Hello all,
Well, I'm afraid I have been bitten by the bug. Now that I am retired and have the time to learn about and enjoy wet shaving, I began a few weeks ago with my grandfather's 1957 Gillette Super Speed.
Earlier today, my wife and I were looking around some antique shops not too far from us and I found this vintage Gillette for just $5.00. From doing online research on this site and looking at some of the reference links provided, I believe that it is a 1948-1950 Super Speed. The razor weighs 55 gms and the handle is about 3" long. It has no date code and the center bar is notched. It appears that the end caps were missing, leaving solder on both sides of the razor.
When I got it home, I took a few photos and then proceeded to clean it up. Here are the before photos:
Here was the cleaning process I followed as recommended by many others here, with a tweak or two.
First, I soaked the razor in hot water with Dawn dishwashing soap for about thirty minutes. I used an old toothbrush to do a first cleaning pass to remove any loose residue.
The next step was to see about removing that solder from the ends of the razor so the missing endcaps wouldn't detract from the appearance. I researched how to remove solder and read that another poster had some success using a brass bristle brush on a dremel. It wasn't clear from the posts that discuss missing end caps whether the end caps are soldered to the brass and then the razor is plated or if the razor is plated before the end caps are soldered on. I was concerned that removing the solder might reveal that the area underneath had not been plated, but I figured for a $5.00 investment, I'd risk it. So I used my dremel with brass brush and at a low speed and very carefully removed the solder. I was pleased to see that the area had been nickel plated and I was able to successfully remove the solder (there may be one tiny spot of solder I missed) without damaging the plating.
I followed that by a spray-down with Scrubbing Bubbles and another thirty minute soak in that solution. Once that was done, I used the old toothbrush to do another scrubbing.
I then used Bar Keeper's Friend (based upon some posts here) and a soft damp cloth to do some additional cleaning/polishing.
Finally, I used Meguir's ScratchX (a very gentle polish with micro-abrasives designed to remove scratches and other imperfections in automobile clear coat finishes) to do a final polish. The results are pictured below:
For those "in the know", are there any structural or mechanical reasons that the missing end caps should be replaced? I certainly could epoxy a pair on but spending the money on a donor razor (or $15.00 for the replicas at Razor Emporium) just doesn't seem to make sense to me considering the value of the razor. Comments and feedback are welcome!
Thanks to all that have contributed to this forum in the many varied threads, I have learned a great deal just in the short time I've been here!
Well, I'm afraid I have been bitten by the bug. Now that I am retired and have the time to learn about and enjoy wet shaving, I began a few weeks ago with my grandfather's 1957 Gillette Super Speed.
Earlier today, my wife and I were looking around some antique shops not too far from us and I found this vintage Gillette for just $5.00. From doing online research on this site and looking at some of the reference links provided, I believe that it is a 1948-1950 Super Speed. The razor weighs 55 gms and the handle is about 3" long. It has no date code and the center bar is notched. It appears that the end caps were missing, leaving solder on both sides of the razor.
When I got it home, I took a few photos and then proceeded to clean it up. Here are the before photos:
Here was the cleaning process I followed as recommended by many others here, with a tweak or two.
First, I soaked the razor in hot water with Dawn dishwashing soap for about thirty minutes. I used an old toothbrush to do a first cleaning pass to remove any loose residue.
The next step was to see about removing that solder from the ends of the razor so the missing endcaps wouldn't detract from the appearance. I researched how to remove solder and read that another poster had some success using a brass bristle brush on a dremel. It wasn't clear from the posts that discuss missing end caps whether the end caps are soldered to the brass and then the razor is plated or if the razor is plated before the end caps are soldered on. I was concerned that removing the solder might reveal that the area underneath had not been plated, but I figured for a $5.00 investment, I'd risk it. So I used my dremel with brass brush and at a low speed and very carefully removed the solder. I was pleased to see that the area had been nickel plated and I was able to successfully remove the solder (there may be one tiny spot of solder I missed) without damaging the plating.
I followed that by a spray-down with Scrubbing Bubbles and another thirty minute soak in that solution. Once that was done, I used the old toothbrush to do another scrubbing.
I then used Bar Keeper's Friend (based upon some posts here) and a soft damp cloth to do some additional cleaning/polishing.
Finally, I used Meguir's ScratchX (a very gentle polish with micro-abrasives designed to remove scratches and other imperfections in automobile clear coat finishes) to do a final polish. The results are pictured below:
For those "in the know", are there any structural or mechanical reasons that the missing end caps should be replaced? I certainly could epoxy a pair on but spending the money on a donor razor (or $15.00 for the replicas at Razor Emporium) just doesn't seem to make sense to me considering the value of the razor. Comments and feedback are welcome!
Thanks to all that have contributed to this forum in the many varied threads, I have learned a great deal just in the short time I've been here!
on all counts.
