Thread: Please help Identify this Razor Marked Schneide Gehammert

I picked up the razor at a gunshow for $20 and wonder if it is worth it. have found only 1 example of it on the internet on e-bay for $50. I can find no other information
is has Schneide Gehammert Bester Schwenden Stahl on the blade, Wald Soligen 3083, a shell stamp, and Eingetr. Silber Stahl ERN Germania on the tang

Thanks

Should clean up well. i like Solingen blades, they make good shavers.

Looks to be a prime shaving candidate, with some skilled work. Good deal! ...get it on..... Tom

While I can't put a dollar value on it, it looks like this page may give you some good information. A web translaton page tells me that the inscription roughly translates to "Cutting edge hammered best Sweden steel."

I agree with TrilliumLT - it looks like it should clean up to make a good shaver - if the steel near the edge isn't too pitted.

Seems to be a decent price, maybe slightly more than it's worth, although it has potential.

You will need to get replacement scales, I'd go for old stock Dovo scales. If the dark spot on the toe on the mark side is pitting, it might take quite a bit to sand it out. Transparent nail polish on the etching and you're good to go. It also seems to have a slight frown and some chipping/pitting on the heel.

But with some TLC & elbow grease it should make a pretty good shaver, although I've never shaved with one. But ERN being/having been a relatively big manufacturer, I don't see why it would be a low standard blade. ERN is a relatively common Solingen brand I reckon, I see them popping up for sales regularly on various online auctions. It seems to be made of Swedish steel indeed, going by the etching/wash, don't know how 'hammering an edge' would work in reality.

Just my thoughts.

The tang is also marked ERN. It will be a great shaver when it's tuned up.

Originally Posted by Pithor

It seems to be made of Swedish steel indeed, going by the etching/wash, don't know how 'hammering an edge' would work in reality.

I'm wondering if there was a mistranslation here. I interpretted, "Cutting edge hammered best Sweden steel," as meaning, "this product is a top of the line (cutting edge) item made from the best steel forged in Sweden."

Originally Posted by Duzzy

I'm wondering if there was a mistranslation here. I interpretted, "Cutting edge hammered best Sweden steel," as meaning, "this product is a top of the line (cutting edge) item made from the best steel forged in Sweden."

Not necessarily. Germany imported vast amounts of iron ore from Sweden (one razor maker whose name escapes me for the moment even had his own mine in the Swedish iron ore fields) - up to 60% at one time, as well as steel from Sheffield (which was also made incorporating Swedish iron ore) - it is calculated that they only made about 25% of their own steel for razors. During WW2 Germany imported prodigious amounts of ore from neutral Sweden, so much so the First Lord of the Admiralty proposed a blockade.

It was a problem in WW1 too - a paper of the time reckoned that the Swedish ore Germany was importing was twice as rich in metal as the native german iron ore, so if they used Swedish ore it would not only go further but release more germans to go to the front. The proposal was the same as Chuchill's - prevent Germany from importing Swedish ore at all costs.

The witowitz Iron Works, (old Austro-Hungarian company owned by the Austrian Rothschilds) had iron works and mines in Sweden - it was cheaper than the native ore even though it had to be moved 10 times further! In the 1890s they were bringing in from 30 - 40,000 tons of ore from Sweden.

As for hammering, all hand forged steel is hammered into shape, and even drop-forged steel is hammered by a mechanical hammer of sorts. Hammering makes a better product than can be had by casting.

Regards,
Neil

Good to know, thank you for the information.

When I was a 'saucepan lid' (kid) grubbing around the streets of post Victorian East London, we often used the word schneid, or snide for anything that was fake, or counterfeit.
Some of our slang came from the Jewish immigrants who settled in the area, so it's interesting to see how schneide (cut) became schneid (fake).
I still say 'kettle' for wristwatch and 'drum' for house, the explanations of the origins of those two slang words are so convoluted that I've given up looking.