Gillette British 'Popular' #47 restoration

[Dyllern]

Hello everybody,

I’m as some of you know a big fan of the ‘Aristocrats’ from both USA and the ones made in England

A couple of days ago this little ugly guy turned up on a webpage for secondhand sales here in Denmark. I quickly recognised that it was a Gillette British ‘Popular’ #47 from 1939.



The razor and case were in pretty bad shape, but it was dirt cheap! 24USD including shipping to be exact and then I thought to myself: “Might as well, I need a challenge”.

The razor arrived today and couldn’t wait to get on with the challenge. Like the pictures shows both the razor and case were in a pretty rough shape and furthermore the TTO mechanism was stuck when I began testing.



I have pretty good experience with taking different ‘Aristocrats’ apart and luckily the earlier models have a “security screw” which makes disassembling pretty easy.



After hours of cleaning, polishing and fixing the mechanics this is the result:



The razor is by no means perfect since scratches and plate loss are present, but I saved this little guy so he could live on!

For the price I couldn’t be happier and it was a fun challenge

 

[Hannah's Dad]

Great score! Congrats!

 

[lak611]

Very nice work. What do you use to polish a razor?

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[nemo]

Wonderful job for a super razor! Congrats.

Hope you tried it out with a shave.

The handle, is it silver plated?

 

[Northstonehill]

Another awesome refurb, Mikkel - well done!

 

[Dyllern]

Great score! Congrats!

Very nice work. What do you use to polish a razor?

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Wonderful job for a super razor! Congrats.

Hope you tried it out with a shave.

The handle, is it silver plated?

Another awesome refurb, Mikkel - well done!

Many thanks guys I haven't shaved with the razor yet but I bet it's going to be great I think the handle is nickel plated since the finish looks the same, but after reading Peter's adventures with all the British 'Populars' I know that it could be silver

I have for the longest time only been using a mild polishing cloth for jewellery.



I learned from the start that the polishing process is something you have to be carefull about and especially with “soft”-metals like gold. So far I have been getting pretty good results with the cloth which has some kind of rouge imbedded in it. It’s not very potent but it has helped giving a lot of my razors a little extra shine. Since it’s relatively mild it has been used on nickel, rhodium and gold with good results.
However I have also experienced multiple times that I wasn’t able to get into the next layer of metal and clean the razor up really nice but so far I have accepted that.

When I decided to go for this little restoring project I knew something more potent was nessecary so I actually tried a metal polish meant for all kinds of metal which is quite popular at least here in Denmark:



“Solvol Autosol® has been used to polish Aluminum, Stainless steel, Brass, Copper, chrome, and Nickel. It has also been used for polishing Ceramic, Glass, Marble, Opal, Ivory, and plastic fills (Epoxy and polyester). It is not recommended for electroplated surfaces, Wood, Leather, or non-stick coatings, such as Teflon®.”

I have a DEAD British ‘Aristocrat’ in rhodium which came along when I bought a special case from France which is a project for another time. I thought to myself: “Let’s give it a try, nothing to loose” and it did WONDERS!



Suddenly I got all excited. I gave all my British ‘Aristocrats’ + the ‘Executive’ some love:



Then round two:



I got some 3-piece razors that I probably will treat to it as well:



I most likely won’t use this kind of potent metal polish to my razors plated in gold. My ‘Toggle’ won’t come near this stuff

Hopefully that can help

 

[BigJ]

LOVELY!!

 

[lak611]

Many thanks guys [emoji106] I haven't shaved with the razor yet but I bet it's going to be great[emoji108] I think the handle is nickel plated since the finish looks the same, but after reading Peter's adventures with all the British 'Populars' I know that it could be silver [emoji3166]

I have for the longest time only been using a mild polishing cloth for jewellery.

View attachment 1293578

I learned from the start that the polishing process is something you have to be carefull about and especially with “soft”-metals like gold. So far I have been getting pretty good results with the cloth which has some kind of rouge imbedded in it. It’s not very potent but it has helped giving a lot of my razors a little extra shine. Since it’s relatively mild it has been used on nickel, rhodium and gold with good results.
However I have also experienced multiple times that I wasn’t able to get into the next layer of metal and clean the razor up really nice but so far I have accepted that.

When I decided to go for this little restoring project I knew something more potent was nessecary so I actually tried a metal polish meant for all kinds of metal which is quite popular at least here in Denmark:

View attachment 1293573

“Solvol Autosol[emoji2400] has been used to polish Aluminum, Stainless steel, Brass, Copper, chrome, and Nickel. It has also been used for polishing Ceramic, Glass, Marble, Opal, Ivory, and plastic fills (Epoxy and polyester). It is not recommended for electroplated surfaces, Wood, Leather, or non-stick coatings, such as Teflon[emoji2400].”

I have a DEAD British ‘Aristocrat’ in rhodium which came along when I bought a special case from France which is a project for another time. I thought to myself: “Let’s give it a try, nothing to loose” and it did WONDERS!

