Thread: My Grandfather's Johan Engstrom Frameback

Last weekend, while I was back home visiting my parents, my mom gave my several of my grandfather's DE razors and a straight. It is a Johan Engstrom 5/8 Frameback. After scouring the interwebz and the wiki on this site, I think that it might be a JE 1874 model. I am very new to the world of straight razors and have not been able to find much info on Engstrom blades. Are they good quality? Any info about this razor would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!


SAM_0338 by jimmymac483, on Flickr


SAM_0346 by jimmymac483, on Flickr

Very nice heirloom to have.

Are they of good quality... commonly yes, especially
when you consider the age and time of manufacturing.

The frame-back design melds very expensive steel
for the blade and common steel for the frame. It also
is a good way to get a thin blade without hollow
grinding.

The fact that this blade has "sweden" on it pegs
the maximum age so this would have been made
in the golden age of razors and steel.

Clean it up for sanitary reasons with something like 2000grit 3M
Wet and Dry paper then hone it up and see how it shaves.

Or leave it as it is -- do apply a thin layer of oil to help
preserve the steel and keep it from rusting.

Yep, razors from Eskilstuna are usually good razors.

This one is an inheritance, so, take care of it, and kleen it carefully...

The Swedish steel is one of the best in Europe. Many German and French knife/razor makers used Swedish steel and learned from the Swedish Masters.
The company was founded in 1874 by Johan Engström.
In 1918 the company was renamed to Swedish Steel Forging Co.(Svenska Stalsmides Aktieb or SSA).

Thanks for all of the info guys! I will definitely cherish this as my favorite blade no matter how large my collection gets. I am still trying to decide if I want to shave with it. I would love to have it usable but I am no where near experienced enough to hone it myself. The thought of trusting it with the USPS is kind of scary.

Overnite it(medium to large box), to one of the guy's here with the experience to hone it.

Originally Posted by manah

The Swedish steel is one of the best in Europe. Many German and French knife/razor makers used Swedish steel and learned from the Swedish Masters.
The company was founded in 1874 by Johan Engström.
In 1918 the company was renamed to Swedish Steel Forging Co.(Svenska Stalsmides Aktieb or SSA).

I've got several SSA's and love the shaves from them as well as the Engstrom's but never knew the history of the SSA razors. Thanks Manah

Originally Posted by JimmyMac483

Last weekend, while I was back home visiting my parents, my mom gave my several of my grandfather's DE razors and a straight. It is a Johan Engstrom 5/8 Frameback. After scouring the interwebz and the wiki on this site, I think that it might be a JE 1874 model. I am very new to the world of straight razors and have not been able to find much info on Engstrom blades. Are they good quality? Any info about this razor would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!


SAM_0338 by jimmymac483, on Flickr


SAM_0346 by jimmymac483, on Flickr

What DEs did you obtain that were your grandfathers?

Originally Posted by manah

The Swedish steel is one of the best in Europe. Many German and French knife/razor makers used Swedish steel and learned from the Swedish Masters.
The company was founded in 1874 by Johan Engström.
In 1918 the company was renamed to Swedish Steel Forging Co.(Svenska Stalsmides Aktieb or SSA).

Strangely enough, Alex, Johan Engstrom was taught by a swedish knife-maker at the age of 13 then travelled to learn his trade in Russia, England and Solingen! At one point he worked for a year at the Geo. Wostenholm factory in Sheffield.

The history of SSA seems a bit clouded by the mists of time. As far as I know, Johan Engstrom's firm was experiencing troubles in 1914, he died in 1915 and his factory ceased all operations by 1917. The export boom that Sweden experienced leading up to and including the beginning of WW1 soon turned to a time of major depression and ruin, and a lot of venture-capitalists bought-up ruined businesses for nominal sums - I expect that this is how SSA acquired the Johan Engstrom factory and plant in 1918 - as far as I know they always traded under their own name but represented in the US by sole agents Scandinavian Western Importing Co Ltd, 110 Broad Street, NY (but represented by Eric Mellgren between 1918 - 1920 according to Uniclectica) and never used the Johan Engstrom trademark.



Regards,
Neil