Thread: Red Devil wire razor

Does anyone have one of these Smith & Hemenway Red Devil 427 razors that were forged out of twisted wire? I came across this ad from a 1904 magazine. I assume that stamping a razor out of twisted wire would give it kind of a Damascus look. If anyone has one of these razors could you post a photo for us to see. Don't confuse this with a Engstrom Ran-Tan-Ka-Rus Red Devil. Thanks

Regards - Walt

True Cable Damascus is a thing of beauty and can vary incredibly in appearance, a razor crafted from it would be a real work of art!

Some awesome examples below!




Would also be greatly interested in pics of the razor the OP speaks of if anyone has one!

I want to see too.

Unfortunately my Time Warner cable is down right now or I'd post some pics ofy Red Devils. Neither of them look like those knives pictured above.

I'm not sure it's so easy to separate those S&H Red Devils from the Engstrom ones though. There is a Luthe Hardware advertisement floating around that also shows the wire-made Red Devils too... and it goes on to emphasize the fact that they're made in Sweden. Given the timeframe it's likely that it was Engstrom who was making these and having them distributed through S&H and Luthe.

What I can tell you for sure is that both of my devils are nearly identical to each other and the Luthe advertisement (in that they're both hollow ground swayback smiling blades). One has the Engstrom stamp, one just says Made in Sweden.
...and I should also point out that the one with the Engstrom stamp also has its original scales that have the RanTan KaRus devil moniker-- which just happens to match the RanTan KaRus devil box which also sports the S&H Co. imprint.

Originally Posted by velocityboy

Unfortunately my Time Warner cable is down right now or I'd post some pics ofy Red Devils. Neither of them look like those knives pictured above.

Perhaps they just need a cheeky wee wipe with some etchant to reveal them in all their glory...

Originally Posted by hollowground

Perhaps they just need a cheeky wee wipe with some etchant to reveal them in all their glory...

That actually has crossed my mind before. I'd be hesitant to do that to the Engstrom stamped one because it's pretty minty. The other one is a little rough and sitting in my "to be restored" pile. ...maybe I'll experiment w it!

Originally Posted by velocityboy

I'm not sure it's so easy to separate those S&H Red Devils from the Engstrom ones though. There is a Luthe Hardware advertisement floating around that also shows the wire-made Red Devils too... and it goes on to emphasize the fact that they're made in Sweden. Given the time frame it's likely that it was Engstrom who was making these and having them distributed through S&H and Luthe.

That is pretty strong evidence that this razor was made by Engstrom and retailed by S&H. I wonder if it is just the S&H model 427 and the Luthe "Little Red Devil" that were made using this method. The reason I originally excluded Engstrom was because my Ran-tan-ka-rus Red Devil has a different profile and the steel appears to be of the standard variety (no variation in grain). I would expect that a blade made using the twisted wire method would have some type of grain. Maybe someone who forges steel could lend some clarification to the subject.

Regards - Walt

I'd be interested too. The description on the Luthe ad describes them as "full polished and glazed" so i assume the grain can be/was polished out.

Just out of curiosity is your "regular" Engstrom devil full hollow ground or would you say it's closer to half hollow?
I ask because I've had a couple regular devils pass through my hands and they were both closer to half than full hollow ground.

These swayback smiling devils are full hollow ground and really pretty light in weight compared to the half hollow straight back Devils.

I once saw another ad for Swedish Red Devils (I can't for the life of me remember where i saw it) that offered a special "heavy duty" version for tougher thicker beards. ...This heavy duty version was actually a few bucks cheaper than the other devils listed. ...it could be the straight back half hollow Engstrom devils are those heavier "heavy duty" ones ...and the cheaper price reflects the regular blade stock used for them instead of the wire method.

All the above is just me trying to reconcile our devils as they pertain to this somewhat nebulous history... but that's my take.

Mine is a full hollow.

Regards - Walt