Jim
Polishing does make a difference in glide and yours looks great! Nice job!
F
Colonial General SS
- Thread starter Shavemd
- Start date
Polishing does make a difference in glide and yours looks great! Nice job!
F
Looks saweeeet...... I just might bust out my Dremel & buffing compound and get to work.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
Mine was done with progressive reduction - 600, 1200, 2000 wet/dry sandpaper - under running water, then Flitz + a brass gun cleaning toothbrush and lots of elbow grease with microfiber towels. No tools except my hands and these items and products.
I considered using my Dremel but was advised against it as damage can and sometimes does occur with small tools like the Dremel with which I am very far from an expert. Not saying you couldn't do a great job of it with the Dremel, but I know you could likely do it up without the power tool.
The pictures I've posted of my polished General mostly do not show it, but the polishing also revealed some machine marks which were masked by the matte finish. These are not really visible with my naked eye, but I can find them with a magnifying glass and also the camera lens finds them in the right light. I probably won't ever try to polish the machine marks out. They don't bother me, and I'm also not enamored of taking the cap down any further.
I removed little material with the sandpaper, but you know some had to be removed.
I also polished the surface of the blade guard which touches the skin, taking care to not use the heavier grits, and avoiding the inside surface of the baseplate. I was careful to make sure everything remained square where it should be, and not change tolerances.
The handle was very lightly sanded on the knurling and polished with Flitz just to increase the shine. I avoided the matte areas of the handle because I wanted a contrast.
Other than the cap's top the razor looks much the same as it did when I bought it.
I under did everything when I had any doubt. Well, I didn't under do the Flitz hand polishing.
Happy shaves,
Jim
It was a good shave.
Good to hear you enjoyed it! I appreciated the Rockwell Passaround, but didn't end up pulling the trigger on it. I did snag one of these on Christmas Day, though. 2 shaves with it and I've been quite impressed. Fantastic shaves, little to no irritation and hopefully will be none with the next few shaves. More blade feel with the Schick Proline than I expected when my angle goes steep, but not uncomfortable amounts of blade feel. This is a definite keeper for me.
I had a good shave with the stainless General this morning as well, Gus. My first. I expect many more.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
Very shallow, guys, very shallow!
Happy shaves,
Jim
Happy shaves,
Jim
Most definitely. This is a must in the rotation. For me at least. Happy 2018!
Glad that you got a good one in Scott. Happy and Blessed 2018 my friend!
Wow that turned out beautiful. Congratulations.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
Holy cow. Your SS Colonial General looks so shiny and beautiful. You went hog wild with it - the handle, the bottom of the baseplate, the cap - and they did a very outstanding job of polishing from what I can see.
How did you find someone to do the work? There's no Razor-polishers-R-us in the phone book.
I can't tell from the pictures but it looks like there are no remaining machine marks on the cap. Of course, they are very hard to spot on mine unless I look at it just right with a magnifying glass or in certain photographs. Even if yours doesn't shave better - and you and I both know it shaves a little better at least - it is beautiful and shiny and almost a one-of-a-kind SS General.
There is one guy on the forum who has a professional shop and he polished his General. Don't remember if he did it up like yours. Can't recall right this moment which gentleman it was though.
Happy shaves, and thanks for sharing the photographs,
Jim
I'm looking into polishing SS, as I coupled the ATT G1 head to my spare General SS handle and although it looks the part, the handle needs to be polished to make me sleep tight at night. These SS handles are really something and I wish there was a brass copy of it to use on my brass General as well. (I hope this statement doesn't fall on deaf ears).
My comments on the SS General as well as on the brass one is that it's a great razor, albeit a little mild for me and of course YMMV. The reason I'm a little disappointed is that I cannot use my P-30 Prolines with it. With the super pro though, it's as efficient as I like it, but I miss the Proline smoothness.
My comments on the SS General as well as on the brass one is that it's a great razor, albeit a little mild for me and of course YMMV. The reason I'm a little disappointed is that I cannot use my P-30 Prolines with it. With the super pro though, it's as efficient as I like it, but I miss the Proline smoothness.
I agree with you about the desirability of a knurled brass handle for the brass General. That'd be the bomb. I ended up putting a brass Luke Pinion handle on mine that I like much better than the factory one.
I'm curious about your comment that you are disappointed you can't use your Prolines. Is that something peculiar to the SS version? I use Prolines in my brass one, and I had sort of assumed the SS head was the same (except for material).
The brass version is a little heavier than the SS, so, imperceptively more efficient. My problem with both the SS and brass versions is that they are a tad on the mild side, so I have to use a super pro to step them up a notch to get the results. With the super pro, they do provide me with a trouble free BBS. If you are satisfied with the Prolines on the SS, then you have found shaving nirvana and I'm envious. I do rather prefer the El-Jefe on a proline for smoothness and efficiency, because the El-Jefe (aka MR-SE) is a little more aggressive than all the Generals. I have three El-Jeffe heads and one MR-SE. I do have all the Generals though.
Gotcha. Sorry, I misunderstood your earlier post.
I'm going to try a Pro Super in the brass version tomorrow. I love the razor with the Proline, but I love aggressive razors, so let's give it a go. Thanks for the tip!
If you get the results with the P-30's, the super pro is going to make it too aggressive. If you like it to be more aggressive but as smooth, then get an El-Jefe and use the Prolines. Nothing beats it, unless the ATT SE1 I have in the mail does.
Not really, just a bit heavier. If you compensate for the weight difference while at it, they are the same.
Thanks folks.
Jim, no machine marks except for just above the knurling on the handle and it is nearly imperceptible. After using the brass and SS for a while, it seemed to me the brass was a smidge smoother for me. So after seeing yours, I stared to wonder if a polished finish would help with some additional glide. I reached out to one of the several vendors around who does restoration work to get a quote (for my General as well as my unpolished Sabre). I suspect this is a relative easy job compared to full on restoration. Decided to take the plunge for both and glad I did. Feel free to PM me for more details.
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