Thread: Razor Ownership History

Do you ever wonder who in the past has shaved with and appreciated the razor you are now using? Please help me with this one. On the scales are scribed: SCHUHMACHER 3993 1656 It is on an EgelswerkC.W. Engels Solingen Foche 4/8 barber point. My gun show buddies say this is a WW1 German Army-Issue razor. How can I trace the owner name and service number? I have tried the Internet. No luck. German Members, can you offer any suggestions? This is a history quest and might take some sleuthing, but it will be worthwhile for all. Thanks, Robert

I cant help you, but this is a vey interesting endeavor, I hope you find the story behind it and let us know the results.

That's the single major reason I choose to shave with older antique/estate razors rather than new ones. While I know that unless I manage to find a blade passed down from father to son for generations, I'll likely never know the story behind it. Who held it? Where? What were they like, how did they live, what was their world like, how did they get the blade? The answers are a mystery, but its incredibly fun to wonder. My favorite is a W&B going back to the 1880s...

How do you estimate the age of a razor? By the model number?

Do you have photos you can post of the razor?

By the way I like your shaving tips in your signature line, timberrr! Restore breathing, control bleeding, treat for shock!

Originally Posted by chief

How do you estimate the age of a razor? By the model number?

The only way I know is to look here for a date range, plus sometimes the style will give a clue. I don't know of any way to pinpoint it very closely but I'm sure an expert could get pretty close.

I have never seen a serial number on a vintage razor and I would be very surprised if any military inscribed someones I.D number on any item, after all they don't do it to weapons issued to members. Probably the name and number are the retailer and either their reference number orstreet or something along those lines.But good luck anyway in your search.

Schuhmacher 3993 1656 is inscribed on the scale. It appears to have been done by a sewing needle or point of a knife. Even if not military issue, the razor was an item owned by a G.I. of the Army of the Kaiser? There is a chance it could have belonged to a Doughboy of the U.S. or a British Tommy; although, SCHUHMACHER surely sounds like a German name to me...I am having a hard time identifying the sequrence of the digits and the way they are spaced. There is a space between the series just like I typed it. In my military days we had to mark items of clothing etc. with name, initials, and service number. Most of the time we used laundry markers and sometimes with a stencil. I still have some things from that interesting time of my life. My trusty TL-29 Electrician's Knife had my marks inscribed by a buddy's knife blade point. The U.S. service numbers have made changes over the last 40 years. I know of two changes. We were using Social Security Numbers when I retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1993.

Lee, I use-restore breathing, control bleeding, treat for shock- to remind myself and others I care about to react without delay if a situation like an automobile wreck, natural disaster, or any mass casuality condition occurs. This is what I was taught to do for saving lives. Yes, when I started using my straight razors I depended on this very sequence of reactions, just in case...!


C.W. Engels, Engelswerk Solingen-Foche 4/8-a very good shaver

that is an extraordinary looking razor to me, it seems so narrow to have a notched tip!
I wonder if this was a personal item that a soldier marked for personal ID as you say. The razor looks like turn of the century to me

I found this Straight Razor Manufacturers and Dates of Operation which says the engelswerk mark was used from about 1909 to 1943 by the Engels company which was a NY importer

Thanks for providing that source for manufacturers. I use it a lot. There are so many more not listed. Being a New York addressee, Engelswerk did evoke a question of how the razor found itself in Germany. I supposed Engelswerk was based from Solingen-Foche in Germany and sold world-wide. C.W. Engels is still around making sporting goods stuff and paintball items. I did learn that Foche was dropped from Solingen locale after WWI. I am asking for some assistance from our German Members. Finding veteran roster information about previous military organizations in Germany is difficult. I might be well looking at the wrong country for finding the possible original owner of the razor.

Yes, a barber's notch is kinda neat on a 4/8. I also own a Wostenholm Pipe 4/8 barber's point. It too, is a great shaver. I use them in rotation with my mostly 6/8s. They do quick safe work.