Gillette what?

[Alejandro1969]

I just bought this on the 'World's Most Popular Online Marketplace' and I was wondering what type of Gillette razor it is, and from what era? The head seems to be similar to the New Standard, but the handle is throwing me off! Another thing, I do not possess this razor yet, it is in the post, so I can't see if there is a patent number on it until I receive it.
The seller just described it as "a vintage USA made gillette safety razor, unboxed, in good used condition"!!! It was £10.50!

 

[amishmotorboat]

It's hard to tell from that angle. But it's either a single ring or a big fellow.

 

[cwlsmith]

It's hard to tell from that angle. But it's either a single ring or a big fellow.

+1. It's a Single Ring

 

[kingfisher]

Yep. Looks like an Old Type to me, probably a single ring.

 

[dcobranchi]

The silver plate looks like it's in very good condition. Nice find.

You'll want to post your WTB in the B/S/T. It's not allowed to post it in the other forums.

 

[alex2363]

Common Bar Handle NEW

 

[Alejandro1969]

The silver plate looks like it's in very good condition. Nice find.

You'll want to post your WTB in the B/S/T. It's not allowed to post it in the other forums.

Thanks for telling me! Cheers, A.

 

[Maxime D.]

+2
Single Ring
1906 - 1921

 

[celestino]

+1. It's a Single Ring

+++ Yes, sure looks like an Old Type Single Ring and in great shape. Congratulations!

 

[Alejandro1969]

Well here it is, and it certainly looks like there's a bit of bite left in the ol' dog too!

There are is no Patent or Serial numbers but it does have Gillette in the diamond and 'Made in U.S.A.' under the comb!
It's a nice little razor all the same. I'm surprised how small it actually is, well, it's 3mm taller than a New Standard but
in photos these things look bigger!

 

[Shave_Rat]

Nice find. I picked one of these up here in a shop, but mine is (mostly gone) gold plating. Mechanically it's in perfect working order tho. I will say, it's a pretty aggressive shave, no doubt on that part. Enjoy

 

[edgerunner]

I thought Single Rings had their serial numbers stamped on the internal barrel of the handle above the knob... or am I wrong?

 

[mharris127]

That razor will take a new style blade but since it was made for the old style thicker blades I would guess the shave may be extra-mild. I look forward to you posting the results after shaving to either confirm my hypothesis or not. There is one source in Russia that sells an old-style blade but in my stupidity I forgot to bookmark the site so I don't have it to give you.

 

[Alejandro1969]

That razor will take a new style blade but since it was made for the old style thicker blades I would guess the shave may be extra-mild. I look forward to you posting the results after shaving to either confirm my hypothesis or not. There is one source in Russia that sells an old-style blade but in my stupidity I forgot to bookmark the site so I don't have it to give you.

I have been posting shave videos on YouTube of all my different razors lately! This will be next. I'll get back to you when I shave with this one!

 

[mblakele]

I thought Single Rings had their serial numbers stamped on the internal barrel of the handle above the knob... or am I wrong?

Old Type numbers stopped in mid-1921 when the New Improved arrived.

 

[BBrad]

That razor will take a new style blade but since it was made for the old style thicker blades I would guess the shave may be extra-mild. I look forward to you posting the results after shaving to either confirm my hypothesis or not. There is one source in Russia that sells an old-style blade but in my stupidity I forgot to bookmark the site so I don't have it to give you.

This topic gets debated from time to time . . . yes, the original Gillette blade was thicker than the NEW blade, which in turn was thicker than the Thin Gillette blade. Of course, we are talking mere thousandths of an inch difference.

Changing the thickness of the blade certainly changes the distance between the plane of the blade edge and the plane of the baseplate that the blade sits upon. The question is by how much, and does it change the shave?

The point at which the blade edge is above the baseplate is equal to one-half the thickness of the blade, since in theory, the edge is at the midpoint of the blade's thickness. Only the thickness of the blade below the edge matters.

Mathematically, the difference in installed blade gap between an original blade and a Thin blade would be only one-half the difference of the thickness of the two blades involved. While I don't have a micrometer handy, let's say for the sake of discussion that the difference in blade thickness is .001" . . . the change in installed blade gap would then be only .0005". (I don't think my face is calibrated to that degree and wouldn't feel much of a difference at all.)

In contrast, a Gillette adjustable razor changes the blade gap by about .002" per click. Installing a shim under a modern blade would change the gap by the full thickness of the shim (since all of it is located below the blade edge) and would make a change larger than one "adjustment click" and certainly much larger than the difference caused by the thinner blade.

 

[kingfisher]

This topic gets debated from time to time . . . yes, the original Gillette blade was thicker than the NEW blade, which in turn was thicker than the Thin Gillette blade. Of course, we are talking mere thousandths of an inch difference.

Changing the thickness of the blade certainly changes the distance between the plane of the blade edge and the plane of the baseplate that the blade sits upon. The question is by how much, and does it change the shave?

The point at which the blade edge is above the baseplate is equal to one-half the thickness of the blade, since in theory, the edge is at the midpoint of the blade's thickness. Only the thickness of the blade below the edge matters.

Mathematically, the difference in installed blade gap between an original blade and a Thin blade would be only one-half the difference of the thickness of the two blades involved. While I don't have a micrometer handy, let's say for the sake of discussion that the difference in blade thickness is .001" . . . the change in installed blade gap would then be only .0005". (I don't think my face is calibrated to that degree and wouldn't feel much of a difference at all.)

In contrast, a Gillette adjustable razor changes the blade gap by about .002" per click. Installing a shim under a modern blade would change the gap by the full thickness of the shim (since all of it is located below the blade edge) and would make a change larger than one "adjustment click" and certainly much larger than the difference caused by the thinner blade.

Thanks for this informative post, Brad.

I don't find the Old Type to be mild at all. In contrast, you can really feel the blade, and the shave is quite efficient. It requires strict attention because the angle must be maintained perfectly; there's virtually no gap.

 

[amishmotorboat]

+1 BBrad. I am in agreement that shimming is unnecessary. IMHO, the change in cap styles did more to affect the shave than blade thickness.

But if I could play devil's advocate for a moment, the thickness isn't the only consideration between the two blades. Flexibility will also factor in, and a thicker blade may not bend down towards the guard quite as much as a thin one. Hmm.... now that I think about it, perhaps this was a reason for the change in caps?

 

[Alejandro1969]

That razor will take a new style blade but since it was made for the old style thicker blades I would guess the shave may be extra-mild. I look forward to you posting the results after shaving to either confirm my hypothesis or not. There is one source in Russia that sells an old-style blade but in my stupidity I forgot to bookmark the site so I don't have it to give you.

I shaved with it and I conclude it is definitely a very mild OC razor! Great little razor though as it is around 100 years old!
See the shave!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPJNioz0jYk&list=UUIe6uBsKCLsW70quGlMVkjg&index=1&feature=plcp

 

[BBrad]

Wow, Alejandro . . . six day growth really puts the razor to the test! Nice outcome!!