i just bought two ball handled techs, and the plating is a little rough. i've read that it can be removed easily however, and i'm wondering how this will look? normally i wouldnt care but these are going to end up being gifts...
removing plating?
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as an update, i have tried quite a few methods, and have had no luck. even acetone didnt take off the flaky gold! naval jelly is going to be my next method, but i would like to avoid that, as it is scarily caustic. any ideas?
I would like to hear any suggestions as well, but here's a few things I've read/treid along the way...
Caswell makes a chemical stripper, but its fairly expensive if you aren't doing this on a regular basis. (have not tried, but the respected re-platers have mentioned this.)
I've had some success with a heavy hand and an abrasive polish. The Gold plating is fairly thin on the razors, so elbow grease usually gets most of it, but it's still dificult to get all the nooks and crannies.
I would think if you were good with a dremel, there might be a bit (fine wire brush, polishing set, etc.) that might do the trick, but you run the risk of roughing the surface up.
I don't know about the navel jelly. My dad used to use it to remove rust from old truck parts, but I don't know how caustic it is. I don't know if it would damage copper or brass.
Caswell makes a chemical stripper, but its fairly expensive if you aren't doing this on a regular basis. (have not tried, but the respected re-platers have mentioned this.)
I've had some success with a heavy hand and an abrasive polish. The Gold plating is fairly thin on the razors, so elbow grease usually gets most of it, but it's still dificult to get all the nooks and crannies.
I would think if you were good with a dremel, there might be a bit (fine wire brush, polishing set, etc.) that might do the trick, but you run the risk of roughing the surface up.
I don't know about the navel jelly. My dad used to use it to remove rust from old truck parts, but I don't know how caustic it is. I don't know if it would damage copper or brass.
Some of those ball-handle techs are pot metal,the plating is weird so be careful.I just totally wrecked one.
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Some of the late model Tech have pot metal caps.
Pot metal is zinc alloy.
Best way to tell is by weight, brass caps weigh around 14 grams, zinc about 10.
Zinc causes problems with replating, it needs to be sealed with a copper base plating before plating with other metals, if not done it cause bad thing to happen to the part and will also cause the guys at the plating shop to be pissed off at you as it ruins the plating solution.
Pot metal is zinc alloy.
Best way to tell is by weight, brass caps weigh around 14 grams, zinc about 10.
Zinc causes problems with replating, it needs to be sealed with a copper base plating before plating with other metals, if not done it cause bad thing to happen to the part and will also cause the guys at the plating shop to be pissed off at you as it ruins the plating solution.
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am i correct in thinking that there is a layer of zinc plating between the brass and gold?
No copper based alloys should be nickel plated before being plated with gold or chrome, but Gillette didn't always do this.
This is why the gold on the NEW heads is often in such poor condition.
I've had luck stripping plating with circular stitched cloth wheels and an aggressive cutting compound. It is tedious and requires persistence to get into the little nooks and crannies with the wheel, but the advantage is you can round out the teeth on the combs on open comb razors and make them much smoother than the original. Follow the rough wheel with a couple of finer, softer compounds and finish with jewelers rouge for a mirror finish ready to be cleaned and plated.
A trap for beginners I fell into was leaving a little of the lacquer in the tiny nooks, they won't plate and they are hard to see (until you plate at which time they stand out like a sore thumb in testimony to your lack of attention to detail). A dremel with brass brush helps there.
Just don't screw up with the nickel, because grinding a bad nickel plating job off is a whole lot harder, ask me how I know
A trap for beginners I fell into was leaving a little of the lacquer in the tiny nooks, they won't plate and they are hard to see (until you plate at which time they stand out like a sore thumb in testimony to your lack of attention to detail). A dremel with brass brush helps there.
Just don't screw up with the nickel, because grinding a bad nickel plating job off is a whole lot harder, ask me how I know
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I've had luck stripping plating with circular stitched cloth wheels and an aggressive cutting compound. It is tedious and requires persistence to get into the little nooks and crannies with the wheel, but the advantage is you can round out the teeth on the combs on open comb razors and make them much smoother than the original. Follow the rough wheel with a couple of finer, softer compounds and finish with jewelers rouge for a mirror finish ready to be cleaned and plated.
A trap for beginners I fell into was leaving a little of the lacquer in the tiny nooks, they won't plate and they are hard to see (until you plate at which time they stand out like a sore thumb in testimony to your lack of attention to detail). A dremel with brass brush helps there.
Just don't screw up with the nickel, because grinding a bad nickel plating job off is a whole lot harder, ask me how I know
That's what I'm using, just with a very fine compound, so as to not burn through the nickel plating, but I'm leaving the base part gold (i think the contrast will look cool, and its got most of the pita place) i am however, having a ton of trouble on the diamond textured part of the handle. any tips? it seems that the tips are being worn down, while the gold in the "valleys" isn't necessarily being affected.
I've found that nickel plating is very difficult, but not impossible, to damage even with a coarse cutting compound. The gold plating is easy to remove, as CoonCat said it wasn't very well done. The lacquer has been more of a challenge for me. Couldn't find anything that totally did the trick. I tried every solvent in my kit, acetone, lacquer thinner, several days in carbie cleaner, methylene paint remover, caustic paint remover, oven cleaner, you name it. Damn stuff must toughen with age, just like me.
Oven cleaner, boiling and a brass brush with Brasso or another aggressive polish helped in the little nooks. I would try that with the handle checking.
Oven cleaner, boiling and a brass brush with Brasso or another aggressive polish helped in the little nooks. I would try that with the handle checking.
