Thread: C.V. Heljestrand No. 10 with KB-extra mark

Bought this week online at a Dutch eBay site:

C.V. Heljestrand No. 10 5/8'' with round point, payed €8.50, shipping included.
State: completely dull, edge destroyed by rust (notches), but 'restoreable'.

Restored this evening:
Removed rust and polished the razor by hand. Used Autoglym Metal Polish and did the job well: tube 55ml approx. €6, you don't need a lot for this work.
Razor has seen 400, 1000, 2000 and 5000 grit Japanese SS. Honed a straight smooth edge, notches all gone.
Stropped 30 times on linen, 90 on leather.

Heljestrand is now in excellent condition and shave ready: I'll give it a try tomorrow.

Before:



After:



* There is a weird notch on the heel: from my point of view it's not broken due the unnatural shape (nice round lines)
* The razor has the same KB logo as in post: http://straightrazorpalace.com/show-...want-info.html

You did a good job on the restoration, but that blade is chipped.

As far as I know, KB Extra was the mark of Krusius Brothers, a german razor maker:



The only other place I can find selling K. B. Extra razors was Woodward & Lothrop, aka 'Woodies' - Washington D. C.s first department store:



The above is from a newspaper from 1891. Sadly, I can't find any pictures of the razors sold by Woodies to confirm the mark.

It is definitely a 'KB' in that circle, isn't it? It couldn't be 'KE' as in Kayser Ellison, steel makers and exporters?

Regards,
Neil

From the Link in the OP the mark is not K.B. Extra, but K & B Extra.




I see 2 possible K & B

"Kruse & Bahlmann, Cincinnatti. circa 1858 - 1962. This firm was founded in 1858. In 1892, they were
importers of cutlery. Located at 11-15 and 17 West Pearl Street, Cincinnatti, Ohio,
they dealt in hardware and cutlery items. Their knives were usually marked with the initials, "K&B".
They continued to do business until about 1962."

K&B (Katz and Besthoff) was a drug store chain headquartered in New Orleans. Founded in 1905

That photo is cropped from Brickbag's post, not the OPs - no wonder we couldn't see the '&' clearly!

Kruse & Bahlmann look good, especially as they imported knives, cutlery, etc, but they didn't have K&B in a circle as far as I can make out. I don't even think they made razors - their own-brand razor - 'Cutsure' - seems to have been made by Case. Some of their marks:



Katz & Besthoff were colloquially known as 'K&B' but they traded as Katz & Besthoff, not officially incorporating 'K&B' as a mark until 1977. Even then, it was in an elipse, not a circle. I'm not even sure they sold razors - anything you read about them mentions over-the-table medecines, filling out prescriptions, sodas, ice cream, tobacco, cigars, dustbins, hose-pipes, decorations, etc, etc.

I have come across a manufacturer of German Third-Reich knives though - just a listing, no pic, K & B. No other information, though.

Kirby, Beard & Co, Birmingham and Paris looked promising...turns out that they were only colloquially known as K&B, that they used their full name on safety razors and their trademark was an elephants head coming out of a crown, so another one bites the dust.

Kilborn & Bishop looked interesting - old firm from New Haven - but in the steel and drop forging business. Yet another bites the dust..

Beginning to sound like that Freddie Mercury song...!

Regards,
Neil

I've also found some "K&B" manufacturers, including Kirschbaum & Bremshey from Solingen-Ohligs. But nothing is connected with C.V. Heljestrand.
Possible, "K&B extra" means something like MK, BK and RK on C.V. Heljestrand razors?
...it's only idea, nothing confirms this.

I think the notch could be intentional because the "Heljestrand excellens" has one.
Not sure about the purpose of it.

These notches are not intentional, just broken off pieces of steel. There's no good reason whatsoever to have an intentional 'notch' right there given how thin the blade is and the practical impossibility to do so, hence the irregularity of the 'notches'.

BTW I have a heljestrand blade laying somewhere around here with a nice round 'notch'. i know exactly where that came from too - it had a crack which I turned into a 'notch' with a pair of pliers.

As far as the K&B extra stamp, I wouldn't be looking at US companies. As far as I know there were 1-2 importers of Heljestrand in the East coast and they were not cutlery stores. Note that both of these razors with the stamp are in the Netherlands.

I can't speak for the OP's razor but I know for a fact that the "Heljestrand excellens" razors had intentional notches.

Originally Posted by Baxxer

I can't speak for the OP's razor but I know for a fact that the "Heljestrand excellens" razors had intentional notches.

Like the one in the picture you posted? Can you, please, give us a little bit more details on these razors and their notches. I am very, very curious to find out more about a 'fact' like this.