Aluminum Gillette #58 w/ sticky mechanism

[Nobeard]

I have an English aluminum Gillette #58 from , I believe, 1953. It is in beautiful condition except that the butterfly door mechanism is fairly sticky. I tried soaking it in very hot water hoping to loosen things up, but that did nothing.

Any help in solving this problem would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[Rob72]

There are degrees of "sticky"...

With that in mind, I had a similar situation with mine. I usually use a soak in a good penetrating oil (Marvel Mystery Oil, Ballistol) and work the mechanism quite a bit. Degrease in hot water with dish soap, check, repeat as needed.

Ancient shave soap can be gnarly stuff.

 

[Nobeard]

Thank you Rob, I will try that. This is fairly sticky. Its difficult to turn. Not to the point where you feel like you will bend something if you are not careful, but pretty stiff.

Judging from how pristine and "new" the razor looks, I doubt that it is ancient soap, but you never know. The razor really looks like it was never used. But then, something made it sticky, so looks can be deceiving. Thanks again

 

[lasta]

If you have one, a few minutes in an ultrasonic cleaner will free up any gunk inside.

First thing I do with all my razor purchases!

 

[Nobeard]

Thank you very much lasta, I do have an ultrasonic cleaner. I use it for my fountain pen collection. I did not think of using it, but I should have. I'll give it a try

 

[NorthernSoul]

Thank you very much lasta, I do have an ultrasonic cleaner. I use it for my fountain pen collection. I did not think of using it, but I should have. I'll give it a try

Ultrasonic cleaning with a detergent solution would be good to try first. I'd suggest not to use oil since that can lead to stickiness later. Maybe somebody oiled your razor earlier, and that's why it's sticking now.

 

[Hannah's Dad]

I suspect the stickiness has nothing to do with residue and everything to do with the razor’s head. Could be the doors are obstructed by slightly bent side bars/end caps. The British TTO’s sometimes have issues like this. Examine the doors/safety bars, etc. and look for areas which you might be able to loosen between the doors and end caps.

 

[Nobeard]

Thank you hannas dad, I will look the razor over and see what I can find. Your idea about the problem not being a build up of residue might be correct. I ran the razor thru 2 cycles in the ultrasonic cleaner. 45 minutes each, 1 with detergent added to the water, one with just water. It is stiffer now than when I started.
In addition, there are some areas, the underside and the inside where the aluminum finish now looks a bit damaged. It looks like and aluminum pot if you put it in a dishwasher. The shiny bits are all fine
Maybe aluminum does not like ultrasonic cleaners?

 

[nemo]

Although I've never taken one apart, I was told by a well-respected member here that the English TTO razors were assembled with grease inside unlike their American style crimped knob counterparts.

 

[Nobeard]

Thank you nemo, If thats true I probably ruined it by putting it in the ultrasonic cleaner. This is beginning to seem like an unsolveable problem.
Right now it is stiffer than when I started and some of the alunimum is looking funky. It might be a throw away at this point