I just got back my replated razor, and thought others might find the saga interesting. I recently purchased a 1961 Gillette Slim Adjustable razor off eBay, with the intent of having it replated. Lets face it, those that have already been restored go for a fortune, and I did not want to spend that much money. I like the old razors, however, and figured that if I got a good deal, that plus the plating cost would still be less than either the price of one that someone fixed up, or a new one. So I got lucky and found this 61 Slim which looked bad, but worked fine, and paid 16 dollars plus shipping. Here are my crappy photos of the razor in the condition that it arrived in:
As you can see, the razor had lost some plating and needed a good cleaning. What may not be evident is that the trapdoors (or whatever you call them) on the razor had some moderate pitting which would need attention for the plating to turn out ok.
I had planned to send it to Reliable Plating. I spoke to them twice, and they are super great people. The problem was that I was planning to leave for a long trip (several months) out of the country in less than two weeks from when I received the razor. Reliable, to their great credit, was willing to do the job in that short time period. Unfortunately the shipping round trip would have cost substantially more than the plating job, through no fault of their own!
I will definitely be sending them a razor to replate in the future, because I was super impressed with their customer service. for this razor, however, I decided to look for a local plater. I found Reckon Plating on the internet, gave them a call, and dropped the razor off that same day. Here is the link to their website with all of their contact information: http://www.reckonplating.com/
They had never done a razor before. I talked to the owner, who, to put it mildly, is a man of few words. We spoke briefly about how the razor worked, and how others generally approach the job (such as not dismantling the razor). I also said that if possible, I wanted the vintage nickel plating, and not the newer, harder stuff. He then looked at my razor, shrugged, and said that they would give it a try. They charged my $40.00, which is their minimum charge, and stated that if I wanted gold it would be another twenty bucks. I elected to stick with nickel since this is from the first year of slim production, and I wanted to keep it as original as possible.
So I was a little nervous about the whole thing, and when my trip plans changed I almost called and cancelled, with the intent to send it to Reliable, who has at least done razors before. In the end I decided to wait it out and see what I received, with the thought that if it was really screwed up I could always send it to Reliable for them to undo the damage. I picked it up today, and was really surprised and pleased at what a good job that they did. They clearly spent some time on the trapdoors, as they are now perfectly smooth and shiny. They plating job is as perfect as I could ever hope for, and overall the razor looks fantastic. They only place where the new nickel did not go on perfectly was inside the razor on the little round end piece which goes up and down. I believe that this is a different metal and takes the plating differently as a result. I have an original gold plated 58 Fat Boy, and that piece, while gold, looks very different from the rest of the razor as well. It does not bother me at all, and overall the razor is just beautiful. Here are the "after pics, as best as I could get them:
Sorry, for some reason the other photos would not upload. Trust me, the razor looks great. I did the numbers with some acrylic paint, and plan to clean it and shave with it today.
I do not know whether Reckon would do plating by mail, but it is worth a call to find out. They are a nice small family business, and did a good job on my razor. They do not at present do Rhodium, but I think in addition to gold and nickel they offer several chrome treatments, if you are into that sort of thing.
As you can see, the razor had lost some plating and needed a good cleaning. What may not be evident is that the trapdoors (or whatever you call them) on the razor had some moderate pitting which would need attention for the plating to turn out ok.
I had planned to send it to Reliable Plating. I spoke to them twice, and they are super great people. The problem was that I was planning to leave for a long trip (several months) out of the country in less than two weeks from when I received the razor. Reliable, to their great credit, was willing to do the job in that short time period. Unfortunately the shipping round trip would have cost substantially more than the plating job, through no fault of their own!
I will definitely be sending them a razor to replate in the future, because I was super impressed with their customer service. for this razor, however, I decided to look for a local plater. I found Reckon Plating on the internet, gave them a call, and dropped the razor off that same day. Here is the link to their website with all of their contact information: http://www.reckonplating.com/
They had never done a razor before. I talked to the owner, who, to put it mildly, is a man of few words. We spoke briefly about how the razor worked, and how others generally approach the job (such as not dismantling the razor). I also said that if possible, I wanted the vintage nickel plating, and not the newer, harder stuff. He then looked at my razor, shrugged, and said that they would give it a try. They charged my $40.00, which is their minimum charge, and stated that if I wanted gold it would be another twenty bucks. I elected to stick with nickel since this is from the first year of slim production, and I wanted to keep it as original as possible.
So I was a little nervous about the whole thing, and when my trip plans changed I almost called and cancelled, with the intent to send it to Reliable, who has at least done razors before. In the end I decided to wait it out and see what I received, with the thought that if it was really screwed up I could always send it to Reliable for them to undo the damage. I picked it up today, and was really surprised and pleased at what a good job that they did. They clearly spent some time on the trapdoors, as they are now perfectly smooth and shiny. They plating job is as perfect as I could ever hope for, and overall the razor looks fantastic. They only place where the new nickel did not go on perfectly was inside the razor on the little round end piece which goes up and down. I believe that this is a different metal and takes the plating differently as a result. I have an original gold plated 58 Fat Boy, and that piece, while gold, looks very different from the rest of the razor as well. It does not bother me at all, and overall the razor is just beautiful. Here are the "after pics, as best as I could get them:
Sorry, for some reason the other photos would not upload. Trust me, the razor looks great. I did the numbers with some acrylic paint, and plan to clean it and shave with it today.
I do not know whether Reckon would do plating by mail, but it is worth a call to find out. They are a nice small family business, and did a good job on my razor. They do not at present do Rhodium, but I think in addition to gold and nickel they offer several chrome treatments, if you are into that sort of thing.
