As I wrote Larry, the early No.31 had differentiating size, and tortoise scales puts the razor to a very early stage. However soon the standard width for a 31 became about 18mm. They were produced from about 1927 to 1980.
Heljestrand question
- Thread starter RickBlaine
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The old ones you took didn't include a caliper.
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- #45
Thanks to everyone for all the help. I lucked out a member here reached out to me and I just bought my first C V Heljestrand, a MK 31 with ivory scales. I hope he doesn't mind if I post a couple of the pics he sent me
That's a nice specimen. Congratulations.
Awesome. I got one with a chip for dirt cheap. A little work and now I have one of those nice blades. Glad you found what you were looking for.
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- #48
Any idea on the production dates on the mk31
C.W. Dahlgren made a (very) few, until they closed down in 1915. Jernbolaget had a small production of very high quality from about 1914 to 1925. None of these razors had model names and varied in size between 4/8-5/8. About 1927, after that Kindal bought Heljestrand, Heljestrand started to produce the same model in different sizes. My not too far out guess is that Heljestrand took over the production and the craftsmen when Jernbolaget left the straight razor market. The first ones often had ivory scales or (very seldom) even tortoise scales. The Ivory scaled ones were made up until about 1940 when the war stopped the ivory import. The last MK No.31 were produced in 1980 when Heljestrand closed down.
Congrats!
I hope it's not one of the little ones!
I hope it's not one of the little ones!
Congrats, you got exactly what you wanted. That Mk 31 looks like its in great shape, no cracked ivory, no edge chips etc. Buying off Ebay can be a real crap shoot, i think you did the right thing using the B&B forum. Enjoy!
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So that likely places it between 1927-1940. Thanks Arne
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- #53
I couldn't agree more. This is an outstanding forum and since I joined the members here have went out of their way to help me
I have had like 6 different, and oddly half is even and half seem to be a bit more wide in the toe than in the hill as you described, and even more, I checked for odd hone wear and no signs of that. so i wonder if that's a factory default or someone just modified....
so in hsort words... yeah i know what u mean, i have both cases and nope sunno if is technique ofr factory.. but seems just odd that so many have the same geometry don't you think?
Do you have a source of that somewhere?
Because I've got a bunch of them and my own research put them at early to mid 60's.
I'd love to be off by 20 years in the right direction
The reason to why I wrote "about 1940" is that I know that I have read that the import stopped in 1939 and that the stock lasted to 1940, but I can't remember exactly where I read it. But let me put it another way: Even if Sweden managed to stay out of the war the Swedish merchant ships took heavy losses due to mines, air raids and even submarines, thousands of sailors died. So we can be pretty sure that ivory was on the bottom of the priority list when it came to prioritised import goods. In 1945 the war ended, but the import was still strictly restricted to the goods most needed like rubber, oil and rare minerals. The restrictions lasted until the 1950's. In 1947 all import of ivory was banned. So any Swedish straight razor with ivory scales can be dated to pre WWII with total certainty.Do you have a source of that somewhere?
Because I've got a bunch of them and my own research put them at early to mid 60's.
I'd love to be off by 20 years in the right direction
In short your razors are at least 20 years older than you thought. I'm sorry for lecturing.
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You're welcome
Glad I clicked back on this thread. A neat little bit of a history lesson there.
I know it is an old tread, but here is something for reference.
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