Finished my first shave with refurbed retro tech

[Judge Kemp]

I just finished refurbing my pre-WW II fat handled tech and '46-50 fat handled gold tech. Both turned out well and I had a shave with the pre-WW II tonight with a Derby platinum, C&E Sandalwood finished with a nice Pinaud Clubman splash.

There was certainly a neat feeling shaving with a retro razor. This was my first experience with anything except my new EJ DE89L. What a cool "hobby" to have undertaken.

I'm going to take the gold-handled tech and "PIF" it locally to a guy I work with. He has been intrigued by the DE thing and I'm gonna put together the fat handled tech, some Derby blades, body shop cream and some ASB to him to get him started.

 

[kg4ghn]

I love my old razors!

And I love my tech. It is my benchmark for trying new blades, or if I absolutely need a great shave with no irritation for whatever reason.

 

[tchmango]

Judge, what was involved in your refurb? Curious as I have some Techs I picked up needing some love.

 

[Judge Kemp]

Judge, what was involved in your refurb? Curious as I have some Techs I picked up needing some love.

This one was really basic. I just tried the old-school methods. I have some product, etc that I am going to try on a "refurb PIF" I got recently. However, I wanted a benchmark for just the normal old methods.

I soaked in hot water. Soaked in vinegar/water. Soaked in Vinegar. Soaked in Scrubbing Bubbles. All soaks were overnight, with rinses between. Then, scrubbed with toothbrush and scrubbing bubbles. Rinsed. Scrubbed with toothbrush and Bartender's Friend. Rinsed. Shaved.

Here is the pic of the Gold Fat Handled Tech '46-'50 I'm PIFing to a guy I work with tomorrow. It isn't perfect, but was pretty rough to begin with ($8 at a local "antique mall" kind of deal:

 

[Judge Kemp]

And here is the rest of the PIF. I've only been at it a month, so I don't have much in the way of brushes. I'm going to be buying a VDH for him to try tomorrow just as a starter for the PIF:

 

[Texas Don]

That's a great PIF. Truly generous to share your shaving den with a friend to get him started. Way to go!!

 

[maxman]

That's very nice of you to PIF this gear.
I hope your friend likes DE shaving.

 

[Go West Young Man]

This one was really basic. I just tried the old-school methods. I have some product, etc that I am going to try on a "refurb PIF" I got recently. However, I wanted a benchmark for just the normal old methods.

I soaked in hot water. Soaked in vinegar/water. Soaked in Vinegar. Soaked in Scrubbing Bubbles. All soaks were overnight, with rinses between. Then, scrubbed with toothbrush and scrubbing bubbles. Rinsed. Scrubbed with toothbrush and Bartender's Friend. Rinsed. Shaved.

Haha, we usually just called that "cleaned".
Refurb usually means you did some kind of major repairs or replating to a damaged razor.

 

[Judge Kemp]

Haha, we usually just called that "cleaned".
Refurb usually means you did some kind of major repairs or replating to a damaged razor.

Yeah, it was bad enough that the safety plate and base plate wouldn't unscrew and wouldn't come "unstuck" so I qualified it as a refurb. Luckily, a little TLC and some soaking is all it took to get it apart and cleanable. If I ever do a "repair" on a tech (not sure what that would be) I'll post "repair" in the thread title. If I do a replate, I'll post "ill-conceived $20 replate of an $8 tech" in the title".

 

[tchmango]

Hey Judge, good show. If you like I will send you some blades for you to pif to your friend. I have a good stock of most of the blades and would be happy to share some.

 

[engdom]

great PIF for your friend. I hope he enjoys his new Tech. I picked one of those up for $2 at an antique store but I haven't had a chance to clean it up (it's green with oxidation). I hope what I have underneath is as nice as yours!

 

[Judge Kemp]

great PIF for your friend. I hope he enjoys his new Tech. I picked one of those up for $2 at an antique store but I haven't had a chance to clean it up (it's green with oxidation). I hope what I have underneath is as nice as yours!

I've got some of those coming to fix up here shortly. I found an oxidation remover that is used for marine "gel" finishes on boats. I'm thinking it should be extra-gentle and should work really well on oxidized razors. I will report back if it works as well as I'm hoping it will (can't recall the name off-hand and I'm at work so can't check).

 

[Go West Young Man]

"ill-conceived $20 replate of an $8 tech"

 

[Judge Kemp]