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Gillette Aluminum Tech - OC version?

Hey Guys,

I just won a ebay bid on a peculiar razor; it's a Gillette Aluminum Tech with a date code of I1, but it has an open comb head?

Here are the pics from the ebay listing:

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Has anyone seen anything like it before? I tried googling it and looked it up on Mr. Razor but couldn't find hide nor hair mentioned of it. Hopefully its not a scam and I actually get it.

Thanks!
 
Nice score. It's a rare Open Comb Tech. You don't see them often. Another member was lucky enough to pick up a few French
market versions with slightly different base plates a while back, seen in the thread below.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/312371

I purchased a Gillette stamped version last year and it is a smooth shaver.

For comparison, here it is with a standard Aluminum Tech from the same time period.
$compare.jpg $compare2.2.jpg

Here is a profile comparison with a British Long Comb New.
$comareTN.jpg

Mine came in this case.
$octc1.jpg

$oct2.jpg
 
Awesome! Thanks so much Chris! Hopefully gamble will pay off. A british al. tech is my daily driver and a SC New is my sunday driver; hope it's the best of both worlds!
 
Nice razor. I's love to get ahold of one of those open comb recent model Techs. I have an English/Canadian NOS that has the same pattern handle, but mine is full nickel plate. I think they are a very classy looking razor. I do have a fondness for open comb versions.
 
And yet another razor goes onto my "scrounge Ebay for" . . . very nice find! Definitely let us know how it shaves.
 
Hey Guys,

I just got the razor today. Sadly, I shaved this morning (with a aluminum tech) and was finally able to get a close BBS shave from a tech. I took some pictures of both tech side by side; I'll probably shave again on Wednesday, when I do shave I will use the OC tech and give you my impressions.

Here are some pics:

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I do not think I've ever seen Gillette market these as a 'Tech" razor. Has anyone? To be called a Tech it would need a solid safety bar.

This French retail display of elmerwood's did not sport a model name that I can see.

I see this was asked before.

Sorry, but the name "Tech" refers specifically to the new solid safety bar "Technology".

Here is a response from the old thread.

As http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Tech says the safety bar was important. But the key manufacturing innovation was the stamped plate, which eventually made its way into TTO designs too.

The Gillette Tech was notable as the first Gillette razor sold with a solid safety bar rather than an open comb guard. From a manufacturing standpoint, the Tech was the first safety razor made with a guard plate stamped from sheet metal. Previously guard plates had been machined or swaged (die-forged) from stock. This technique was patented as US 2,270,388, filed 9 Aug 1938 and issued 20 Jan 1942, and gave the Tech its characteristic diamond-indented guard plate. This depression stiffens the plate. Some UK variants do not have this feature, and may have been stamped from thicker sheet-metal, or may have been machined or swaged.

The plate is clearly stamped, and the cap and handle are also in the style of a Tech. So while an open-comb Tech sounds like an oxymoron, that is what I would call it. Possibly it was made as an experiment, with an eye to keeping an entry-level open-comb in the UK product line? The UK factory made quite a few variations on the standard NEW design, too.

Those stamped teeth look like they might be uncomfortable to use. How does it shave?

I'll ask again, if you don't consider it a Tech then what is it? Honestly, I don't know what to call it. But since it was made using the same stamping technology as a SB Tech I think it is safe to call in an Open Comb Tech, in my humble opinion.
 
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I'll ask again, if you don't consider it a Tech then what is it? Honestly, I don't know what to call it. But since it the same stamping technology as a SB Tech, in my opinion, I think it is safe to call in an Open Comb Tech.

I agree with Chris. The Tech in its basic design is a stamped base plate razor so any razor that Gillette makes using that technology without giving it a name can be considered a Tech razor.

I could understand the solid safety bar being a key component if it was only made on the Tech razor but by the 60's when these razors were made Gillette had made plenty of non-Tech solid safety bar razors.

I have two Open Comb Tech razors myself.

The first has a Gillette Arrow logo on the cap but is made in France and does not have the notched guard ends all the other OC Techs above do. It also have a slightly different and longer aluminum handle so it's a bit of an oddball.

The second one is a Gillette Nacet OC Tech made in England.

$OC Tech 1.jpg

They actually shave really well and very similar to a LC NEW, the only down side is the stupid aluminum handles! If you change the handle over for something heavier then these razor get 100% better.

There actually seems to be a handful of variations of these OC Techs. French made, English made, Notched Guard Bar, un-notched Guard Bar, Gillette Arrow logo cap, Gillette Name logo cap, Nacet logo cap.
At least those are the variations I could find.
 
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