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Ibsen

Hellas

Blade Whisperer
Apart from the fact that I personally consider the Ibsen and its "derivatives" regarding the heads (Liese, Lumina, Kratz) to be one of the most beautiful slants, not so much has been written yet about it.

Well, that's sometimes not so easy, because it also depends a bit on what you just got for a head. In contrast to Liese, which is identical in construction to the principle, where I - with the few I had in my hand and face so far - had no difference in the head geometry, there seems to be some difference in the production of the Ibsen.

But on thing after the other:

My own Ibsen shaves pretty much identical to my two Liese. Also the geometry of the head is not much different than that of my two Liese: It is direct and very thorough, but by no means particularly aggressive or unpredictable. The Ibsen was the slant that took away my "torsion phobia" after the 37c - which I can't deal with at all. In contrast to the 37c and some other slants, the Ibsen is a "little lamb" for me. Although it is direct and does not harmonize with every blade (which razor do that?), it is gentle and very thorough with me. You might have to get used to 3-4 shaves and find his "blade angle". With me this is rather "scraping". But then it doesn't require the super concentration of an Apollo slant or R41. However the Ibsen is just as little as the Liese such a little lamb as a Romi / Pfeilring / Lutz

But, all this is only valid for "my" Ibsen, this one:

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However, there are also some Ibsen, with heads that seem quite "warped". The most extreme example I ever had in my hands was a razor from my friend titanus where the geometry looked like this: (right is mine)

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In comparison to the right one you can see quite clearly that the base plate is less curved and therefore the blade does not rest completely on the base plate, so that the blade gap is already "fearsome". Someone has trimmed the base plate very aggressively. It was not really possible to determine whether this had already happened due to production or whether it had fallen on it in later decades due to later use or something heavy and pressed the base plate "flatter". It may shave a touch milder than a rather robustly guided R41, but only perhaps. For lovers of particularly direct planes, this is certainly the Ibsen Special Edition.
 
Considering the overhang of the razor blade on the left hand side picture, I prefer to fit in for the special edition. :eek:
 
These heads come in variations of aggression, I always figured QC was not one of their priorities, nor was precision. Still, some of the nicest shaving slants are of this model. I basically call everything with this head Ibsen head, as the first razor with a head like this I owned was an Ibsen.
Found it at a fleamarket in Germany:
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The idea behind it is the same whether it's a washing machine or a safety razor it cleans both. ;)
 
So a while back, @efsk was nice enough to send me one of his not so perfect Ibsen slants. As always, whenever I receive a vintage razor in not so perfect condition, I soak in dishwashing soap overnight and if it still needs more cleaning, I run it through the ultrasonic cleaner for a couple of cycles. I was too aggressive with my Ibsen and soon found a lot of the plating coming off and the one medium sized crack on the handle turning into one large crack and a smaller crack next to it

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I decided to make it my project razor and so I painted the razor with touch up paint for my car (because it flows well and is meant to seal metal), and ordered a 10mm carbon fiber tubing from China. The tubing arrived about a week before the big freeze and so I did not work on it until now. I finally completed the project and though it is not the same quality as those shown, it has returned to a condition where I can shave with it now. It also matches the color of my car. ;)

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My Speedo is set to go for tonight's shave and so this one is set for Thursday night. :daumenhoch
 
I could not wait until Thursday night and so I loaded up my modified Ibsen tonight and took it for a real shave. I have to admit that I have tried many torsionshobel type slants and this one moved up to one of my top five after one complete shave. Two pass BBS with very minimal touch up. There were some points where I felt the corner of the blade protruding where it should not go, however when I checked afterwards, there was no problem with alignment or the guard, and was probably the edge of the top cap which is beginning to lose some plating.

I am glad that I took the time to save this razor, even though it has lost it's classic looks.:daumenhoch
 
This is I think also an Ibsen, but with WFG markings. So I decided to post it hear.

It is a traveler set. It looked unused or at least used a long time ago. I use it when I go on vacation.

In the photo with the three razors you see from left to right a liese, merkur 37c and the WFG.
 

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I've filed this as a WFG. Ibsen had Ibsen markings. This head has been used on a lot of brands, both shortscrew and longscrew.
 
Ibsen with gold plated head,

Anybody seen this? Pics from Crocodil-Indy

Also, was Ibsen produced by Merkur or did they have their own factory?

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Ibsen were made by Rudolf Bauermann in Solingen-Wald. They probably also made all Ibsen derivatives, like Liese, Kratz, etc. The Ibsen head is easily recognizable: the "scallops" on the ends of the head protrude beyond the safety-bar, and the head is torqued the other way around from Merkur (well, all but one Merkur), Fasan, etc.
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Nice travel-Ibsen. Rarely if ever seen case and so far the only model with two-piece handle that has a long screw.
crappy pics, sorry.
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