Gillette New Improved? Hoping so...

[It's Hedley]

I am currently in the B&B 2020 Sabbatical and before I took the plunge, I bought a few old user grade Gillettes to ease my pain along the way. One happened to be this old, patina coated New Improved...

I actually very much liked the look of old matte gray patina. But, after a half dozen shaves with different blades and soaps, I felt like my shaves were not great. The razor felt sluggish. It lacked glide and smoothness that I experienced in nearly all of the vintage Gillette's I have tried. As much as I loved the patina of this nearly 100 year old razor, she got a face lift today.

I used the baking soda, foil and boiling water bath a few times and it still had a dull layer of history that would not budge. So, I took out the Mother's polish and wow, the shine came back magically (James Dufour at Wolfman recommended the Mother's). It still has a couple of stubborn stains in a groove or two, but I think I will keep them as a reminder of how far this razor has gone in its journey.

With all that said, my hope is by cleaning off that beautiful patina, the razor will once again glide across my face. I will let you know tomorrow how it goes.

Cheers.

 

[Northstonehill]

Great review, Thomas, thanks for sharing I gotta try me one of these!

 

[It's Hedley]

Great review, Thomas, thanks for sharing I gotta try me one of these!

Thanks Peter. I had the NEW Deluxe Criterion Chromium cased set, but sold it. I really enjoyed that razor, but was unloading my cased sets. I thought the New Improved would be a good replacement at $30 usd, so far, not so much. I really do hope the cleaning helps and gives me the same shave as the NEW Deluxe, because it was a favorite.

I hope all is great in DK.

 

[Hannah's Dad]

I am currently in the B&B 2020 Sabbatical and before I took the plunge, I bought a few old user grade Gillettes to ease my pain along the way. One happened to be this old, patina coated New Improved...

View attachment 1058630

View attachment 1058639

I actually very much liked the look of old matte gray patina. But, after a half dozen shaves with different blades and soaps, I felt like my shaves were not great. The razor felt sluggish. It lacked glide and smoothness that I experienced in nearly all of the vintage Gillette's I have tried. As much as I loved the patina of this nearly 100 year old razor, she got a face lift today.

View attachment 1058640

View attachment 1058644

I used the baking soda, foil and boiling water bath a few times and it still had a dull layer of history that would not budge. So, I took out the Mother's polish and wow, the shine came back magically (James Dufour at Wolfman recommended the Mother's). It still has a couple of stubborn stains in a groove or two, but I think I will keep them as a reminder of how far this razor has gone in its journey.

With all that said, my hope is by cleaning off that beautiful patina, the razor will once again glide across my face. I will let you know tomorrow how it goes.

Cheers.

Great work, Tom!! I’ll have to check out Mother’s.

 

[Flintstone65]

I do hope your shaves improve without the patina, but I have to say that while I absolutely love the way that particular model of razor looks -- I much prefer the shaves of the razors that came before it (DR, SR, OT's) and after (New LC/SC, Goodwills)....with the New Improved razors, the "Improved" part is lost on me. I still have a couple of cased ones in my collection, and I really should "let them out to play" and subsequently work on my technique with them, but I just haven't made the time....shame on me.

Looking forward to hearing how it goes sans-patina.

 

[ajkel64]

It cleaned up very nicely. Thanks for sharing it with us. A very good looking razor.

 

[Cepasaccus]

I have a Big Fellow. I had today my second shave with it. Head is straight with even blade gap. First shave was removing a beard. It clogged up very soon. Actually it was just a part of a shave, because I switched soon to a Rotbart/Mond-Extra single ring clone. That had no problem at all mowing down the beard. Second shave was today with a single day hair grow. I did not get a good shave, but a lot of weepers. This razor seems to be an intermediate between the Old Type and the Tech without having anything good from both relatives.

 

[kingfisher]

A New Improved and New Deluxe, in my experience, are actually quite different as shavers. The New Improved is quite a bit more aggressive and blade-forward.

Make sure the blade is aligned perfectly and has equal exposure on both sides. Shave with a very shallow angle and a light touch.

I love the New Improved, but don't expect it to be a New Deluxe. Ain't gonna happen.

 

[It's Hedley]

As always, great input from posters to this thread. I will not get into the debate of whether a New Improved is actually an average, above average or great Gillette razor. There are literally hundreds of posts about this razor and one devoted to the New Improved vs the NEW Deluxe as to which is the superior razor. As you can imagine, the results were pretty much evenly split. YMMV.

