Background
Swedish steel has always had a very good reputation. Together with a very large copper production it once was the basis of local Swedish empire, an Empire the fell in 1721 after more or less continuously having been at war with Russia for 200 years. The wars with Russia would continue to drain Sweden for another 100 years. After that what remained was a poor country in the northern outskirts of Europe, a country that had lost far more than half its territory. About a quarter of the population emigrated to the USA in the late 1800’s. What remained though was the Swedish steel production. It would eventually once again get Sweden back on its feet, but in the late 1800’s the steel was mostly exported to be processed abroad.
The early frameback razors
Around 1870 most Swedish razors were produced by local black smiths and a few knife manufacturers in Eskilstuna. When ERN began to mass produce hollow ground razors the Swedish response was the early frameback razor. You can see it in the pictures below. The Swedish razor makers couldn’t replicate the grinding machine, but they could make a very thin razor blades and add a spine to it. The downside was that that the tang was just as thin as the blade making it very hard to hold compared to the Solingen razors. At this time a large import of Solingen luxury razors started. Swedish manufacturers began to learn how to make hollow grind razors, but the cost was too high to be competitive.
The late frameback razors
The intermediate response to the Solingen import was a new form of frameback razor where the tang was a part of the frame. Thus you got the properties of a full hollow ground razor without having to grind the blade. These razors were often luxurious. The one below has both a thumb notch and ivory scales, not to mention the nice etching of a reindeer. This is a Hellberg razor, like the eary thumb notch razor described above, but the most beautiful of these razors were made by Söderén.
The first hollow ground razors
In the late 1880’s the Swedish manufacturers had finally started to make high quality hollow ground razors of their own and at fairly competitive prices. My personal favourite from this era is Jernbolaget. The Swedish razor designs, as they looked around 1895 would be more or less the same until Heljestrand was the last one to leave the business in 1980.
Below I have posted photographs of three generations of Hellberg straight razors. Even if there are differences between them it is quite easy to see how one razor model evolved into the next.
Thank you for reading gentlemen
You can clearly see how the tang is just as thin as the blade. The scales are made of bone.
The late version where the tang is part of the frame. A much more userfriendly razor. The scales are ivory.
Detailed picture
The newest of the three. The frame is gone and the razor is extremely hollow ground and as hard as can be.
The razors seen from above:
Early frameback (on top)
Late frameback
Full hollow ground
The Swedish Frameback razors - A short history
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