but cutlers similar to the garment district in NYC. Many places were suppliers and servicers to other outfits. So maybe a few places sold ingots or even blanks and some did only grinding or tempering. Many razor makers were small 1 or 2 man outfits who did very little on the product except initial design and final finishing and honing. So, many places came and went very quickly.

Also as has been said the record is incomplete at best.