Quote Originally Posted by Pithor View Post
Then there's a bit of a dilemma, as there will inevitably get some gunk/lather/water in the frame, inducing rust. I don't use my F.W. Söderén (it came with four blades) at the moment because I busted the bakelite scales, but I have shaved with it ten to twenty times and haven't noticed any sort of expansion of the slot whatsoever. Dead tight.

But what you're saying does seem to make sense. There's a small dent on both sides on top of the blades that click in to a narrowing within the slot [EDIT] I checked again and there is no such thing. This is present on my E.A. Berg of the same type, I confused the two[EDIT], as well as some notches, so it's not a flat metal surface merely being held by a tightened slot, but still something that might be moveable.

How did you determine that the frames are softer than the blades? There was no worrying about screwing up the blade's temper when making the frame, so they could have hardened it to the same level as the blades, right?

I've had quite a few Heljestrands passing by and can't recall seeing the "dent" you metion on those, but I do have had a couple where the blade have been so loose it have fallen out of the frame There might of course be different solutions to thes, I can only speak of the ones I've handled.

For the softness of the frame from what I have read/heard the frames were not hardened, only the blades, you can also see in some that the frame/spine are pretty beat up with dings and scratches that wouldn't occure if it was hardened like the blade. I've also bendt a frame with my hands (no blade in) and I'm neither Uri Geller or The Incredible Hulk