So how many straight razor manufacturers ever existed?

[K.T.]

There seems to be an endless number of brands everywhere you look. I'm talking mostly about vintage models.

I'm no expert on straights, so I'm always pleased and surprised when I see a nice razor come up from a maker that I've never heard of before. For example, I recently picked up a nice Estas razor. It's a very well made quality razor but I've never heard of it before and I can find next to nothing on it on the web.

Was the business model something like how store brands are produced: a few maker of blades who sell them OEM to companies, maybe with some proprietary specs and stamping, who then slap on their own scales and brand name? That would explain why there are so many varieties. I can't imagine every one of these companies manufacturing their own blades.

It seems DE razor makers, with their own proprietary tooling, designs, patents, etc. are far fewer in number.

K.T.

 

[TstebinsB]

There were distributors who got razors from Europe and branded them for US sales but there were many companies who made their own razors. The thing is that as straight razors became less viable as a business, smaller firms were either bought up by bigger ones or ended their straight razor sales altogether.

 

[huracan]

Here is one list, and here another (the second is just Solingen brands ).


The list is quite extensive, there are a few guys around here that seem to have at least one of each

 

[johnmrson]

I don't know about the actual numbers but I'd imagine that there were alot more brands than actual manufacturers. One manufacturer probably stamped out razors for numbers brands.

 

[Sydney Guy]

There were a lot of manufacturers in every centre of cutlery production, because until the 20th century it was a labour-intensive, small-scale process where the large manufacturer didn't possess huge cost advantages over the little guy. So any craftsman who saved a few $ could set up in business for himself and many did, which is how places like Sheffield, Solingen and Mora became cutlery centres.

Note the word cutlery - for most makers razors were just one of a broad range of products including pocket and hunting knives, but the bulk of their output was kitchen knives and table cutlery. It's also true that many of the razors and knives were marked with "house brands" for distributors, department stores. mail order houses, etc.

 

[DavyRay]

So true. I have several straight razors marked "Made in Germany" with the name of a hardware store in Chicago (or elsewhere) as the brand. Private labeling was obviously very common.