Gottlieb Hammesfahr - broken scales salvageable ?

[Khay]

Hi everyone,

Got this little razor sometime ago - the scale was broken, but the blade is in really good condition, apart from some rust at the pivot point, under the broken scales :





I've already unpinned the razor and was able to do it without breaking the scale tips that were still pinned. Do you guys think the scales can be repaired by gluing them and repinning ? I would think they're not since they're broken at that critical point where they'll be stressed the most - the pivot, but just wondering...

Other than that anyone knows anything about this brand ? these are the tang markings :



The blade itself has faint lettering that says : "Numsen's Special"

Thanks!

 

[Nova316]

I wouldn't worry about fixing the scales just get new ones, as long as the blade isn't damage you can get new scales for it

Check out invisibleedge
They have scale replacements for ~20 so its not worth having your straight break on you sometime and cutting yourself open

 

[dakotaev]

You could definitely use CA glue to fix those, because of where the break is, you might have to redrill the hole if some glue gets in the pivot hole. Although to Nova316's point, glued scales don't really look great I'd also recommend just outright replacing them, they look to be run of the mill plastic which you could probably find something similar with current production.

 

[dakotaev]

Here is a set you could buy which match the originals quite closely, not too expensive although they're in Germany so shipping just these might be kind of costly.

http://www.revisor-solingen.de/html/ersatzteile_9.html

 

[Greybeard]

Gottlieb Hammesfahr was founded in 1684 and their first mass production factory was built in Solingen in 1804.
They were officially registered with the Solingen Chamber of Commerce in 1875 at which time they were the largest cutlery manufacturer in Solingen.
The pyramid logo was trademarked in 1898.
In 1922 they merged with Solinger Metallwarenfabrik also known as SMF and owning the subsidiary Stocker & Co. They trademarked Nirosta which stood for Nicht Rostender Stahl a form of stainless steel.
Wilkens Bremer Silberwaren bought the company in 1971 and sold the hunting knife division to Henckels in 1995.

Gottlieb Hammesfahr has always been known for very high quality knives. They have supplied edged weapons (swords, bayonets, daggers, etc.) to the German army since the 17th century and were the largest supplier of daggers to the Third Reich.
Razor manufacturing was not a large part of Hammesfahr's business and their peak production was in the 1920s and 1930s. Their razors seem to get rave reviews from those who own them.

There are other razor manufacturers with Hammesfahr in the name but they are not related.

Nunsen's Special was a brand of Nunsen Bros. who were importers and manufacturers of cutlery, razors, knives and silverware. I don't know much more about them.

 

[Khay]

Here is a set you could buy which match the originals quite closely, not too expensive although they're in Germany so shipping just these might be kind of costly.

http://www.revisor-solingen.de/html/ersatzteile_9.html

Thanks Evan. Due to work, I'm currently living in Europe, so I guess if I get those, shipping shouldn't be expensive (one would hope)...

 

[Khay]

Gottlieb Hammesfahr was founded in 1684 and their first mass production factory was built in Solingen in 1804.
They were officially registered with the Solingen Chamber of Commerce in 1875 at which time they were the largest cutlery manufacturer in Solingen.
The pyramid logo was trademarked in 1898.
In 1922 they merged with Solinger Metallwarenfabrik also known as SMF and owning the subsidiary Stocker & Co. They trademarked Nirosta which stood for Nicht Rostender Stahl a form of stainless steel.
Wilkens Bremer Silberwaren bought the company in 1971 and sold the hunting knife division to Henckels in 1995.

Gottlieb Hammesfahr has always been known for very high quality knives. They have supplied edged weapons (swords, bayonets, daggers, etc.) to the German army since the 17th century and were the largest supplier of daggers to the Third Reich.
Razor manufacturing was not a large part of Hammesfahr's business and their peak production was in the 1920s and 1930s. Their razors seem to get rave reviews from those who own them.

There are other razor manufacturers with Hammesfahr in the name but they are not related.

Nunsen's Special was a brand of Nunsen Bros. who were importers and manufacturers of cutlery, razors, knives and silverware. I don't know much more about them.

Wow, a lot of history there - thanks Greybeard !

 

[Nova316]

http://www.theinvisibleedge.co.uk/razorscalesandpinkits.html

I think if you get the solid ebony scales it'd look very close

 

[Khay]

Actually, it'd probably look even better since the original ones are just plastic and those seem really nice ebony wood

Thanks for the heads up.

http://www.theinvisibleedge.co.uk/razorscalesandpinkits.html

I think if you get the solid ebony scales it'd look very close

 

[Khay]

Well, after seeing so many great tutorials on making scales, last of which was Legion's DIY Acrylic scales I ended up deciding to give it a go. The only wood I could get from a "regular" store was pine, so I got some 5mm thick piece of it and went to work...

Instead of reproducing the original scales I decided to do a different design that I really liked, from a Thiers Issard model that I found on a pdf template from a french forum - I followed Legion's tutorial of using double sided tape to glue two pieces together, then used a bit more tape to glue the cut paper template on top (didn't want to use glue since it would probably stain the wood). Used a small hand saw to cut it out, then my Dremel with a sanding disk to get to the right shape, a little bit more hand sanding and since pine is a soft wood, it wasn't too hard to get to the final shape.

The boring part was having to thin the two pieces down since they were 5mm thick - fortunately I had the help of a friend who held down my power sander upside down while I went at it until they were the desired thickness.

The black wedge was made with a piece of the original broken scales. I glued it together with epoxy, them sanded it nearly down to the wood with the dremel and then by hand. The wood was varnished and today I finally pinned it (got some nickel silver stock and washers from the bay).

Here is the outcome - which I have to thank to Legion and many others who shared the information here and on youtube that made me avoid a number of pitfalls and get to this result on my first rescale/pinning

 

[Doc226]

Very, very nice.

 

[ladykate]

Sweet rebuild on the scales. Nice razor, too. It's all good!

 

[jred]

You make that pine look good!

 

[mdunn]

Wow! That pine looks a million bucks

 

[squirrelmaster]

Very Nice

 

[Khay]

Thanks guys!

I'd never pinned a razor before so I was wondering if I was going to end up hammering the scales by mistake and cracking them after the work of making them (lol).

I watched these videos on youtube and they were quite helpful :

Lewis Razors Pinning video


Pinning 101 part 1

Pinning 101 part 2


Now I'll have to hone it and shave with it

 

[reddwarf]

You have a talent in making scales! You did a wonderfull job on this.
And the whole process you describe (including the sources you cite to help you out) fits my procedure to the T

I just want to add that the video from Lewis Razors on how to make scales with minimal amount of tools helped me a lot and got me started.