This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
New subscribers welcome!
Please visit our wiki, which is always and forever a work in progress.
https://gem.wetshaving.social/ - a nice modern interface
https://old.wetshaving.social/ - designed to look like old.reddit.com
Our sister Mastodon instance is https://wetshaving.social/.
Be Respectful. Do not bully, flame, or harass others.
Malicious comments are not allowed but heated discussion and salty banter is okay.
Low effort replies and complaints about content will be removed.
Mail Calls, Simple Questions, and SOTD posts belong in the recurring weekly threads.
Posts must have sufficient content to generate a meaningful discussion.
Images, links, or videos must include additional text that summarizes the topic.
Use [First Impressions] in the title if your experience with the product is limited.
Use the [Review] in the title if you can provide comprehensive details with enough familiarity to answer follow-up questions.
Disclose how the product being reviewed was acquired (e.g., PIF, loan, or purchase). If the product was provided to you directly by the maker or vendor free of charge or at a discount, you must disclose this fact even if the item will later be returned to the maker or vendor.
Vendors are to keep marketing within the biweekly Deals/New Products threads.
Non-vendors may post topics about products if it will foster a compelling discussion.
Do not solicit donations or share fundraisers without mod approval.
All NSFW/L content must request mod approval and be flaired appropriately.
Non-shaving related NSFW/L content is not allowed.
Just had this 7 day set land today. Very minor rust on the tangs, otherwise in great shape. They all have yet to ever be honed.
KOBAR was a brand belonging to Friedrich Emde (as was the trademark Kiebitz). The company changed name to Gebrüder Emde and later EMDE. They produced razors between 1902 and 1939.
Pardon my ignorance but why would you need a razor for each day of the week?
No pardon needed! The thought behind the 7 day is to greatly increase the time between honing. As well as a myth behind high carbon steel and that it needs to "rest" between uses. This is only just a myth, however.
Very cool. Where are you getting the history of straight razors? Is there a book I can buy?
Also, I finally found a 6/8 Puma. Not a High Class, though. Still on the hunt for one of those.
Where are you getting the history of straight razors? Is there a book I can buy?
Just from digging around on the internet. I wish had a book that had all this info. I did speak with a gentleman once that had a pretty detailed book. It might have just been for Sheffield razors, though. I'll have to reach back out to him and find out more about it.
I finally found a 6/8 Puma
Oh fantastic! I still think about that 5/8 one from time to time. I still intend to grab another one at some point. I'll be curious to hear how it treats you!
That 5/8 was very nice. I prefer larger razors, though, and there are 6/8 and 7/8 High Class Pumas out there. The one I just bought is a Puma 89. Cream colored scales. You've seen a bunch of them. It hit eBay at a good price, so I bought it. The two Erns that I bought are in better shape than I thought. The 7/8 has some nice spine work. I'm going to sharpen it (for a video), then use it for a bit, then think about what can be done. Other than knowing who Ern was, I don't know how to date or even identify these razors.
Here's some information I found about the ERNs:
Carl Friedrich Ern founded razor company in 1873 in Wald-Solingen and became biggest razors maker with its famous Hexe machine with permit to ground both sides of razor blade
The company was founded in 1873, registrated December, 4 1874 and first located in Solingen-Wald from 1922 and at Kanalstrasse 43 in 1939. The Ern family were razor-grinders and Carl Friedrich took over his fathers company. As many of Solingen grinders, thes honed razors for other companies to. E.g. In 1860 Nathaniel Ern only ground and honed razors for Henckels, but soon began to make their own razors. Nathaniel taught his son Carl to do the job - at that time there were 20 workers and seven masters. Singing and talking during work were forbidden, drinking never allowed. The company moved to Wald (to Wittekulle), an outlying district of Solingen, in 1876.
In 1893 they introduced the 'Hexe' machine (double wheel hollow grinder) to hollow-grind razors, said to be a benefit to all razor makers.
