Chroming a safety razor?

[panchoskywalker]

Hello there, I'm new here and this is my first post, I'm from Chile and I'm using a safety razor to shave since last week. I have a possiblity to apply a new chrome to an old safety razor for a low price around here but they told me they can do it only if the safety razor is pure metal and not some kind of alloy.

I've seen that the gillette fatboy in good shape are too expensive so I'm planning to get one that's not in very good shape and send it for a new chrome, do you know if the gilette fatboy is pure metal? Any advice?

 

[onotoman]

First of all, most vintage razors are nickel plated and not chrome plated. The Fatboy is made from Brass electroplated in Bright Nickel.

If your plater can do chrome, he'll be able to do nickel as chrome plating is applied over a coating of nickel.

I would advise that you get the razor nickel plated as this is what was used in the first place, so your razor will be more authentic after plating.

Modern razors tend to be chrome plated due to the fact that a very small number of people are allergic to nickel, but to me chrome looks a bit cold, nickel has a warmer shade of colour to it (in my opinion).

Hope this helps.

 

[panchoskywalker]

Thanks, that's very usefull. I'll look for nickel plated to keep it original.

 

[onotoman]

No problem, make sure your plater strips the old nickel first then polishes the razor before applying the new nickel (if it's a commercial shop they will) most Gillette razors are made from brass, sometimes the handle is copper plated before nickel, gold etc plating is applied, as the copper helps the nickel, gold etc to 'stick' and gives extra wear resistance.

So, almost any vintage gillette that you find will be suitable for replating in nickel, chrome, silver, gold, rhodium.

 

[panchoskywalker]

One more question, do the razor needs to be dimsantled before getting nickel plated?

 

[Wrangoleer]

One more question, do the razor needs to be dismantled before getting nickel plated?

And does anyone have pix of how broken down it has to be? I'd like to get my Fatboy re-plated as well.

 

[JCinPA]

Hello there, I'm new here and this is my first post, I'm from Chile and I'm using a safety razor to shave since last week. I have a possiblity to apply a new chrome to an old safety razor for a low price around here but they told me they can do it only if the safety razor is pure metal and not some kind of alloy.

I've seen that the gillette fatboy in good shape are too expensive so I'm planning to get one that's not in very good shape and send it for a new chrome, do you know if the gilette fatboy is pure metal? Any advice?

I had a razor replated for my son as a gift, but I would make this one comment. If you want a pretty FatBoy, get a pretty FatBoy. By the time you get a lesser one off eBay (I assume) and then send it out for replating (nickel is the right stuff), with all the shipping, total cost will likely be MORE than getting a nicer razor to begin with. I see replating as an option when you stumble across a decent mechanical razor for almost nothing at a flea market or something .... or for a razor you have happily used for years and want to replate.

If you post in the WTB part of the BST I think you'll find a handsome FatBoy from a member that won't break your bank and that is still years away from needing replating. I could be wrong, but that's my take on it.

 

[DOLLARBILL]

While we are on the subject Is there anyone here who restores Razors ???

 

[proxymoron]

One more question, do the razor needs to be dimsantled before getting nickel plated?

Old Gillettes were assembled before plating, so theoretically no.

(I only say theoretically because I'm not a plater myself and know little of the process.)

 

[panchoskywalker]

I finally did it, I paid US$28 for the fatboy, shipping included and payed US$20 for chrome plating (I live in Chile). It's chrome plated, not nickel plated because the guy told me that the chrome would last longer and because I was curious about how it'l looks. I know some of you may think that I should have nickel plated it but in my case I was just looking for a good DE razor to shave, so this is not a blasphemy to me.

BEFORE/AFTER


FATBOY4 by panchoskywalker, on Flickr


FATBOY3 by panchoskywalker, on Flickr


FATBOY2 by panchoskywalker, on Flickr


FATBOY1 by panchoskywalker, on Flickr

 

[plpenn]

As long as you are happy with it that's all that matters! Congrats!!

 

[PaulL]

I think that looks fabulous. Congratulations.

 

[anbu]

Wow, that looks nice man. I remember this thread awhile back. Glad you finally got it plated. That's a beauty.

 

[nemo]

That turned out very nice. Good job.

 

[five o'clock]

WOW! That is nice..............I like shiny things.

 

[silver surfer]

It looks great. Are you going to repaint the numbers?

 

[ERVARGASNY]

OMG it so shiny, its so shiny, its so shiny, Awesome job. As long as your happy that is what matters, I know i would be happy with a Chrome FatBoy like yours ;o)

 

[panchoskywalker]

Guess what?

As soon as I published the pictures here I went for sterilization applying bleach on the razor and killed the platted....I went from feeling as a macho-man to infinitly stupid in less than 5 minutes...

...I recovered quickly and went the very next day for a new platted....so I can clean the evidence of my mistake.

Anyway, I went today to get it back and discovered that the razor was actually nickel platted and that it was nickel platted even the first time, so on the pictures above the razor is nickel platted and not chrome platted. I asked why and the told me they couldn't apply chrome on it because of...something I did not understand.

So I learned two things here:

- Do not apply bleach directly on something that's platted
- Shiny things aren't always what they seem to be.

cheers.

ps: I'll probably paint the numbers again but it's not a priority, I'll let you know anyway.

 

[Bimmerman]

How about some pics to show what the bleach did to the plating?

 

[panchoskywalker]

I didn't take pictures of that, sorry, but it was like the first picture but cleaner.