My intention of starting this thread was to see if patina has any affect on shave quality and if removing the patina does effect the razor and therefore the shave (affect vs effect is another debate for another day). As you can see from the image above in my original post, this razor was thick with patina from nearly 100 years of use. So much so that even after attempting the infamous foil, baking soda and boiling water trick numerous times, it still had a layer of scum. After polishing with Mother's, it really did shine and I could feel how smooth it had become.

The result of my first shave this morning made it quite clear, removing the layers of patina vastly improved the shave quality. The razor was able to glide through the soap and along the skin effortlessly. The patina'd razor just felt slow, sluggish and lacked slickness with any soap i had tried (MWF, Tabac, ToBS, MdC etc). I am not saying that any razor with patina is not an effective tool (effect vs affect again), but in this case, removing the patina was the right call. The set up today...

 

[Flintstone65]

Sounds good.....enjoy!!!

 

[Cepasaccus]

There are literally hundreds of posts about this razor and one devoted to the New Improved vs the NEW Deluxe as to which is the superior razor.

And the answer which of these two is superior is quite easy. It is the Old Type.

The result of my first shave this morning made it quite clear, removing the layers of patina vastly improved the shave quality.

Interesting. I have a nickel plated NEW LC standard and a gold plated NEW LC Débutante. The standard has a greyisch matte finish and it does not glide as nicely as the Débutante. Not sure if I should depatinate my Big Fellow. I fear it will get an ugly red screw head.

How was the closeness of the shave?

 

[It's Hedley]

And the answer which of these two is superior is quite easy. It is the Old Type.


Interesting. I have a nickel plated NEW LC standard and a gold plated NEW LC Débutante. The standard has a greyisch matte finish and it does not glide as nicely as the Débutante. Not sure if I should depatinate my Big Fellow. I fear it will get an ugly red screw head.

How was the closeness of the shave?

I use a 3 pass routine that I can pretty much guarantee a BBS shave with any razor I use. Today was no exception. The difference for me and my razors is how long the BBS will last. Today I paired with a Gillette Silver Blue and 5 hours later still BBS.

To me the New Improved is way more OT than NEW Deluxe, New LC/SC or Goodwill. If I can get the shave I had today with the New Improved, I would be happy to shave with any of them. It just takes a bit more care with the Old Types and apparently the New Improved.

 

[BigJ]

Great clean-up!

Hope this razor is now the cat’s pajamas for you!

 

[Jgreenepa]

I am currently in the B&B 2020 Sabbatical and before I took the plunge, I bought a few old user grade Gillettes to ease my pain along the way. One happened to be this old, patina coated New Improved...

View attachment 1058630

View attachment 1058639

I actually very much liked the look of old matte gray patina. But, after a half dozen shaves with different blades and soaps, I felt like my shaves were not great. The razor felt sluggish. It lacked glide and smoothness that I experienced in nearly all of the vintage Gillette's I have tried. As much as I loved the patina of this nearly 100 year old razor, she got a face lift today.

View attachment 1058640

View attachment 1058644

I used the baking soda, foil and boiling water bath a few times and it still had a dull layer of history that would not budge. So, I took out the Mother's polish and wow, the shine came back magically (James Dufour at Wolfman recommended the Mother's). It still has a couple of stubborn stains in a groove or two, but I think I will keep them as a reminder of how far this razor has gone in its journey.

With all that said, my hope is by cleaning off that beautiful patina, the razor will once again glide across my face. I will let you know tomorrow how it goes.

Cheers.

Gorgeous restoration! I love my New Standard’s shave!

 

[It's Hedley]

I had a 2nd shave with the New Improved post patina cleaning and it confirms my previous observation... it is definitely a better razor today than it was before I cleaned off the 100 years of grime.

 

[Northstonehill]

Great thread on a fun subject, Thomas. I like your conclusion as I am firmly in the restore/patina-less camp. And incidentally, I see that you like the Pitralon Classic too

 

[It's Hedley]

Great thread on a fun subject, Thomas. I like your conclusion as I am firmly in the restore/patina-less camp. And incidentally, I see that you like the Pitralon Classic too

I am late to Pitralon Classic, but it is a favorite already!

 

[never-stop-learning]

Great restoration, Thomas. Beautiful razor.

Agree on the Pitralon. Great AS.

 

[Old Hippie]

Many years ago I was at a large auction where some old non-electric lighting was on offer. The auctioneer hauls up this grody old lamp that looked like even the dirt on it was older than dirt and starts gassing on about how this piece has "lovely patina."

A buddy of mine was there, too. He yelled up at the auctioneer, "DIRT IS NOT PATINA." Brought down the house.

In this case, patina it is -- but I will say that nice shiny razor looks like it is cared for.

O.H.