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Cleaning an Injector

Hello all,
I recently picked up a few injectors at an antique store and wanted to clean them up for use. That said, anyone out there have any recommendations as how to clean up the razor slot??? One of the razors (the one with the gold head) has a build up of green gunk, probably from oxidation, that'd like to get off. I tried hot water plus softscrub on a toothbrush and that didn't fix it. Two other questions: Can you boil these guys and not melt the handle? What can I use to polish the gold headed razor and not mess up the finish (I've got Maas already)?

P.S. I have read a previous post from some time ago that talked about flipping a u shaped metal piece and the head would come apart...my injectors do not have this.

Thank you in advance
 
I have three of these. If I remember... I used the "key" to help me slide toothpicks in to hold it apart enough for me to scrape as much gunk off as possible. I put them in the sink and poured boiling water on them - letting them soak for 10 minutes or so. Boiling the razors would most likely be a bad idea.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful but I think there's a thread here or on SMF that has photos of someone's restoration project. You might try a search on both forums.
 
I boiled one with some success. I just made sure to arrange it so that the handle was not actually touching the pot. No damage done. I would use caution though. Went I took it out, the handle was ever so slightly wobbly on the razor, which went away as soon as it cooled. Since the rest of the handle was not soft at all, I think this was because the metal head was resting on the pot bottom, and conducted heat up into where it joins the handle. (The pot bottom, and any metal touching it, can of course get hotter than the water itself, which is limited to the boiling point). So best to make sure no part of the razor is touching the pot. (I actually used those fat rubber bands from produce to prop it up - they don't conduct heat, and don't melt).

I couldn't find a way to take the head apart either though, which is a problem, since it is pretty grubby in there still, I think.

I just used a generic metal polish to go at the brass. It worked great.
 
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