Thread: koken razors?

I have a line on two NOS koken new charmers and another very good condition koken.

How do they shave? Being from stl I know they produced barbers chairs and razors but are e razors as nice as the chairs?

Koken had many barber products, no clue how good the razors are but ive always considered koken products as quality during their time.

I just got one not too long ago. It's a Koken Knight. Nice looking 4/8 I think. I haven't had time to clean it up and hone it yet. It's Solingen made so it is probably a nice shaver :<0)


The e-Bay shots.

Probably shave well. Koken was a big barber supplies chain, so they had to sell good items to stay in business and be as successful as they did - back then the competition was pretty intense.
I don't remember having razors from them, but I have strops and they're high quality.

I have a little 4/8 Koken Gazelle that I just love. I generally prefer >6/8, so the fact that it's found a place among my users is indicative of my high opinion of it. Good shaver, very comfortable on the face, hones nicely, keeps an edge for a bit, and very, very nimble.

I recently sold a razor that was stamped "Koken barber supply" on the back-side of the tang, and "Phoenix" on the front. I tried to research about the company and I found a website which said Koken never actually manufactured razors. What I think happened, was that Phoenix made that razor and then Koken stamped it as a form of endorsement or franchise maybe.

As for the actual razor, it shaved adequately. It wasn't as smooth as a boker or top quality razor, but it didn't tug on the hairs either. It was quite difficult to hone too (toe took a while to get sharp), but that may have just been because of the uneven hone wear.