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Sonnal Straight Razor

Today I shaved with my Sonnal 172 straight razor and it brought to mind comments on this site when I posted it in the Straight Razor Acquisition thread. I bought this razor from a reputable seller that I've made several purchases from. He posted it as a Japanese razor and I repeated that claim in my post. A B&B member commented that Sonnal razors are German and included info on the German company by that name.

I took some time and tried to research the origin of this straight razor. There was indeed a company manufacturing razors in Germany called Sonnal. But all I can find are safety razors. They also made DE blades. No mention of straight razors. I'm skeptical about this being the maker of my straight razor. I don't think I've seen any German straight razors that don't have a made in stamp of Germany, Solingen or Wald-Solingen. I think there are some that may say Berlin Ring or something similar. My razor has no such stamp.

The hollow ground blade profile with a single shoulder looks like a Japanese razor to me. Does anyone have information on Sonnal straight razors? It doesn't really matter, the razor is a fine performer regardless of point of origin, but I'm curious.
20241014_Sonnal172.jpg
 
Today I shaved with my Sonnal 172 straight razor and it brought to mind comments on this site when I posted it in the Straight Razor Acquisition thread. I bought this razor from a reputable seller that I've made several purchases from. He posted it as a Japanese razor and I repeated that claim in my post. A B&B member commented that Sonnal razors are German and included info on the German company by that name.

I took some time and tried to research the origin of this straight razor. There was indeed a company manufacturing razors in Germany called Sonnal. But all I can find are safety razors. They also made DE blades. No mention of straight razors. I'm skeptical about this being the maker of my straight razor. I don't think I've seen any German straight razors that don't have a made in stamp of Germany, Solingen or Wald-Solingen. I think there are some that may say Berlin Ring or something similar. My razor has no such stamp.

The hollow ground blade profile with a single shoulder looks like a Japanese razor to me. Does anyone have information on Sonnal straight razors? It doesn't really matter, the razor is a fine performer regardless of point of origin, but I'm curious.
View attachment 1960560

Made in Japan style.
 
A B&B member commented that Sonnal razors are German and included info on the German company by that name.
I think this was me.

I took some time and tried to research the origin of this straight razor. There was indeed a company manufacturing razors in Germany called Sonnal. But all I can find are safety razors. They also made DE blades. No mention of straight razors.
The main business of Hugo Pasch indeed was in producing DE blades and safety razors. That does not mean that they did not produce straight razors at all. In the trade mark registration from 1920 (I showed this in the other thread), the goods listed include “Messerschmiedewaren". This product category also includes straight razors.

Here is an example of a Sonnal razor made in Solingen:

SONNAL RAZOR made in Solingen

Many Solingen companies produced for themselves and for customers in other countries. Usually, the customer determined what was stamped on the razors. For some reasons many customers did not want to make the manufacturer or the country of origin obvious. So there exist a lot of Solingen razors, which do not show "Made in Solingen" or "Made in Germany". Many customers wanted that there own name or customer specific brand names were stamped on the tang.

From the pictures of your razor, I do not see, what makes it typical for a Japanese razor. I think it could be a Solingen razor as well.

The shape of the blade reminds me this one, which I have:
Cocodrilo_14_0006.JPG


Cocodrilo_14_0004.JPG


This "Cocodrilo" was manufactured in Solingen by "Ferd. Herberz & Cie" for the Spanish market, from where I have it.
You cannot see the manufacturer nor that it comes from Solingen.

Anyway, as written earlier, it is not my intention to convince you that your razor, which by the way is wonderful, was not made in Japan. Just to show that sometimes the determination of the origin is not easy.
 
Looks very Japanese to me. The Japanese did use some German names it seems. I have a Japanese Robuso which is usually a German razor.
Yep. Rugby and Ribbon are a couple more that come to mind but I know there are others. The German razor industry consolidated after the war while the Japanese were expanding. But, German razors were available in Japan too, so it gets a little murky. Still, German makers were pretty consistent about stamping either Solingen or Germany or both.
 
I think this was me.


The main business of Hugo Pasch indeed was in producing DE blades and safety razors. That does not mean that they did not produce straight razors at all. In the trade mark registration from 1920 (I showed this in the other thread), the goods listed include “Messerschmiedewaren". This product category also includes straight razors.

Here is an example of a Sonnal razor made in Solingen:

SONNAL RAZOR made in Solingen

Many Solingen companies produced for themselves and for customers in other countries. Usually, the customer determined what was stamped on the razors. For some reasons many customers did not want to make the manufacturer or the country of origin obvious. So there exist a lot of Solingen razors, which do not show "Made in Solingen" or "Made in Germany". Many customers wanted that there own name or customer specific brand names were stamped on the tang.

From the pictures of your razor, I do not see, what makes it typical for a Japanese razor. I think it could be a Solingen razor as well.

The shape of the blade reminds me this one, which I have:
View attachment 1960699

View attachment 1960700

This "Cocodrilo" was manufactured in Solingen by "Ferd. Herberz & Cie" for the Spanish market, from where I have it.
You cannot see the manufacturer nor that it comes from Solingen.

Anyway, as written earlier, it is not my intention to convince you that your razor, which by the way is wonderful, was not made in Japan. Just to show that sometimes the determination of the origin is not easy.
You're right - the path can get muddy. The Sonnal branded razor you linked is listed as "SONNAL SOLINGEN ZWILLINGSWERK." This is interesting because Zwillingswerk is a J A Henckels trademark. So it begs the question, who made this "Sonnal" razor?
 
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