Vintage French Razor identification help

I got this beauty last week, a hefty 6/8" quarter hollow with beautiful spine work. Looks like new, seems to be never used except the loss of gold emboss. Maybe it was polished by someone before. Mop inlay in one of scales with some silver looking ornaments. Although one of the scales is badly bent I think I will keep them as they are. Is there a safe and effcient way to straighten the bent celluloid scales by the way?

Maker label says M. Hanudet, thiers ? maybe?. I guess the blank was ground by Fermarud brothers in Germany. A 31930 number is scribed to the scales. Maybe it was belonged to someone at that time.

On the Blank it says:

FEM. FERMARUD NACHSCHEIFF

Special pour real Sensible ?

I hope you guys can give me some insight.

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with heat, you can straighten. But my guess is the side with the inlay is the bent side. And probably at the inlay. This happens a lot. A heat lamp and some wood spacers properly wedged between the scales and clamped to cool can help get it closer, but to really straighten you need to unpin it. Nice looking blade. I had a China-made razor with those scallops on the spine. It was junk. Never would hold an edge. Not saying yours is China-made. I do like the spine work.

It is a nice looking razor for sure, and all the French made razors I have are very good.

No info on the original french maker - should be M. Chanudet, Thiers as I read it. Maybe you can find some infos on the french forums, for example here:
https://coupechouclub.1fr1.net/t2272...heme-de-la-mer

But the blade was reground by the Fermarud company in Germany (Nachschliff = reground).

Regards Peter

This does not really look like a reground blade to me. I wonder, wouldn't Nachschliff here mean that it was honed before it was sold?

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Originally Posted by Kees

This does not really look like a reground blade to me. I wonder, wouldn't Nachschliff here mean that it was honed before it was sold?

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No the german "Nachschliff" clearly means reground. Honing would be named as "Abziehen - abgezogen". Regrinding of razors was very common in the past, speaking with old grinders it sometimes was the main thing they had to do. And if larger companies had been doing the regrind, they often add an etching like on the above blad.

Regards Peter

A random observation FWIW - French surnames even today are quite regional. Chanudet is found a lot in Burgundy and the Beaujolais, so perhaps the original French maker might have been in Dijon or Lyon (?)

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Originally Posted by cotedupy

A random observation FWIW - French surnames even today are quite regional. Chanudet is found a lot in Burgundy and the Beaujolais, so perhaps the original French maker might have been in Dijon or Lyon (?)

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Indeed and Thiers is only an hour's drive from Lyon.

Ah, so it is!

That looks a distinct possibility then I imagine.

A member at b&b had written this:

"A straight was a tool and as such it had to be treated well to please it’s possessor. Competition was tough, more than 300 families worked in Solingen (..blades, scales etc.. ) and yes they would position their product through different segment, high end included.
Some german examples :
Puma gold, Bohler Stahl Dreifuss Gold, Bambola magnesium, Mauser 7/8, Globus Gold, Dorko 1151...

The French did the same with specific models they usually named “hors concours” which were produced to celebrate an event or exhibition. They also produced high end razors like M. Chanudet, P, Fritisse (Fortunatus), Essercheroup, Vauzy à l’ Eglise
Etc..."

So you can indeed distinguish the first letters of "Thiers" next to the brand.

As for Chanudet, I guess it's Maurice Chanudet, who operated in Thiers around WWII as a Master Cutler.
Here is a sample of one of the trademark registrations for the time.
http://www.marques-de-thiers.fr/3c/8575_8576.jpg

Now, regarding the timeframe, the location and the peculiarities of this razor, I'd say it might have been made during WWII.
See, Thiers is like 20 miles away from Vichy, which was the capital of the "free zone" of France, that is, the zone not occupied by the Germans, but which had capitulated and was working with the German government. At such a time, it makes sense for an artisan to work with a German company.
Make it after 1945 during the first few years and oh boy, people would raise hell if they knew you worked with Germans and you would be branded a collaborator, which, even if true, was a very bad thing to be. See, to make peace among ourselves, we made the ground rule that, other than proven criminaly otherwise, everibody in France was a resistant, and there were no collaborators. That's still a bit of a sore, but it used to be a raw salted wound.

Anyhow, that's if for the digression.

Thiers Razors share quite the same standard, IMHO, as the one Solingen or Sheffield razor share : you can expect a Thiers razor to be a Thiers razor. Damn, you can find Thiers Issard or IC Vincent razors that look just as yours all details included.
I tend to find them sub-par, but that is just my opinion. Many people just love these blades.

Last thing

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Special pour real Sensible

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I can't see where you've read that on the razor, but it should be special pour peau sensible ie "specialy designed for sensitive skin".
Which means absolutely nothing. That's just marketing, like "especiallo por barba duras" or "for barber use". Or "electric steel", "singing blade", etc.

Quick edit : guys, I'm seldom on the forum these days, but don't hesitate to PM me with this kind of questions on French razors

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Excellent thread!
Thanks guys. :)

I love finding the secret histories of less known razors. Thank you Aggelos for your detailed explanation.