Gillette ID + Restore help

[Thumbtack]

Hello everyone, I recently got into DE shaving and purchased a Murker for my first razor. I knew my dad had an old one and at the time I started shaving I thought it was to far gone to be fixed up. I started looking through post here and noticed some brilliant restores on razors and I am in need of some help.

Also I was wondering if someone could give me an ID and year on the razor. My dad passed a few months ago, before I made the jump to DE shaving so I unfortunately can ask and talk about it with him. So I would like to clean it up and use it, or if its to far gone, just make it look nice.

Growing up I don't have any memory of my dad ever using this razor. He mostly stuck with disposable razors and canned goo. He switched between electrics and disposables later in life. So this has set well over 24 years.

My method to fix up this razor was to use hot water with Dawn dish soap ( Impatient and all I had) and let it soak for 30 minutes. I then hit with an old toothbrush and it took off a lot of gunk. I let it soak again for 45-60 minutes and dried it out. I read about Maas from here and went looking with no luck at the local Wal-mart and Walgreen's. I picked up a bottle of Brasso and used it a tiny bit, but didn't notice any improvement so I quit, thinking I would do damage rather than good.

As you can see here there is a bit of rust. I think it's just surface rust, but I'm not sure.

And here is the underside of the razor, it's a bit hard to make out but the stamp says H 3. Hopefully that can help with the ID.

I didn't snap any before pictures, mostly cause I didn't know how well it would turn out. Anyways thanks for the help!

 

[the beav]

Hi there. What you have is a Gillette Slim Adjustable made in the third quarter of 1962 (H=1962; 3=third quarter). It's nice to have your dad's razor so I'm sure that you're thankful to have it.

Overall, it's in pretty good shape, and it's a good thing that you didn't clean it any more than you did, especially with the brasso.

The best way to start is spray it down really well with Scrubbing Bubbles and, after it sits for awhile, scrub the gunk off with an old toothbrush.

You noticed the "rust", but it's probably where the nickel plate has worn off down the the brass underneath. You can't do anything about that. On the other hand, it doesn't hurt the razor either; it just indicates that your dad used this razor quite a bit.

After it's cleaned up, you can find another polish by using the B&B search engine. My store carried MAAS but then they quit, so I ordered some online instead. You might want to do the same if you are thinking about buying more than a few razors.

After the razor is cleaned and polished, check the numbers. You can repaint them if necessary. Use the search engine again for threads pertaining to that.

Hope this helps.

 

[Thumbtack]

Thanks for the tips!

I also forgot to mention that the adjustable piece gets stuck around 7. When I first started cleaning it wouldn't go past 3. With a little work I managed to get it to go farther but it seems to stick at 7. Any way to free it up?

 

[Mark1966]

Thanks for the tips!

I also forgot to mention that the adjustable piece gets stuck around 7. When I first started cleaning it wouldn't go past 3. With a little work I managed to get it to go farther but it seems to stick at 7. Any way to free it up?

Try giving it a good L-O-N-G soak to free up any stubborn gunk. I was surprised what a difference a 24 hour soak can make to a Fatboy adjustable that just would not move.

Admittedly I needed to wrap in an old sock and use a paid of multi-grips to get it to move at first but once freed it worked fine.

 

[BBrad]

Make sure that the adjuster tang (the part right above the adjuster knob) with the four fingers that extend through the base plate is able to move freely before you attempt to move the dial above 7. That plate must move freely up and down when the dial is turned. If it binds, it stops the dial from turning to a higher number.

Quite often it is no more than just gunk gumming up the works. This is a nice razor and will benefit from a long hot soak! Do not boil the razor - just soak it in very hot (almost boiling) water with a little dish soap for an hour or two.

Never use Brasso on a plated razor. It is a very harsh polish and will only make your plating problems worse. Many folk here recommend MAAS, although I have never been able to find it here in NH. I use Simichrome on nickel plated razors with great success. For gold plate, nothing more than Scrubbing Bubbles and a soft cloth to polish.

Congrats on having your Dad's razor! Enjoy!!

 

[BlkKnight]

As per the above.

A good soak in water straight from the kettle with some detergent for a good 2-3 days.

Refresh the water periodically with new hot water (giving it a bit of a scrub with a toothbrush while cold).

I've used a little bit of autosol to bring the shine up

Remember to "open" the silo doors BEFORE trying to adjust the blade.

 

[eski11]

Found my MAAS at the local ACE Hardware

 

[Go West Young Man]

Most hardware stores will have 'polishing cloths', which work great on plated razors. Very mild abrasive, gives a great shine without removing any plating.