Thread: Please help with ID

Good evening Gents,

I'll start with an introduction. My name is Jay, and I'm attempting to become a convert from my well loved safety. I've been mug shaving for years, and find few things more pleasant and centering that a good shave. My razor of choice right now is a Gillette Fat boy, but I feel it's time to move on to where the REAL boys play.

Long story short I was perusing my local flea market Sunday and came across a rather nice JA Henckels straight edge. I quickly gobbled it up when I saw that and Solingen (I knew a little) and brought it home for some restoration.

Upon cleaning the scales I saw brown residue on my cloth and the familiar scent of vulcanized rubber (I restore fountain pens as well). I really thought the scales were celluloid. I did notice that the spacer was indeed white celluloid that had turned a wonderful shade of cream. Perusing the useful information on this site I was able to dig up the JA Henckels catalog and identified it as a model 72 (also stamped on the tang) but there is one difference. The blades in the catalog were all plain, and as the picture below will illustrate, mine is not. Mine has a lovely floral and leaf pattern on the one side of the blade, with the background of the relief gold filled.

Can someone enlighten me on the rarity or commonality of this? Was it an added option or aftermarket? I would also like to ask about the scale material. Everything I have been taught in the pen world said keep hard rubber out of water, especially hot as it promotes oxidation and turns hard rubber brown, yet these scales are PRISTINE.

At any route, anything you could tell me about this razor is much appreciated. I'd also like to know what you thought of the blade. Is it easily shave worthy? I have a bald patch on my leg right now that says yes (I couldn't resist) but it looks like it would need a stropping. Anything you see that looks like rust isn't, it's bright spots that reflected brown for some reason. OH, and the odd scratch on the scale is a fingerprint...sorry

Stamped on the tang is the following: 72, (THE JA HENCKELS LOGO) J.A. HENCKELS, SOLINGEN ZWILLNGSWERK.



So I guess I didn't make it that short...oh well. Looking forward to what you have to say.

J

Welcome!

That is a lovely razor...and with the case - sweeeet!

I'll put my two cents worth in and I'm sure others will have more, better info. If you smell rubber, odds are the scales are "Bakelite", which is an early plastic. With care, water should not have much of an effect, as this substance was used for knobs, handles, etc. There may even be fountain pens made from it (I collect pens as well). As for the decoration, I'm not sure if vendors dressed up the razors after they left Solingen...that would seem to take a serious investment in metal working tools. I would guess that most likely, the razor was a deluxe model, with more decoration for a higher end market. In fact, the whole spine and tang may have - at one time - been gold washed!

That's one of the great things about this site...there is sooooo much to learn and soooo many great folks willing to share their knowledge and experience.

If you have not honed a razor before, I would recommend sending it to one of the many honemeisters here who will return it to you ready for shaving. As you have a mug and brush, all you need to get stated is a strop. I can personally recommend Tony Miller's products as being some of the finest leathercraft I have seen in a long time - and reasonably priced as well! Lynn Abrams - the site owner - has an amazing CD you can get from him or from some of the vendors, which covers everything you need to know about straight razor shaving...razors, mugs, brushes, soaps and creams, stropping, honing, shaving prep and actual shaving.

Again, welcome and happy shaving!!!



Greg

Beautiful razor. And gents, J. is another fountain pen guy! He will fit in nicely here!

RT

Hard rubber and bakelite are different materials!

the razor is very fine and I like hard rubber scales.

Nice find

Welcome to our playground (big boys only, of course )

This may be the same material used for some pens, like the Sailor KOP - but it ain't celluloid for sure if you are smelling rubber. With time, you may see many oxidized greenish scales... Fairly easy to restore to nice shine

The razor looks to me like an extremely nice find. I have seen many Henckels razors and they ALL don't have this - is it engraving? Some have worked backs, but this is different. I am inclined to think that this may have been either a very high end model, a prototype, or maybe customized after production by a different craftsman.

I would try Hanging Hair test, thumb-pad test, and also look at the edge under some magnification before I decide to test-shave with it. If the edge is clean of microchips and the razor passes HHT well - sure, I'd strop it 30-60 times and have a go

Good luck
Ivo

WOW, thanks for all the positive response. Let's see if I can answer all the responses I've gotten so far.

Wirebeard: I'm sure the scales are rubber, I went back into the catalog and was able to translate enough to know that the 72 came with them. AFAIK, Bakelite doesn't have a scent. I'm also fortunate enough to have a friend that attended barber school, so they'll be running me through shaving and maintenance first hand. The case is also shown in the catalog as being a two razor case, so I wonder if there wasn't a match to this one.

RT: Glad to see you, and thanks for the plug

Yannis: I'm rather taken by the scales. They really are in superb condition. I also love Hard Rubber pens

Rich: Thanks

Izlat: The markings are certainly not engraving. They're stamped pretty deeply. I don't think anyone could do that after forging, so I'm inclined to think this was a factory thing. You post some intriguing options, and I'd love to have someone confirm any of them. I took a look at the edge under a 16x loupe and found the edge to be completely free of chips cracks or defects. Where could I find links on these tests?

Thanks for all the help so far folks, you've been great