Thread: Longlife Razor

I picked this off ebay a while ago.the razor is in good condition with the blade still intact (but faded). slight tarnish

anyway has anybody heard of this brand are they good shavers or did i pick up a dud? and what year do you think it was manufactured

also whats the go with Sheffield steel on a german razor?

cheers all

Could be this:

Emil Hermes, Merkur-Werk, Solingen-Merscheid in 1920, 1922 and 1932, Beethovenstrasse 235 in 1939, Margaretenstrasse 15a in 1986, Friedrich Wilhelm Strasse 18 in 1998. Brand names: 'Artemia', 'Diana', 'Fossa', 'Hermes', 'Hermes-Elite', 'Hermes-Exquisit', 'Hermes-Imperial', 'Hermes-Record', 'Hermes-Royal', 'Hermes-Progress', 'Imperiola', 'Longlife', 'Mercury', 'Merkur', 'Polarstern', 'Populah'. Open-blade razor and safety-razor maker.

From here. Looks like it should clean up Ok, be careful near the Goldwash if you want to keep it, even metal polish will remove it. Don't know the date, sorry. I've yet to find a Solingen blade that wasn't good or better than good (if it could be brought back to life that is). The Sheffield Steel was exported and used in many places, even Solingen.

Depending on what the marketing scene was like, using "Sheffield Steel" or "grinding in Germany" or having other key phrases on the razor may have made an item more desirable. Doesn't mean that what it says is necessairly a lie, rather, it sheds some light onto the pages of history.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

Depending on what the marketing scene was like, using "Sheffield Steel" or "grinding in Germany" or having other key phrases on the razor may have made an item more desirable. Doesn't mean that what it says is necessairly a lie, rather, it sheds some light onto the pages of history.

That's an interesting way of looking at it, thanks. Can also be taken at face value though, yes?

I don't really know how to take it, and, to be honest, unless I'm trying to identify a given razor (which I rarely do), I just ignore it and hope the razor turns out to be a great shaver. I'm more interested in the performance than anything else.

I've got one. The picture below is how I recieved it. My dad found it in his garage where it must have been for about 20 years, It belonged to his father. I took it out of the box and shaved with it.
It did have a little active rust right in the middle of the gold wash though so its unfortunately gone now. I gave it a touch up hone and its its a very nice shaver.
Grant

Just for reference, other than the name it looks exactly like the Gotta Razor I have. Same blade shape, same scales, same pins.

Here is a thread on the Gotta Razors:http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ta-razors.html

Travis

Clean it up and get it honed, the Germans are famous for good steel and have no ego problems using somebody elses steel if they thought it was better. Dovo still uses Swedish steel in some of their razors.