Walter Busch Sohn Solingen cutlery

[Jake]

Many of you are likely familiar with the Walbusch adjustable slant razor – rarely seen and highly regarded. The B5 is pictured here. Here’s a some background on this esteemed company and it’s history comes alive with one of my recent acquisitions.

Walter Busch founded a mail order company for high-quality Solingen cutlery in 1934 under the name Walter Busch Sohn. In the 1950s the company specialized in the sales of electrical appliances and household articles, including electric razors. In 1959, Walbusch introduced non-woven Nyltest shirts in their catalog, which was the beginning of the company’s transition to the textile trade. In 1963 the Walbusch shirt with the collar without a button followed. This shirt, which was patented because of its particular cut on the collar, is still regarded as the hallmark of this company.

I acquired a version of the Walbusch B5 a few years ago.

Recently I found this mail order catalog, published back in the days when cutlery and razors were the specialties sold by the Busch Sohn company. The traveler set is one I own and the razor is right out of the catalog. No apparent date is listed, but I’d say this is post-WWII. Anyone know for sure?

My razor is this one.

Here's a cool display set I wish I had found.

And the one I did locate.

Great to find the entire story or provenance of a vintage razor set.

 

[efsk]

Jake
the catalogue lists a price in RM, Reichsmark. That is a currency that got replaced by the DM, Deutschmark, in june 1948.
Your cream bakelite razor is one I own too, in cream and brown. It is the model Merkur sold as B3 and was also sold under the Eros and Zorro brandnames, probably more.
Nice catalogue, and a very pretty B5. High on my wishlist, the B5.

 

[Jake]

Apparently this catalog and Travel Marshal set is from 1941. War years!

 

[Chronarch]

Very...very nice Jake. Hoping you can shed some light on my Walter Busch travel set. It’s almost exactly the same as yours but has a metal top cap. The handle threads through the bottom plate into the cap (Darwinesque). Never sreen another one like it. Razor handle bottom and container lids are both branded Walter Busch Sohn.

 

[Quaternion]

It’s almost exactly the same as yours but has a metal top cap. The handle threads through the bottom plate into the cap (Darwinesque). Never sreen another one like it. Razor handle bottom and container lids are both branded Walter Busch Sohn.

That's not the original top cap, maybe the original top cap broke and this was someone's solution to continue to shave with it.
But you won't have the automatic slanted cut with this metal cap, I think you call the original top cap design "humpback slant" in the English-speaking razor world.

 

[Chronarch]

That's not the original top cap, maybe the original top cap broke and this was someone's solution to continue to shave with it.
But you won't have the automatic slanted cut with this metal cap, I think you call the original top cap design "humpback slant" in the English-speaking razor world.

Could be right. I’ll take a closer look tonight and grab some more pics. They did a very nice job if so.

 

[Chronarch]

That's not the original top cap, maybe the original top cap broke and this was someone's solution to continue to shave with it.
But you won't have the automatic slanted cut with this metal cap, I think you call the original top cap design "humpback slant" in the English-speaking razor world.

Took a closer look. I actually received it from Germany a month or so ago and it sat in a box with a bunch of other razors. Ha. You are correct. This is not the right cap. It fits perfectly and would work just fine but no humpback to guide the shave. Good thing I do have an unbranded Walbsusch that I can tuxedo right in and this set was only $20. Now to find a cream colored Walbusch top cap. Mission impossible? Yes. More luck finding a new razor. Or stick with the black and white set.

 

[Jake]

Took a closer look. I actually received it from Germany a month or so ago and it sat in a box with a bunch of other razors. Ha. You are correct. This is not the right cap. It fits perfectly and would work just fine but no humpback to guide the shave. Good thing I do have an unbranded Walbsusch that I can tuxedo right in and this set was only $20. Now to find a cream colored Walbusch top cap. Mission impossible? Yes. More luck finding a new razor. Or stick with the black and white set.

Nice set. Glad to see there are others still in existence. If from 1941, that makes the set 76 years old!

 

[efsk]

Missing the brushcontainer, haven't tried the Walter Busch shavingstick:

Same razor in brown bakelite:

In ivory-colored bakelite in a very nice box:

 

[BigJ]

TERRIFIC THREAD! Thanks for the history (and congrats on a great razor)!

 

[Deadman]

Wow great picture thanks much for posting.

