Thread: # 14

Well, I don't have anything like this to show, but I'm loving this thread just for the razor pr0n!

I think I've developed a healthy case of razor envy... That cabeza de leon is just a beautiful blade, and any of the ones Glen posted would give me a week long permagrin.

Here's my Mano negra Better Flor de lis #14

I recall that Juan Vollmer produced #14 blades first in Solingen and later in Spain. It is likely that they would share many similarities. Perhaps it is Vollmer's migration to Spain that carries the connection (in terms of the relative style of the blade). I do not believe that the steel of Solingen 14's and Spanish 14's is the same. It appears to me to be different in both feel and appearance.

Originally Posted by Birnando

Good point, Gssixgun!

Here's a couple of ways I have tried to find out about this:

I have a friend who has worked his whole life as the Spanish attache of commerce in different embassies around the world. He has tried to find documentation of the transactions and or other signs of this kind of collaboration between Germany and Spain. He has also used his contacts in Spain to try and find out about the infamous Toledo steel, its origin and the use of it in Spain in the 20th century.

I have gotten some good info regarding this, but nothing that makes me able to conclude either way.
We are still on it though, so should any of the guys we have asked to snoop around for information actually find anything, I'll be posting it here right away.

Have you read the thread on the German Forum,
I received my info on it by way of a fellow restorer in Austria...

He said that the story was that this one forge pumped out every #14 razor, that was basically when I began to doubt the whole thing..
There are just to many differences in them for me to believe that..
Now if it was as Dylan was saying that they only produced the Drop forged "ROUGH" blanks then I think that is more believable, but even that after some deductive logic doesn't seem profit friendly for all these companies..
There are plenty of large 7/8-8/8 Hollow ground Solingen blades out there that are made by other companies so why would these be cost effective????
And if there were "Special" as in highly sought after because of the exceptional shave which we know many deliver I would think it would have been "Bragging Rights" and this would be easy to prove...

See this starts being a mind game rather quickly without proof...

Now we know at least the heat treating and temping had to be done in different places, or differently, as we have a few different types out there...
Also we know there are rather different grinds out there so that leads to the thought that there were maybe ground by the different companies...

A mystery

What is really funny is I knew this discussion was inevitable as soon as the OP posted the thread...

Speaking of which, "to the OP (jazor) do you mind if I tweak the title to perhaps get more attention to the thread"?????

I loooove those #14, big blades that shaves like a dream!

@ gssixgun: to be honest, I chose the title as "general" as I could so all # 14's could be posted and everyone would feel free to contribute, discuss, contradict, ventilate opinions, defuse "urban tales" and what not.

Sofar the topic seems to be catching on quite nicely.

What kind of title change(s) do you have in mind?



@ all: by the way, many thanks to all for the interesting and sometimes passionate contributions plus perhaps most importantly the excellent pictures!

Kind request to all: hope we can keep the atmosphere kind and polite.

Kindest regards, Jan.

Read everyone's postings with interest and totally enjoyed looking at all the beautiful # 14 pictures.

What a variety: I'm learning about new # 14's every time I look at another posting in this topic.

The larger the variety of different grind and different shape # 14's I see, the less likely it seems to me that all "roughs" or "blanks" came from Henckenrath.

What totally DOES get me though is the similarity of the looks of many # 14's that may have even been produced countries and sometimes even continents apart. I'll try to describe here what I mean.

What totally got me loving # 14's and a feature I see in many of the pictures here (not all and that's so interesting by the way) is what I call the "double sweep" with "hollow back", "hump around the shoulder area" and "hollow towards the tang". Also the shoulderless grind, the spike shape and the almost facetted nose are features standing out on # 14's.

Here a few "before and after" pics of my Henckels 8/8 # 14 I posted at the beginning of this topic to illustrate what I meant to describe above.

By the way: the razor was restored by Bob Keyes who informed me that it is actually a 15/16. Judging from the pictures Bob sent me, I feel he did a great job! Thank you Bob, can't wait to receive it so I can try it out!













Please keep the pictures and postings coming!

Kindest regards, Jazor.

Here's my #14, a Guillermo Hoppe. A favorite of mine as it's the first razor I found in the wild ($10), cleaned up and honed. It's a solid workhorse. I think the tip is original.

I haven't had much luck tracing the GH name, so I can't add any info there.

...Ray

Made by Wilhelm Hoppe in Solingen, became a part of J.A. Henckels and you will see some models with the "Twins" logo along with "Guillermo Hoppe" and the Wilhelm hope logo (which yours appears to have)

Originally Posted by norm67

Made by Wilhelm Hoppe in Solingen, became a part of J.A. Henckels and you will see some models with the "Twins" logo along with "Guillermo Hoppe" and the Wilhelm hope logo (which yours appears to have)

OK good info. Here's a shot of the logo.

...Ray