Cleaning & Identification of New Acquisitions

[zacktracy]

Good afternoon B&B! I recently purchased this lot from the bay for $16.00. I purchased this strictly for the Gillette Tech and am hoping I can clean it up and make it shine again. What is everyone's thoughts on the Tech's condition and do you think it will clean up fairly easily? Is that a C or G on the Tech? Also, can anyone identify the model and possibly the timeframe of the other Gillette? How about the dating of the Shick injectable? Thanks in advance for your help with this!

Zack

 

[zacktracy]

I think I made some progress identifying the 2nd Gillette. It appears to be an Old Type as I believe the it looks like a thin curved cap and plate. Guess I'll have to wait until I receive it to confirm as the pictures aren't great at showing the geometry of the bottom plate. Any help or thoughts are much appreciated!

 

[Chance0277]

its an old type for sure. its either a 102 which would usually have a serial number on the top of the base plate or 102a which is just a bit thicker and won't be numbered. old types stopped getting numbered around 1920. The tech looks like it will make a fine shaver and I'm sure the old type would too. congrats on your win and good luck spiffin' em up and getting em back to work.

 

[bdehne]

Nice lot!

 

[zacktracy]

Thank you for the information. I’ll post back with any numerical ID once I have the razor in hand. Not exactly sure what to do with the Shick

 

[wes1953]

Nice lot!

 

[carluchi]

The Tech head has a C on it (1957) and is an excellent razor.

 

[lasta]

That's a nice Tech, I'm sure you'll love it.

I have the same one, except undated (46-50).

Handle looks in excellent condition, baseplate and bottom of cap should be easy to polish too. But the top is etched/textured, so I'd be a little careful there.

 

[lasta]

The Old Type could use a new handle, but the top should last forever. My view is: if the teeth aren't bent and handles not cracked, any brass razor can be polished to like new.

 

[zacktracy]

That's a nice Tech, I'm sure you'll love it.

I have the same one, except undated (46-50).

Handle looks in excellent condition, baseplate and bottom of cap should be easy to polish too. But the top is etched/textured, so I'd be a little careful there.

Yeah I’m a little concerned about the top of the cap. Hoping it’s just soap scum but it looks etched as you said.

 

[zacktracy]

The Old Type could use a new handle, but the top should last forever. My view is: if the teeth aren't bent and handles not cracked, any brass razor can be polished to like new.

Any suggestions on where to get a brass handle to replace it?

 

[lasta]

Any suggestions on where to get a brass handle to replace it?

Yaqi makes brass handles, here's 2 I have:




Or you could just use the Tech handle.

 

[zacktracy]

Nice. Thank you.

 

[Big_T]

Any suggestions on where to get a brass handle to replace it?

Razor Emporium sells replica handles made of brass, choice of plain or plated.

 

[Jorvaljr]

Those three razors are almost all you need to get awesome shaves

 

[zacktracy]

I’ll probably end up selling or giving away the Shick. I just don’t see myself using that one. Pretty cool looking though and I think it has some age to it!

 

[zacktracy]

Her are the results of the 1957 Tech and the Old Type cleaning and polishing. I used nearly boiling water to soak the pieces for about 5 minutes before using dish soap and a toothbrush to gently scrub away the gunk. I then used a little Brasso to polish them up. I may have gone a little too heavy handed on the Old Type as there isn’t much brass plating left.

 

[Chance0277]

looks like they came out nice. Brass is the base metal for the old type. it had silver plating. The more you polish it the brassier... More Brassy? it will get.

 

[zacktracy]

looks like they came out nice. Brass is the base metal for the old type. it had silver plating. The more you polish it the brassier... More Brassy? it will get.

That makes sense. Based on that, it looks like the plating has worn quite a bit on the lower part of the handle, but not on the top part where the silver or chrome plating is still a light color. Would you say that is a correct statement?

 

[Chance0277]

yea for sure. Its hard to see from the angle of the pictures but in hand I'm sure you can tell the the yellow parts are edges and high spots where you get the most wear. so the part of the handle you hold the teeth and edges of the top cap where it actually rubs on your skin and places you don't touch like the bottom of the plate and the top of the handle are much more silver.