Thread: LF info on a "Koban" razor

Picked up a "Koban" razor on the bay hoping that it will look good in-person...
I really liked the spine work, blade etching and the metal details on the scales.
Now, the scales seems like they could be past-expiration and the seller did mention that the metal decoration is coming off them a bit (there is even a piece of tape there to secure them...) - but..if the blade is sound I wonder if maybe I could have it all re-scaled...and have the old metal decoration transferred to the new scales... Crazier things must have been done

I tried to find any information on the "Koban" brand but didn't come up with anything from online.
There is a marking on the back of the tang as well (see photo below) with something-something "Bros" maybe?

Any help in figuring out what this is would be greatly appreciated

Oh, it is a "Kobar" razor.
Made Solingen by Emde Brothers, in business 1902-1939.
A very prolific maker, apparently. Not rare a Kobar razor pops out here and there. You can tell by the solid lines of the design they are well made. Nobody spends so many hours shaping a shitty steel blade. Yours have seen some careful use apparently, and have a nice and even hone wear. Nice catch, dude.
I don't know how to work on micarta or already hard plastics. I would try to make a negative cavity mold by refining the actual depression of the original scales on any media, like plaster, putting the already clean and prepared inlay on the expected position, and filling the concavity with solid coloured termofixed resin and fiber (fiberglass, carbon fiber etc.).
This would be my personal way of address the problem to make a new set of scales, and there are numerous others, suggested by far more experienced people, here, in this forum.

Ah, thanks I wasn't able to read that it would say "Emde Brothers"! - that did help narrow it down in terms of date a lot.

And, oops, maybe it does say "Kobar" and not "Koban"

Interesting side-note. Another person have the same inlay on his razor which is a WM Elliot razor. So I'm thinking this was either a very popular design(?) or one of the razors does not have the original scales/inlays.

I already noted some repeated designs shared by different blade makers. I guess some razor makers sourced their scales from a common scale manufacture. Exclusive scales = expensive, common scales = cheaper. We have to note that, besides each blade must be hand-finished, molded scales are mostly mass produced.
Another explanation for that can be replacement of broken/worn scales by mass produced generic scales made for the repairing market. Revisor from Solingen still sells replacement scales, some of them with the ubiquitous "solingen" inlay.
Kobar razors are among the most common in Brazil, as common as Weiersberg "Cornetas".

That's a nice looking blade. Really like the spine work. Good luck with the scale restore.

Nice blade. I would get replacement scales and reattach the inlay with crazy glue.

Bob

Finally received my Kobar (not Koban) razor and I really like the blade on it.
The scales are pretty much shot and what I'd like to do is to have them replaced - potentially some dark wood ones...

Some pics, the blade looks ok to me but I may well be missing something;

(The scales does make me a tad worried about cell rot so the razor is being kept in 'quarantine' for now).



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Would be interesting to see how/if it could be given a bit of a different look through a cleanup and different scales.
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