A few question from a newbie

[bryanalban]

So I had my grandfather send me three of his old DE razors. All three are gillettes. One is a "fat boy", and the other two I haven't been able to ID.

But I have a few questions as I delve into wet shaving.

1) How do a safely clean the old razors? They are in good working order, but have caked on soap, etc. that running under hot water doesn't clean.

2) I've watched youtube videos to get an intro into wet shaving, and I got some shaving cream from the Body Shop. It comes in a tub. How do I lather it? It seems to me if I try to lather it up in the tub, then I'll waste a lot by lathering too much. Do I scoop some into a shaving cup? Or should I get the type that comes in a tube?

3)The "Fat Boy" razor is adjestable, which number is the easiest to start with, 1 or 9?

Thanks for the help, I'm sure I'll have more questions as I go.

 

[Pioneer]

Here is a good place to start with the cleaning, brother:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=30131&highlight=barbicide

 

[DFrancis]

Welcome and great to have your grandfather's razors.

1) scrubbing bubbles or any bathroom cleaner is safe to use on the rezors and won't damage the plating.

2) take an almond sized amount into a bowl or mug with a few drips of water and lather it there, practice makes perfect.

3) 1 is the least aggressive, so start out there and wait until you have a few shaves in before going on to the next level

 

[valmara1971]

Welcome to B&B, great to hear you are using a family airloom to shave with. Check out he cleaning threads but I'm a fan of tin foil hot water and baking soda myself. As for the FB I always start on 9 and dial it down as I remove more and more beard. IMHO a FB on 1 is milder than any of my techs but as ever YMMV. Best of luck and please take some before and after shots of your razors for us to oggle over.

 

[Luc]

Welcome to B&B!

Good advices up here

 

[mkevenson]

Welcome to B&B. If you have never shaved with a DE I would start your FB on 2-3. IMHO, contrary to the previous poster, #9 would be suicide to a complete novice. Scrubbing bubbles work well add an old stiff tooth brush to scrub with.
Let us know how it goes. Oh, we love pics here, show us your stuff.

Mark

 

[Slivovitz]

Welcome! This wiki page was the first place I looked for advice on cleaning vintage razors. Didn't follow it 100%, also got tips from various threads here, but it's a good place to start.

There's a good chance you'll be able to ID your other razors from this other wiki page, but if not, post a couple of photos in the Safety Razor forum and I'll bet somebody tells you what you've got.

 

[Mr_Marbles]

Welcome! Cleaning up vintage razors can be very satisfying, and, as you can see, there is lots of good info and tips here on B&B. Have fun!

 

[Niles]

Welcome! That's awesome that you have a few of your grandfather's de razors. I wish I could have gotten my grandfather's razors.

 

[JPM]

Welcome to B&B!