View attachment 1293576

Suddenly I got all excited. I gave all my British ‘Aristocrats’ + the ‘Executive’ some love:

View attachment 1293577

Then round two:

View attachment 1293575

I got some 3-piece razors that I probably will treat to it as well:

View attachment 1293580

I most likely won’t use this kind of potent metal polish to my razors plated in gold. My ‘Toggle’ won’t come near this stuff [emoji28]

Hopefully that can help [emoji106]

Those are all beautiful razors. [emoji846]

Thanks for answering my questions about the polishing materials also. I'm going to pick up those products for my razors.

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk

 

[CaerMooman]

Lucky score. I think a big part of the enjoyment is finding these old razors for a good price, and cleaning them back up pretty. I am still awaiting to find a similar OC Popular or Crat.

*Could you take the case lining out and realign it? looks like a warm iron would straighten the card and fabric out.

 

[Dyllern]

Those are all beautiful razors.

Thanks for answering my questions about the polishing materials also. I'm going to pick up those products for my razors.

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk

You are welcome buddy. Hopefully it gives you good results

Lucky score. I think a big part of the enjoyment is finding these old razors for a good price, and cleaning them back up pretty. I am still awaiting to find a similar OC Popular or Crat.

*Could you take the case lining out and realign it? looks like a warm iron would straighten the card and fabric out.

For some reason the glue is actually still keeping the lining in place in most spots but that is a good suggestion. I think I will try that some day

I very much do enjoy these kinds of small projects myself. Of course there has to be a proper relation between price and condition. It's clearly taking a chance since the outcome is tough to foresee.

I get a big enjoyment out of developing some basic skills and being able to "save" razors like this. In my mind that is another fun part of being a collector since the market will get a little bigger.
That being said I can respect collectors who don't have these abilities or want to develop them so they use quite a bit more money and almost only have pristine examples.

As long as you are passionate about oldschool/wet-shaving you get a "+" in my book

 

[malocchio]

Wonderful clean up job, and a razor of great beauty !

 

[Dyllern]

Renovation updates

I have been spending a little time trying to make the interior look better on the 'Popular'-set. While I was at it I thought that I might as well give some of the cases for my other 'Aristocrats' a little touch up:





I'm pretty happy with the results. Of course some of the the metal is still crooked and I can't fix plate loss, but I think they turned out pretty good

 

[aussietanker]

Renovation updates

I have been spending a little time trying to make the interior look better on the 'Popular'-set. While I was at it I thought that I might as well give some of the cases for my other 'Aristocrats' a little touch up:

View attachment 1295953View attachment 1295955View attachment 1295956View attachment 1295957
View attachment 1295958View attachment 1295959View attachment 1295960View attachment 1295961
View attachment 1295954View attachment 1295962

I'm pretty happy with the results. Of course some of the the metal is still crooked and I can't fix plate loss, but I think they turned out pretty good

They look great! Fantastic job

Can you please tell us a little bit more about the process that you used to restore / tidy up these cases?

 

[Dyllern]

They look great! Fantastic job

Can you please tell us a little bit more about the process that you used to restore / tidy up these cases?

Thanks Rodric. What do you want to know?

On the outside

Clean the case with a damp cloth and give it a good polish after. I use 'AOTOSOL' myself and a jeweller's rouge polishing cloth after. Just like with my razors, but NOT on gold plating.



If some the metal is skewed I try to hammer it straight again, but deep dents I don't attempt to push out in fear of damaging some of the velvet.

I can't fix if the top part is "lazy" and the spring is broken.

On the inside

I simply just try to clean the inside from dust and debris. Furthermore glue the loose parts back into place.







Hopefully you can use some of it

 

[aussietanker]

Hopefully you can use some of it

Thanks. That's helpful. How do you clean the Velvet? I was wondering if it's possible to use one of those little vacuum cleaners that ppl use to clean computer keyboards?

Or maybe just dab with a wet cloth with dilute dishwashing detergent?

What is best?

I think that damaging the Gillette Logo imprint on the Velvet would be the main worry.

 

[Dyllern]

Thanks. That's helpful. How do you clean the Velvet? I was wondering if it's possible to use one of those little vacuum cleaners that ppl use to clean computer keyboards?

Or maybe just dab with a wet cloth with dilute dishwashing detergent?

What is best?

I think that damaging the Gillette Logo imprint on the Velvet would be the main worry.

I have never tried to clean the interior fabric with anything wet for fear of damaging eg. a logo. But I do use a damp cloth to wipe off dirt from the chrome edges and fixed blade trays.

Mostly it's just a matter of removing hair and dust which I do with a soft toothbrush and afterwards a hair dryer set to low speed and somewhat cold air.

Furthermore maybe clip off a couple of loose threads from the velvet.

The above at least seems to work pretty good for me