Help Cleaning Gillette!

[Hemingway25]

Hey guys and gals! New to b&b here. Been lurking for awhile and finally decided to post.Have been de shaving for close to a year now, so I'm still quite new to all of this. Anyways made my first vintage purchase this weekend. So, I picked up what I think is an old gillette new open comb at an antique mall this weekend for $6. Its a little filthy though. Any suggestions on what I should do to clean this bad boy?

 

[chrisf8657]

Scrubbing Bubbles and a old toothbrush are your best friend.

 

[bharvey60]

If really dirty soak a day or two in water with dish detergent. Then scrubbing bubbles and toothbrush.

 

[silver]

After the scrubbing bubbles, maybe some MAAS to get it shiny. It looks like most of the plating has been worn off already, but be aware that there is a good chance the the polish will strip the rest of the plating off.

 

[Kerrplunk]

I have the same razor, it's become my daily razor. Enjoy!

 

[onotoman]

The gold is thin on those older Gillettes and applied over a layer of copper over brass. Gillette applied a layer of horrible lacquer in order to preserve the gold a little longer. The best way to remove the lacquer is to steep the razor in oven cleaner overnight then scrub in warm water (use disposable gloves).

Unfortunately the razor in the post has lost most of the original plating.

Once you remove lacquer and the plating, you'll need to regularly polish the razor or it'll tarnish and in extreme cases it'll go like this (green oxidisation):

 

[Hemingway25]

Awesome! Thanks so much for all the help guys. I was worried about the gold plating, if it was chrome it would have been easier. I have it soaking in some warm water and detergent right now. Even though most of the original plating is gone it won't effect how it shaves will it?

 

[Joe D]

Here's a thought: you could have it rhodium plated. IF there are dents / dings / bent teeth then maybe not worth the trouble...
I bought a rhodium plated Tech that looks amazing. Rhodium being really hard metal makes it long wearing for daily use.

 

[Hemingway25]

I don't think I'll have it rhodium plated. Not a bad idea but for a broke college student...nah. Been working on it with the scrubbing bubbles and am going to polish it up soon. I'll post some pics after it's all cleaned up. Thanks again for all the help everybody!