New Razors!!!

[carlmaloschneider]

My Nordic beauties have arrived.

A J A Hellberg in celluloid (plastic??) scales, a Frameback Hellberg and a Jernbolaget.

The Hellberg in celluloid scales is a nice little 9/16, shoulderless, with a Spanish toe; bottom jimps. It has a smile. This is going to be a razor where one uses the belly of the razor; not the heel at all. The scales are in excellent condition; I gave them a little scrub with some toothpaste, and it's all the care it needs right now. I'll tell you how it goes shaving tomorrow on the SOTD thread.
The Hellberg Frameback is very interesting, pretty much a 6/8. It's in better shape than I hoped, I think. That's going to polish up really nicely. The frame seems to be brass, possibly. I'm going to polish it with wet and dry and see if it IS brass below the plating. If it is, it'll look really cool with the frame taken all the way back to the brass. I've seen some framebacks like this and they look cool. The scales on that one are really nice; maybe horn? They're in really nice condition. I think this one will polish up really nicely without needed to be unpinned (I've not unpinned a razor yet). It's got a stumpy little tail, which suggests to me some age? I note it has no country of manufacture, so based on my limited knowledge could be before 1891 (Madrid Agreement)??? I think maybe this razor will give my Klas Törnblom a run for its money. This is going to be a really interesting razor to use, the little stumpy tail makes it feel a little odd in my hand, one could easily loose control of this razor.

The Jernbolaget is VERY interesting too; 13/16 I'd say. Bit of a French sounding name, but I know it's Swedish?? I'm going to dispense with my 'Save the Patina' campaign on this one, for sure. In fact, if ANY of my razors needed to be unpinned this one does. But those scales certainly do look original, and I've not seen scales like that, and I don't want to wreck them. I reckon maybe I could punch out the pin with a nail? Has anyone any idea what those scales are? I WAS thinking wood, but now I'm thinking some sort of 'fiberboard'. I hope they're not asbestos; you never know. I'm not sure what to do with this one. The scales are interesting but very plain. It really needs unpinning to get to the rust in the pivot. Maybe this is the first of my buys that I send out for a full restore? Then again this would also look good in some nice vintage blue celluloid or plastic scales from the Revisor site...

That now makes seven razors for me. The Hellberg with cream scales goes into rotation tomorrow, but thereafter reserved for Sunday. The other two will see some polishing and honing first. I've got a nice new three razor case from Classic Shaving waiting to accommodate my Framebacks (I've also got a Klas Törnblom).

Any info on the razors would be greatly appreciated, esop the date of the Hellberg with black scales...

[Havachat45]

Nice score, Carl.
I like the framebacks - I have a couple and they shave very nicely - bugger to strop though due to the thin tang.
If I can do anything for you just PM me

[carlmaloschneider]

Nice score, Carl.
I like the framebacks - I have a couple and they shave very nicely - bugger to strop though due to the thin tang.
If I can do anything for you just PM me

Ta, very nice of you. The back lawn needs a mow and we're out of milk, also can you pick up some Cooper's stout while you're there? Oh, the dogs need feeding too... :-)

Ohhhhhh, you meant with the RAZORS! Might just do that!
BTW, the Hellberg in cream scales isn't shoulder less at all, is it!

[Mvcrash]

Nice grab Carl. If you need anything call Havachat45, he seems to be willing...

[Zephyr]

You got yourself some pretty nice razor there Carl, congrats!

I know a little bit about these, so I'll try to help with what I can.

They are, as you assume, all swedish, made in Eskilstuna, the scales on the Hellberg frameback is most likely horn, you should be able to se some fine lines/striations on them. IIRC these were made from late 1800's into 1920-30's.
The frame on the ones I have seen have been made of brass, so does the ones on yours look like, so taping the spine when honing these are crucial (this goes for both the framebacks)
When these were produced they also made "replacement spines" but finding one today is alsmost like winning the lottery

The scales on the Jernbolaget I believe is leather, I've had a couple passing my workbench, they are not specially fun to unpin
If you decide to do so don't try knocking the pin out, it will rip the scales, what I have done is that I started with a 0,8mm (1/32") drillbit taking it very slow, just a little bit at the time to prevent heat build up (you don't want to use water to cool these scales) then working my way gradually up until the whole pin is drilled out.

[carlmaloschneider]

Nice grab Carl. If you need anything call Havachat45, he seems to be willing...

Yeah, well, he hasn't started on the lawn yet and I'm reduced to drinking my coffee without milk...

[carlmaloschneider]

...

Excellent, thanks for the reply! I've already taken to the Hellberg frameback with 800 grit wet and dry; and after only an hour it's looking really nice. I took the frame off and polished it up with the wet and dry and it's also come up nice and brassy looking. Thanks for the advice re tape; I always use tape anyway :-)

Leather scales! Hmmm. Could be, too. Wow, how unique. Well, I guess I'll have to sand around the pivot, no way I'm ever to be trusted with a small drill bit, it'd end in tears. I tried some bees wax on the horn and the leather scales and they came up nice. I have a solid block of the wax that I used.

Thanks again for the advice!

[EDIT] I'll be PM'ing you, Havachat, I think given what Zephyr has said working on that one may be beyond me :-)

[IamSt8ght]

All are very nice. I really like that Hellberg. It is going to be beautiful once you are done with it. Have fun with them.

[sharptonn]

I am very happy to see you get the 2 framebacks! You shall henceforth install the DePews upon the wall, where it belongs! (kidding!)
You will be amazed at how easily honed as well as the awesome effectiveness of those framebacks! That French one may be gutta percha. Don't get it wet! Good work!

[Theseus]

Awesome razors. Love the frame backs.

So when are you going to start on your second seven day set.