Facelift for an old pal
Two hours' work and a lot of fun
This rather sorry looking Gillette from the 1920s came to me as part of a lot of old razors, found cheap on eBay.
I have always loved the classic looks of these old razors, although they are not practical to use these days, since they were designed for the older, thicker double edge blades that Gillette produced in the early years of the 20th century. They can be used, but a shim should be employed to ensure the proper blade edge exposure.
In any event, I decided to try and clean up this old Gillette.
The metal was covered with grime and corrosion.
The good news is that all the comb teeth were in place and were quite straight. It is common to find these razors with broken or bent teeth.
The bad news is that there were two longitudinal cracks in the handle. Most of these razors have tiny cracks at the location where the end plugs are pressure fit into the handle, but in this case the cracks were extensive. One of them spanned about 80% of the length of the handle. These will need to be stabilised in order to keep the razor from falling apart. The thin, light colored line visible in the picture above is the longer of the two cracks.
Well, this razor is a write-off, so I don't mind working on it.
First, I took the razor apart:
Then, I dipped it into Barbicide for a good hour. I sanitise all my used razors with Barbicide as a matter of routine.
Two hours' work and a lot of fun
This rather sorry looking Gillette from the 1920s came to me as part of a lot of old razors, found cheap on eBay.
I have always loved the classic looks of these old razors, although they are not practical to use these days, since they were designed for the older, thicker double edge blades that Gillette produced in the early years of the 20th century. They can be used, but a shim should be employed to ensure the proper blade edge exposure.
The metal was covered with grime and corrosion.
The good news is that all the comb teeth were in place and were quite straight. It is common to find these razors with broken or bent teeth.
The bad news is that there were two longitudinal cracks in the handle. Most of these razors have tiny cracks at the location where the end plugs are pressure fit into the handle, but in this case the cracks were extensive. One of them spanned about 80% of the length of the handle. These will need to be stabilised in order to keep the razor from falling apart. The thin, light colored line visible in the picture above is the longer of the two cracks.
Well, this razor is a write-off, so I don't mind working on it.
First, I took the razor apart:
After
the Barbicide bath, which sterilizes the razor, some of the grime
has fallen off the razor and you can see some of the metal coming
through the dark grime:
Now
all that is needed is some metal polish, a rag and lots of elbow
grease. Silvo is made by the people who produce Brasso and is less aggressive
and better suited to silver and silver plated metals.
The polish works well on these razors and soon the silver color comes through the eighty year-old corrosion
Given
the poor mechanical condition of the razor, especially the deep and
long crack in the handle, I decided to make things easier for me and make use of a Dremel moto-tool:
I would not do this on a more pristine example, but this one razor was
a goner anyway. (see Note 1)
You can see, in the picture above, that I used the Dremel on the right edge of the handle, where it meets the top plug. The metal shines beautifully. I am using a very light touch, since I don't want to cause surface scratches nor do I want to erode any surface detail. This looks good: the old razor may yet come through nicely...
Now the whole handle is polished and looks really good!
http://www.razorandbrush.com/usaship.html
You can see, in the picture above, that I used the Dremel on the right edge of the handle, where it meets the top plug. The metal shines beautifully. I am using a very light touch, since I don't want to cause surface scratches nor do I want to erode any surface detail. This looks good: the old razor may yet come through nicely...
Now the whole handle is polished and looks really good!
Next I will start working on the end plugs:
The
bottom plug is done. It looks really great! In the picture above, you
can see the smaller of the two cracks, near the bottom plug.
http://www.razorandbrush.com/usaship.html
Now
the top plug is also polished. This one was a bit harder to do, I guess
its proximity to the shaving head meant that it was more exposed to the
soaps and less lubricated by the hand oils. Still, it looks quite shiny now.
Next, I polished the comb and the sides of the blade holder.
Next, I polished the comb and the sides of the blade holder.
The
next step was a bit more delicate: polishing the top plate must be done
gently, in order not to remove the old chrome plating, thus exposing the
brass base metal. I took my time and did it by hand. The results are OK:
Some
of the brass is showing through, but, considering the original state of
the razor and its age, it's really not too bad. A further light polishing
will reduce the surface scratches and make the top plate look quite
good.
Now we have to take care of that nasty longitudinal crack. It's really dreadful!
In order to stabilize the crack, I filled the inside of the handle with epoxy cement. The end plugs are also cemented into place: they actually provide mechanical stability to the handle and should stop any further creep of the cracks.
To keep the barrel tightly in place while the epoxy is curing, I used some kitchen ties...
After allowing the epoxy to cure completely, I still have to clean off the excess epoxy that has seeped out from the cracks.
I also polished the underside of the razor head and the positioning pins.
The razor looks pretty amazing, considering the way it was just a couple of hours earlier!!
Giovanni Abrate
Now we have to take care of that nasty longitudinal crack. It's really dreadful!
In order to stabilize the crack, I filled the inside of the handle with epoxy cement. The end plugs are also cemented into place: they actually provide mechanical stability to the handle and should stop any further creep of the cracks.
To keep the barrel tightly in place while the epoxy is curing, I used some kitchen ties...
After allowing the epoxy to cure completely, I still have to clean off the excess epoxy that has seeped out from the cracks.
I also polished the underside of the razor head and the positioning pins.
The razor looks pretty amazing, considering the way it was just a couple of hours earlier!!
I
think these were two hours well spent: not because the razor has any
value; it is a common type and the cracks make this specimen worthless
to any collector, but it was fun to see the way the razor can be made
to look
with just a little effort and a little time!
Don't
pass up the cheap bargains on eBay because of their looks: most razors
can be brought back to a nice and attractive condition.
I hope you enjoyed this little photo review!
Giovanni Abrate
Note
1: power tools should not be used in the restoration of the surface of
vintage razors. They are likely to cause damage to the delicate plating
used on many razors and may reduce surface detail and cause scratches.
I used a power tool on this razor because it had no collector value, due to the
severe cracks present in the handle.
© 2007 by Giovanni Abrate - All Rights Reserved