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personal experience with working on vintage razors

Hi all,

Recently acquired some vintage Gillette DE razors, which already looked great. But I often see some razors in far worse condition, and that got me thinking. So I asked around for some left-over older razors, which could benefit from some work.

In this topic, I will show every now and then how I am progressing, or what I am running into. I have some more razors coming in in pretty awful shape (first impression from pics), so will update again.

For now, I received a Sunrise OC razor, which didn't look too awful, so was a good razor for my 1st try ;-)

Some before pics (but after I had it cleaned with dish detergent and a brush):

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Then I went to work with patience, a cloth with Brasso (a copper / metal polish), and finish off with a clean cloth. Not bad for a first try in my eyes, so quite happy.

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Conclusion:
  • Rust is the enemy, so is missing plating. You can polish what you want, but it will not disappear. It would require a more thorough polish / sanding and replating. So in my search for other razors, I must keep this in mind.
  • A dremel tool may come in handy. Perhaps it makes removing the rust (without damaging the plating) possible?
Tips / tricks / Advice is welcome ofcourse. Will update this post if I have worked on some other razors.
 
R

romsitsa

Brass/zamak and the plating doesn’t rust, so 99% of the time rust is left behind by a rotted blade, it can be scrubbed away even with your finger.
Dreme is an overkill for this.
For a bright finish (better than the factory one) and depending on the damage/thickness of the plating I go from 800 wet/dry paper to 2000 then comes the polishing paste and Dremel. If the brass is really pitted I go down to 400 grit.
Aluminum is more or less the same as brass, Zamak is hopeless.
 
Hi all,

Recently acquired some vintage Gillette DE razors, which already looked great. But I often see some razors in far worse condition, and that got me thinking. So I asked around for some left-over older razors, which could benefit from some work.

In this topic, I will show every now and then how I am progressing, or what I am running into. I have some more razors coming in in pretty awful shape (first impression from pics), so will update again.

For now, I received a Sunrise OC razor, which didn't look too awful, so was a good razor for my 1st try ;-)

Some before pics (but after I had it cleaned with dish detergent and a brush):

proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


Then I went to work with patience, a cloth with Brasso (a copper / metal polish), and finish off with a clean cloth. Not bad for a first try in my eyes, so quite happy.

proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


Conclusion:
  • Rust is the enemy, so is missing plating. You can polish what you want, but it will not disappear. It would require a more thorough polish / sanding and replating. So in my search for other razors, I must keep this in mind.
  • A dremel tool may come in handy. Perhaps it makes removing the rust (without damaging the plating) possible?
Tips / tricks / Advice is welcome ofcourse. Will update this post if I have worked on some other razors.

LOVELY!!
 
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