Looking for some advice, what do you think is the best when you aquire a old razor which looks a bit drab, clean as best you can or get it replated so it looks new again, just bought another old gillete which looking at the picture when buying i thought was silver, wrong, after a few cleans gold began to appear and after a lot of cleans got it looking half decent, so do i give it a few more cleans and leave it looking old, or replate it, i am not selling on but keeping it, but unsure of what to do.
Replating!
- Thread starter taffy
- Start date
As far as more cleaning goes, it all depends whether it's gold plating you're seeing, or if it's the brass base metal showing through. The Gillette Old Type razors were thinly plated with either gold or silver directly over brass. Excess polishing will wear the plating away.
Replating is a personal call, since once the razor is replated, it is no longer original. Also, replating some razors is more expensive than the value of the razor.
-Clarke
Replating is a personal call, since once the razor is replated, it is no longer original. Also, replating some razors is more expensive than the value of the razor.
-Clarke
- Thread starter
- #4
This is what i thought when i recived the razor as only the blade holder was actually silver and the rest gold/brass, more likely brass but as the razor was unusable it had to given a good cleaning and i am now happy to give it a use, i will post a photo later today when my daughter gives me my camera back
- Thread starter
- #5
Really daft question here, if it is now down to the brass a) is it still ok to clean it some more & b) can i still use it, brass wont irritate the skin or anything? sorry for a daft question
Really daft question here, if it is now down to the brass a) is it still ok to clean it some more & b) can i still use it, brass wont irritate the skin or anything? sorry for a daft question
Should have no effect on the shave. It's just that the brass requires more attention to stay shiny.
Cleaning is your call, if you want to keep going till it's all brass, it's your razor and you paid for it, go right ahead. It should have little effect on the razor value, which is a shaver not a looker anyway.
As you have no doubt already read from the preceding excellent posts, the gillette razors were plated with bright nickel over brass which is what the they are made of, except for the gold type which were nickel over brass and then gold over that, no silver was involved. You can shave with the brass base with no effect on the operation of the razor. If you replate, it's like restoring an old antique auto, you still have the original auto, nothing will change that, if you have a 40 something razor and you replate you still have a 40 something razor, it just will not be in the original condition. However, if your piece is badly worn, it isn't in the original condition anyway so what the heck, if you want it to look original again, you can replate them for around 20 to 25 dollars. Depends on how much you like the razor, if you want, you can pm me and I can give you the location of a reputable replater with experience with the razors. good luck, bc
Gillette changed plating material over the years which included mostly silver from 1903 to about 1930 with the Introduction of the New. The New model from 1930 were mostly gold plated with some of the cheaper models chrome. It was not until the late 30's with the introduction of the one piece TTO models that nickel plating was used extensively. If Taffy has one of the older silver plated razors it would be easier to remove then the harder nickel plated ones.
Len
Len
- Thread starter
- #9
Thanks all for your help, as for age i am unsure as there are no markings apart from what looks like some numbers in between the base plate which i cant work out but will do as soon as i pick up a magnyfing glass, at the moment i think i will have a couple of goes with the razor and see how that pans out then think about re plating or not.
