Gillette Bottom-Dial cleanup|Before and After

[Captain Murphy]

Well everyone, as a result of my Fatboy cleanup thread and gaining some credibility in the Badger & Blade community, I have been entrusted by GlennConti with the task of cleaning up and fixing two very rare Gillette safety razors.

Now, as of right now, I have only perfected my disassembly methods on the fatboy, slim, and superspeed models. For these rare beauties, I plan on taking it very slow. Before I even think about disassembling either of these razors, I need to study the original drawings and gain a comprehensive understanding of how they work at which point I MAY consider taking one of them apart. This of course all depends on my understanding and condition of the parts. Below are the before photos of these greats:

 

[Chronarch]

Need pics! Looks like the attachments did not work or something is wrong on my end. Can't wait to watch this progress.

 

[Bsohm]

Attached pictures are not working.

 

[nuclearblast]

View attachment 492409

 

[Captain Murphy]

Hang in there gentlemen, I am still working on the initial post

 

[Captain Murphy]

More photos:

 

[OneShaveAttaTime]

View attachment 492409

Haha PICS!!!!!

 

[bakerbarber]

I see the pictures just fine.

Has one of them been gold plated?

 

[Captain Murphy]

I see the pictures just fine.

Has one of them been gold plated?

I fixed em gents, more pics are processing.

As far as I understand, the gold bottom dial has been redone in 24kt.

 

[Bsohm]

this may be a dumb question but im blaming it on being new to de's....What the heck are those!! i havent seen one like that yet!

 

[PastorPC]

Brandon, they are no good, if you find one... send it to me and I will properly dispose it. Ha Ha! If you see one... don't let it get away!!!! It will be a great find.

 

[Captain Murphy]

More pictures...

 

[Captain Murphy]

this may be a dumb question but im blaming it on being new to de's....What the heck are those!! i havent seen one like that yet!

You may want to check out this webpage
http://www.mr-razor.com/Rasierer/Adjustable/Adjustable.htm

 

[Bsohm]

Oh man those things are cool, i have never seen that page.....see this is why we keep you around Captain!! Not because of your great work with Fatboys and Slims.....to educate new guys lol!! j/k great job thanks for the site sir!!

 

[Captain Murphy]

Alright so while I do my homework on the drawings, I am taking note of all issues. This is what my initial inspections have returned:

The gold bottom dial is mechanically sound but the 1/4 turn is not there and the blade gap seems to be slightly off. Not uneven, just off. Other than that, it is fine. I am more or less using the gold fatboy for reference but Glenn has asked me to inspect everything.

The NDC bottom dial has a few issues. The TTO operation is not smooth at all. I suspect the slider mechanism is full of crud. The operation of the adjuster knob works through all settings except for setting 1. Again, I suspect crud buildup. Next, the operation of the doors is not smooth either. It is visibly obvious that the safety bar is slightly bent down on one end of the razor and it is causing the door "ear" to catch upon opening and closing. This can also be determined by looking at the underside of the safety bar, you can see where there is metal-to-metal contact. I usually look for this when fixing all fatboys with the "sticky door" issue. Metal-to-metal contact will result in a shiny spot under the safety bar. I would take a photo but it is very difficult to distinguish where it is in a photo. This is also causing an uneven blade gap..it's off pretty bad. Next up, there is a little surface corrosion where the head assembly is pressed on to the rest of the razor. This corrosion can be seen in the third photo of the initial post. Off to do more studying...

 

[Captain Murphy]

Oh man those things are cool, i have never seen that page.....see this is why we keep you around Captain!! Not because of your great work with Fatboys and Slims.....to educate new guys lol!! j/k great job thanks for the site sir!!

They are very cool indeed! I like the toggles as well..so does everyone else Thank Mr Razor for the webpage, I refer to it frequently

 

[cwnidog]

this may be a dumb question but im blaming it on being new to de's....What the heck are those!! i havent seen one like that yet!

And it's quite unlikely that you ever will. These are variants on the Fatboy, with the adjustment at the bottom of the handle. They never went into full production and are the rarest of the rare - and when the do come up they go for four figures. Here's a bit of a primer on the whole Fatboy family:



Please, Captain - proceed slowly and carefully - they aren't making 'em anymore.

 

[khun_diddy]

You're a brave man Cap'n.

 

[Captain Murphy]

You're a brave man Cap'n.

One of my favorite quotes:
"Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death" General Omar Bradley

 

[GlennConti]

Here's another one CAP:

"Courage can't see around corners, but goes around them anyway."

Good Luck Sir! Like I said you are the best man for this job and we need to take this hill.