Thread: Senior members, a question

In senate hearings debating the tariff act of 1921 H.L. Henry, the head of the Geneva Gutlery Co., and representing nine other razor companies including; Torrey, Case, Droescher, Clauss, National Razor, Union Cutlery, Geo. Korn, and Poughkeepsie Cutlery, claimed that the German market was flooding this country with poor quality razors and threatening the stability of the U.S. manufacturers. He said they were made from Bessemer steel or a cheap grade of Swedish steel. Interesting reading.

Regards - Walt

^Oh, very very cool.

Originally Posted by Walt

In senate hearings debating the tariff act of 1921 H.L. Henry, the head of the Geneva Gutlery Co., and representing nine other razor companies including; Torrey, Case, Droescher, Clauss, National Razor, Union Cutlery, Geo. Korn, and Poughkeepsie Cutlery, claimed that the German market was flooding this country with poor quality razors and threatening the stability of the U.S. manufacturers. He said they were made from Bessemer steel or a cheap grade of Swedish steel. Interesting reading.

Regards - Walt

This is awesome!!!

Thank you,

Lynn

Very cool to "see" this happening. I could sense the urgency in the situation on the part of the manufacturers.

Walt- that is a very cool piece of history. The guy from Geneva basically foretells the crumbling of the American razor manufacturing business. Crazy.

Originally Posted by Philadelph

Walt- that is a very cool piece of history. The guy from Geneva basically foretells the crumbling of the American razor manufacturing business. Crazy.

Where can I read more about the American razor manufacturing industry??

Originally Posted by Ichinichi

Where can I read more about the American razor manufacturing industry??

Beats me. Little snippets like this from history are your best bet. I know the Case knife company had a book that was basically a bio of the company. I don't know how much it talked about razors though. The thing is- not much written word on the subject is out there considering what could be said. So a lot of information is kind of 'lost'.

I read somewhere that Sheffield and Solingen, for a time, swapped steels. Then as steels became more abundant in England, they would ship to Germany for other processes. Germany would ship to England for MOP and other scale material.

It is all intertwined and it would not surprise me to learn that the steel came from the same mine. So a Solingen blade would have the same steel as a Sheffield.

American steel is made here so all the razors that were made by American companies were made here.

There were exceptions. American Companies that used German blades etc then restamped then with the companies logo.

I really do not think it was so much the steel as the forging process. A good blacksmith family was worth there weight in gold if they could produce superior edged weapons. Obviously crappy steel, is just that, but even marginal steel could be made into a good shaver with the right smith at the helm.