The eagle and snake was used from 1874 by C. Friedrich ERN & Co. until it was superseded in 1896 with the more familiar crown and sword
C. Friedrich Ern Solingen-Wald: Kanalstrasse 43 in 1939. Brand names: 'America Del Sur' (1913), 'Army and Navy' (1899), 'Ator' (1903), 'A.V. Humboldt' (1920s?), 'Balance Perfecto' (1921), 'Bank' (1917), 'Bar' (1908), 'Barbersone' (1928?), 'Barbers Pet'(1898), 'Barden' (1909), 'Bessimar', 'Borden' (1912), 'Bur' (1910), 'Crown and Sword' (1920), 'Cuba' (1913), 'Electro Taban Magnetic' (1907), 'Enwer' (1908), 'Ern' (1896, 1917 and 1923), 'Ern 1166' (1922), 'Ern A-Z' (1910), 'Ern-Blaauwappen', 'Ernette' (1932?), 'Ern-Goldwappen', 'Ern-Grünwappen', 'Ern Junior' (1913), 'Ernovo', 'Ern-Silberwappen', 'Es-Ex Razor' (1912), 'Farwood' (1914), 'Flaggen' (1913), 'Generale Ameglio' (1913), 'Gong Razor' Extra Hollow Ground' (1912), 'Janissaire' (1914), 'Junk', 'Justrite' (1907), 'Ka Ci Be' (1914), 'King George' (1910), 'Knight Commander of the Bath' (1914), 'Kuroki' (1905), 'Laborista', 'Le Mondain' (1907), 'Lerne, Leiste...' (1921), 'Liliput' (1914), 'Little Dorrit' (1907), 'Master of Arts' (1914), 'Master of Science' (1914), 'Mickiewicz' (1912), 'Moustafa Kemal Pascha' (1923), 'Niazi' (1908), 'Nodzu' (1905), 'Oyama' (1905), 'Palmerston' (1908), 'Peer', 'Persian' (1923), 'Platypus' (1899), 'Primus' (1903), 'Protector' (1897), 'Püt' (1913), 'Raccoon', 'Roosevelt' (1907), 'Roosevelt Razor' (1914), 'Sim-Mart', 'Ski' (1910), 'Strandbad' (1916), 'Suneo', 'The Boss Reg.' (1925), 'The Crown and Sword Razor' (1908), 'The Kid', 'The Michaelin' (1914), 'The Mussel Razor' (1913), 'Turban' (1923), 'Waldern' (1911), 'Waldoo' (1908), 'Wee Macgreggor', 'Zeibek' (1914), 'Zepp.' (1910). Open-blade razor maker.
C.R. Ern Sohn Nachf. Solingen-Weyer in 1925. Open-blade razor maker.
Friedrich Ern & Co. Solingen-Weyer: Weyerstrasse 196 in 1939. Brand names: 'Commodus' (1911), 'Damokles' (1911), 'Doppeladler', 'Ern & Cie' (1908/9), 'Ern & Co.' (1908), 'Friedrich Ern & Co. Weyer-Solingen' (1924), 'Kobold' (1918), 'Newton' (1910), 'Ost' (1907), 'Sprock' (1895), 'The Sir Isaac Newton' (1911), 'Vim' (1907), 'Weltbrand' (1916). Open-blade razor maker.
Thank you!! I'll see what I can do to identify those two razors.
Hope it helps, my friend! If you want to send me more detailed pics, I can dig further.
Very nice set!
Dang, those are super cool. Neat that you're the first to get a shot at honing them.
Neat that you’re the first to get a shot at honing them
I'm pretty fond of that part myself!
I got one of them straight razors with the disposable blade holders. How do you practice without cutting yourself ? Im okay with double-sided safety razor holders. And I use the Gillete 5-blade razors as well.
The problem is, the Gillete is for certain days when I am in a hurry and I will put up with the micro-cuts that I burn out with alcohol. It burns like hell and numbs for half a day before the itching starts :-(
Safety razor is the best result for me. So what I do is I use my hair-trimmer to get as close to a buzzcut. Then lather shave rinse repeat about 2 or 3 times. Almost never cut myself and rarely happens.
But the straight razor I cut myself the moment I placed the blade on my cheek. I tried different holding angles but it always ends up with several cuts. I dunno I watched a ton of YT videos on this but nothing seems to be working. What do I do for practice to get better ?
Try starting with the razor flat against your skin, then increase the angle (with no pressure!) until the razor starts catching the lather. That's the angle you want to keep. Start on the cheeks - where everything is flat, and only go to more demanding areas once you are comfortable on the cheeks with the grain.
I would recommend starting out just going with the grain on your cheeks. You need only extremely light pressure. Start your downward motion before making contact with your skin, and lift off before stopping. If you're regularly cutting yourself and it's not just the point doing it, you could be coming to a stop on your skin, and even the slightest sideways movement will open you up. Good luck!