Now and then someone ask me about the history of the Heljestrand M.K. thumb notch series, so I thought that I’d post my answer as a thread.
Four or five years ago I asked myself the very same question as I had become the lucky owner of a Jernbolaget razor that pretty much was a Heljestrand M.K. No.30, but older. Since then I have done some investigating. The true story can definitely be found in the archives since every Swedish company and every Swedish citizen is documented from the cradle to the tomb and it has been so since Sweden entered the 30 year war in 1630. I spoke to an archivarian about how to find the true story. He told me that the whole story for certain could be in the Eskilstuna town archives, but that it would take a huge amount of work to dig it up and that I wouldn’t be allowed to access the records myself. So the following story is what most likely happened, but please don’t take it for The Truth.
From 1870 to 1914 C.W. Dahlgren was one of the most renowned makers of knives and straight razors in Eskilstuna. He passed away in 1914 and his company was closed down in 1915. The workforce soon found new employments in the not too large town of Eskilstuna where people knew each other and the companies cooperated for the common best. The picture below is of a Dahlgren razor I own. As you can see it is made of a blank extremely similar to the M.K. series, but without the thumb spike and the grind is extremely thin. This alas means that very few of these razors have survived the last +100 years and the very few that have are as worn as this specimen.
Jernbolaget was a rather large company by Eskilstuna measures. It made tools and every house utensil that could me made out of steel and they made straight razors. Around 1915 Jernbolaget began making the very same razors that before this had been made by Dahlgren. Jernbolaget however often put ivory scales, as thick as ordinary scales, on their version of this razor. The grind though still was just as thin as the Dahlgren version, thin like a DE blade. So I have had to accept that a few of my Jernbolaget specimens of this razor type isn’t in perfect condition. Se the picture below.
From top to bottom: 4/8, 4/8, 5/8, 6/8 all with extremely thin grind.
In the 1920’s Jernbolaget decided to stop producing straight razors, probably due to the rising competition from the DE razors, and thus needed to lay off the razor craftsmen. This was also a reason to why the Heljestrand company was hanging by a thread. Unlike Jernbolaget Heljestrand was very dependent on straight razor production. In comes a Swedish/French entrepreneur Magnus Kindal (M.K.). He started a companionship with Heljestrand where Heljestrand made razors labelled “Kindal” to be sold by Kindal’s French business. In 1925 (can be 1926) Kindal bought the Heljestrand company and started exporting Heljestrand razors marked with his initials (M.K.) on a large scale. Besides from the standard Heljestrand models 4/8 full hollow (No.2) and the 5/8 (No.4) full hollow and the No.24 4/8 quarter hollow there were four new models, that was extremely similar the razor that Jernbolaget had produced up until then:
The very early versions don’t comply to the sizes stated above. There are early 4/8 razors marked with "31". If you find a razor in tortoise scales it’s very early production. Ivory can be found on razors made up until 1939. The 30, 31 and 32 continued to be produced after 1945, but Kindal simplified the 33 by taking away the thumb notch and sold them as what often is called the 130 series. However I can't swear by that no 33 razors where made after the war.
I hope this was of some help.
Four or five years ago I asked myself the very same question as I had become the lucky owner of a Jernbolaget razor that pretty much was a Heljestrand M.K. No.30, but older. Since then I have done some investigating. The true story can definitely be found in the archives since every Swedish company and every Swedish citizen is documented from the cradle to the tomb and it has been so since Sweden entered the 30 year war in 1630. I spoke to an archivarian about how to find the true story. He told me that the whole story for certain could be in the Eskilstuna town archives, but that it would take a huge amount of work to dig it up and that I wouldn’t be allowed to access the records myself. So the following story is what most likely happened, but please don’t take it for The Truth.
From 1870 to 1914 C.W. Dahlgren was one of the most renowned makers of knives and straight razors in Eskilstuna. He passed away in 1914 and his company was closed down in 1915. The workforce soon found new employments in the not too large town of Eskilstuna where people knew each other and the companies cooperated for the common best. The picture below is of a Dahlgren razor I own. As you can see it is made of a blank extremely similar to the M.K. series, but without the thumb spike and the grind is extremely thin. This alas means that very few of these razors have survived the last +100 years and the very few that have are as worn as this specimen.
Jernbolaget was a rather large company by Eskilstuna measures. It made tools and every house utensil that could me made out of steel and they made straight razors. Around 1915 Jernbolaget began making the very same razors that before this had been made by Dahlgren. Jernbolaget however often put ivory scales, as thick as ordinary scales, on their version of this razor. The grind though still was just as thin as the Dahlgren version, thin like a DE blade. So I have had to accept that a few of my Jernbolaget specimens of this razor type isn’t in perfect condition. Se the picture below.
From top to bottom: 4/8, 4/8, 5/8, 6/8 all with extremely thin grind.
In the 1920’s Jernbolaget decided to stop producing straight razors, probably due to the rising competition from the DE razors, and thus needed to lay off the razor craftsmen. This was also a reason to why the Heljestrand company was hanging by a thread. Unlike Jernbolaget Heljestrand was very dependent on straight razor production. In comes a Swedish/French entrepreneur Magnus Kindal (M.K.). He started a companionship with Heljestrand where Heljestrand made razors labelled “Kindal” to be sold by Kindal’s French business. In 1925 (can be 1926) Kindal bought the Heljestrand company and started exporting Heljestrand razors marked with his initials (M.K.) on a large scale. Besides from the standard Heljestrand models 4/8 full hollow (No.2) and the 5/8 (No.4) full hollow and the No.24 4/8 quarter hollow there were four new models, that was extremely similar the razor that Jernbolaget had produced up until then:
- Heljestrand M.K. No.29 3/8 (mostly sold domestically)
- Heljestrand M.K. No.30 4/8 (mostly sold domestically)
- Heljestrand M.K. No.31 5/8 (very popular everywhere)
- Heljestrand M.K. No.32 6/8 (mostly exported)
- Heljestrand M.K. No.33 7/8 (mostly exported to the USA)
The very early versions don’t comply to the sizes stated above. There are early 4/8 razors marked with "31". If you find a razor in tortoise scales it’s very early production. Ivory can be found on razors made up until 1939. The 30, 31 and 32 continued to be produced after 1945, but Kindal simplified the 33 by taking away the thumb notch and sold them as what often is called the 130 series. However I can't swear by that no 33 razors where made after the war.
I hope this was of some help.
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