 

[Jake]

From my German friend @Quaternion comes a decent translation of several of the catalog pages. He was also the person who pointed out the ebay.de auction for the catalog itself.

"A good old friend -- tried and trusted hundreds of thousands of times! Those who use it, will recommend it.

Its features:
Flat cap, slanted blade = automatic smooth slanting, drawing cut
Elastic tension of the blade = easy, effortless shaving

Nr. 200, price: 3 Reichsmark

Alas! Previously shaving has been quite unpleasant! -- not surprising since beard thickness and skin sensitivity are different with every man.

The new Flexi-razor knows no "impossible." It's adjustable from 0 to 7, exactly matching your individual beard thickness and skin sensitivity.

Weighty metal-design, you feel the heft. Particularly suited for the thinnest blades.

Nr. 220, price: 7,65 Reichsmark

Only on rare occasions you will find such a perfect fusion of elegance and functionality as with this set. This set contains everything needed for quality shaving.

Shaving-set with the Walbusch razor (page 4), Nr. 292, price: 9,70 Reichsmark

Shaving-set with the Flexi razor (page 5), Nr. 295, price: 13 Reichsmark

There's much more in the catalog, but you get an idea of how they were promoting/marketing this particular shaver and shaving set. In 1941, around the time of this catalog, 1 RM was worth around $2.50. So the Flexi was selling for over $30! Pretty pricey back then. And rarely seen around these parts today!

 

[Oel]

As far as I know the Walbusch B 5 was made by Merkur, too.

Here is an old discussion about that razor in a german wetshaver forum:

Walbusch Hobel

They discuss how the bottom knob of the Walbusch fits on the Merkur Progress and vice versa.

It can surely be sayed that Merkur rebranded their razors for Hoffritz, Pomco, Lunawerk, Coles, Brumml, Malteser, Zwilling and Walbusch.

 

[efsk]

I've seen photographs of a Merkur-branded B5 as well. The B3 was sold under the Zorro and Eros brands as well, possibly more.

 

[Benedetto]

photo of my walbusch B3

some razors compared to the Walbusch - Eros - Apollo brands all slant bars

Thank you.
Benedetto.

 

[efsk]

Nice one. I have a similar set, minus the mirror. Yours is very well preserved though.
This razor was also sold separately, and also available in brown. They were produced by Merkur, who sold them as the B3. Mirabilia, Neorador, Zorro, all the same model.
The difference with you Apollo is that the Apollo has a torqued blade, like the Merkur 37c, whereas the B3 only places the blade diagonally, like the iKon 102.

 

[Benedetto]

I would love to know who had this idea first .. Merkur? Herkenrat & Co.? .. If I remember correctly I seem to have seen around a very interesting razor made by Apollo .. I think it is called Apollo Fix and is a travel razor .. you can open laterally and has the handle that holds the blades. .. and has the head very similar to the B3 ..


Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

 

[ajkel64]

Somehow I have missed this razor. Nice to learn something new. Congratulations to the owners of these fine specimens.

 

[efsk]

@Benedetto The Fix is a different Apollo. That one is called Fix because the topcap remains fixed to the baseplate. It has however a normal handle. It was also not torqued, so not a slant.:

The travelrazor I do not know the modellnumber of, but is a slant, in the torqued variety:

The difference with the Walbusch remains: the Apollo is a torqued slant, where the blade is twisted, the Walbusch only places the blade diagonally, without twisting.
Models with a fliptop were made by various producers. Mulcuto and Apollo are modells I have, due to them being slants.

 

[Benedetto]

This is exactly the razor I meant. (I find this absolutely fantastic razor!)

Thanks @efsk for your clarifications, I thought that the word "Fix" translated from German meant "convenient-fast" because in those years the use of foreign words on commercial products was not very desirable. In all the boxes of razor models sold by Apollo the translations in the foreign language were always inserted to the side of the boxes and then to the years 45-50*.

said this I think you're right of their "technical difference" but the doubt remains on who actually started to fabricate the first prototype of "slant bar"? In the prospects that advertise the razor Walbusch it is written that it was this factory that "invented" this type of inclination .. have you ever seen a Merkur product (B3) before the sale of the Walbusch razors?


*since an Apollo-Ben-Hur catalog (Herkenrath & CO.) has not yet been discovered, I hypothesize the razor issue dates based on the price (RM or DM) at that time we used to update by adding on the boxes at the price a small sticker with the current currency. (for this many boxes of these and other razors have tears in correspondence).