Thread: Sanssouci razor?

My Sanssouci razor finally came in after sitting in customs for about a week. I had been a little anxious about these razors after seeing discussions here and over on B&B. Mine measures 13/16, hollow ground with the white scales. I still don't know if these are newly ground blanks, NOS, vintage or whatever. The seller said they were from the 70's, but I'm not sure exactly what that means. It seems to be a quality blade with tight pins, centers well between the scales. There are no jimps and there is a gold wash on the tang and spine. So far my only complaint is that the goldwash seems to be really thin on the tang. A bit of the wash had been scratched off in the pivot area because of opening and closing the blade. The description said shave ready, but really wasn't quite there. After doing a little work on it last night, I shaved with it this morning and was very pleasantly surprised. I came away with a very smooth shave with no pull or dragging. The blade has a nice weight to it, and seems to be equal to any other razor I have (at least after one shave.) All in all I am satisfied and not a bad price.

As I understand it, these are in fact a vintage German brand.

I have one of the vintage Sanssouci razors from the early 1900s. The only thing it needed was honing and the results were much more than satisfactory. I know nothing about the newer or NOS razors and was surprised to see them as before the ones showed up on eBay I had only seen 3 of the vintage. If the new/NOS are as good as the vintage I see no problem.

If you Google 'Sanssouci' you will discover that Sanssouci is the name of a palace near Berlin in Germany built for Frederick the Great around 1745 - 1747 as a private residence to get away from the social life and if memory serves to get away from his wife too, it was a place to relax. Sanssouci in French means 'without concerns', 'without worries', 'care free'. Today the palace is a tourist attraction.

Originally Posted by DoughBoy68

Sanssouci is the name of a palace near Berlin in Germany built for Frederick the Great around 1745 - 1747 as a private residence to get away from the social life and if memory serves to get away from his wife too, it was a place to relax. Sanssouci in French means 'without concerns', 'without worries', 'care free'. Today the palace is a tourist attraction.

Yes, I have been there a couple of times, and it is very beautiful. A relaxing stroll through Sanssouci Park is definitely a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, if you're in the Berlin/Potsdam area.

Folks, I have dealt with Manfred for several years. He is an honest man and does not misrepresent his products. I have 2 of
the Sanssouci razors and they are beautiful Solingen blades. I have no issue with the plausibility of how the blades were sourced and do believe they were made in the 70's. Manfred also sells these razors and others on his website
manyrazor - Home
This being said I also agree with the cautions to brand new buyers from our members to be excellent advice. As you acquire knowledge and expertise you will become more comfortable with your selections and it always pays to ask here if you do
have doubts. A newbie can find great shaving razors in our classifieds and/or just contact Don at Straight Razor Designs
to be directed to a great razor for you based on the questions Don will ask you.

Originally Posted by Zeus

My Sanssouci razor finally came in after sitting in customs for about a week. I had been a little anxious about these razors after seeing discussions here and over on B&B. Mine measures 13/16, hollow ground with the white scales. I still don't know if these are newly ground blanks, NOS, vintage or whatever. The seller said they were from the 70's, but I'm not sure exactly what that means. It seems to be a quality blade with tight pins, centers well between the scales. There are no jimps and there is a gold wash on the tang and spine. So far my only complaint is that the goldwash seems to be really thin on the tang. A bit of the wash had been scratched off in the pivot area because of opening and closing the blade. The description said shave ready, but really wasn't quite there. After doing a little work on it last night, I shaved with it this morning and was very pleasantly surprised. I came away with a very smooth shave with no pull or dragging. The blade has a nice weight to it, and seems to be equal to any other razor I have (at least after one shave.) All in all I am satisfied and not a bad price.

Just wondering what you had to do to get it shave ready. I'm 100% noob and mine should be arriving any day now. I have another blade that has been properly honed arriving anytime as well. Did some stropping clean it up and make it shave ready?

Originally Posted by HogtownHank

Just wondering what you had to do to get it shave ready. I'm 100% noob and mine should be arriving any day now. I have another blade that has been properly honed arriving anytime as well. Did some stropping clean it up and make it shave ready?

Well I didn't shave with it right away, I checked the razor with the HHT and half the blade did not cut the hair so I did some touch up on a Swaty hone, maybe 70 laps on a finishing hone, then stropped. Then this morning I got a good shave. I guess I could have shaved with it as is, but I felt it needed a little work, but it didn't take long. Good luck and stay with it!

Originally Posted by Zeus

Well I didn't shave with it right away, I checked the razor with the HHT and half the blade did not cut the hair so I did some touch up on a Swaty hone, maybe 70 laps on a finishing hone, then stropped. Then this morning I got a good shave. I guess I could have shaved with it as is, but I felt it needed a little work, but it didn't take long. Good luck and stay with it!

Ah! Ok.

This leads me to another question. I have no hone. In your much more experienced opinion, would you recommend I send it off to get rehoned, or do you think a few runs on a pasted strop + leather strop would do the trick? (I know you can't REALLY tell without testing the blade).