Almost perfect

[Ceri]

My Rocket has become probably my favourite razor so I was intrigued by the HD which is supposed to be the same but better. They don't come up on eBay so often, but this last week or so three have shown up.

My first bid was an aluminium handled HD. It wasn't cased and didn't look so good, so I bid as far as £15 and it went for £17. The second was for an HD that's in a Wardonia case, looked fairly decent so I put in the minimum bid of £3 for a nine day auction.

Then one appeared in its proper case, looked in great condition but the seller said there was some rust. Thinking it would just be superficial surface rust picked up from a blade I bid pretty high, expecting to outbid quite quickly as it was a three day auction. Some bids took the price up over £10, but I won the auction with a bid of £11 (£14 shipped). Here it is...

There is some rust - a little on the inside of the silo doors, and some around the end cap tips. I've given it a light clean, but it hasn't made much difference. I'd like to get the razor to pristine condition, but I don't want to damage the nickel plating underneath. Any suggestion?

 

[Merkur25]

Nice pickup at £14 . I would use some metal polish to try and get some of that rust off. Most likely the plating is already gone so there is no real danger of hurting it more. If you are going to polish the rest of the razor then, be a little more careful with the amount of pressure you use when polishing.

I find that MAAS is the best polish.

 

[midniterambler]

you could try clr or barkeeper's friend on a toothbrush to see if it will remove the rust.

 

[cernel_joson]

You want to be careful about using polish on the handle, especially around the knurling. It's my experience that breaks in the plating are usually here. Polish and pressure will just strip it.

 

[maxman]

I love my rockets. I have an aristocrat Jr. and a gold rocket.
both are excellent shavers.
I just put my Aristocrat Jr. on the sidelines to try a USA made aristocrat.

but I don't know... those rockets are sweet.

 

[Ceri]

I've managed to remove a lot of the 'rust' with a fingernail, and I've used the razor for the past couple of mornings with 7 o'clock Super Stainless blade. It gives superb shaves, closer than my 40s Rocket though I think the latter is better balanced.

I'm away from home for the next few days and have agonised over taken the HD on the road with me, but I don't want to damage or lose it, so will have to 'settle' for a British made ball end NEW.