How do I know if I need to clean/polish?

[Rigs]

I purchased a safety razor off of eBay and this is from WWII (came with razorblade box from Gillette that says "Camouflage Package") but I don't exactly know if it's good to shave with. It looks fine, some tarnishing on the top of the safety razor, no rust that I can see, etc. Do/Should I need to do anything with it before throwing in a blade and using it?

 

[TMH478]

Nice find! Do you have any pictures?

 

[BigFoot]

I purchased a safety razor off of eBay and this is from WWII (came with razorblade box from Gillette that says "Camouflage Package") but I don't exactly know if it's good to shave with. It looks fine, some tarnishing on the top of the safety razor, no rust that I can see, etc. Do/Should I need to do anything with it before throwing in a blade and using it?

At a minumum you will want to sterilize it. As tmh478 said, if you send us pictures we should be able to help you more.

 

[Rigs]

Pictures are uploading to my computer. I will post as soon as they finish. Thanks for the advice guys and stay tuned for the pics!

 

[Rigs]

 

[BigFoot]

By looking at the pictures the razor appears to be in pretty good condition. Do not boil it or use an abrassive polish. That will take the color off it. You may be able to get by with warm soapy water. It does not appear there is a lot of crud on it. To sterilize I use Barbacide it is availiable at most salon supply stores. It works very well and you can mix up a batch in a spray bottle and give your razor a spritz after every shave to keep it disenfected. I do that with an open comb new I shave with. All the finish is gone on it so all it has is the Brass. It keeps the green grungies from growing on it.

Nice Score!!

 

[Rigs]

Thanks for the advice. I soaked it in hot soapy water for about a half hour and in a barbicide solution for 10-15 minutes. After a thorough rinsing, it actually feels better--smelled like metal before, now it doesn't. Thanks for the advice!

 

[texbilly]

I love those Gillette bakelite sets. Nice score!

 

[BigFoot]

Thanks for the advice. I soaked it in hot soapy water for about a half hour and in a barbicide solution for 10-15 minutes. After a thorough rinsing, it actually feels better--smelled like metal before, now it doesn't. Thanks for the advice!

Glad to hear it. How does it shave?

 

[Rigs]

Actually haven't used it yet. I have a Merkur that I normally use and shaved yesterday while the Gillette was soaking. I'll post a review when I give it a whirl.

 

[mharris127]

Nice pictures. However (having taken pictures semi-professionally) if you are using a digital camera, it is good practice to use a setting like 1600 X 1200 (1.3 megapixel) rather than the top megapixel setting to keep pictures from being so large in a forum setting (where you cannot adjust them manually). Unless you are intending to make a large poster from the pictures, the quality of the picture is the same at 1.3mp as it is at 5 or 10mp. 640X480 (VGA or 0.3mp) is usually good enough for this purpose but the pictures are only 4 X 6 inches so detail is not shown as well.