Restoring Contract Techs?

[Hansel]

I have a black handled Contract Tech that I think might be a candidate for restoration. I actually own two, but one is so nice that I can't bring myself to shave with it.

For those unfamiliar with the contract tech, they look like this:

Call me crazy but I'm pretty much a Tech fanatic. I tried a normal skinny handle superspeed, a flare tip superspeed, a black handle superspeed, a blue tip superspeed, a fatboy, a slim adjustable, and preferred my ball end Tech to all of them...And now I've got a whole drawer full of Techs, but I digress. The one I have is identical to the razor above, but it's lost quite a bit of the paint on the handle and the top of the head.

My question is, has anybody restored one of these, and if so, how did you do it? I was thinking about stripping the paint with acetone or something similar, getting all the old paint and any oils off, and repainting with black paint. I just can't decide if I should be painting them gloss black or semi-gloss black (Doesn't look like it's flat black), or if I should even mess with it at all.

 

[TheVez2]

Whatever you do... Definitely not gloss!

 

[Hansel]

I'm starting to wonder if it's flat black paint with some kind of clear-coat over it, or maybe epoxy based?
The strange thing is that the handle looks dull but the top of the head looks shiny.

 

[FoamFace]

IMHO, I think you should keep it as is. If you have two, one for show, this one should be to use. Then you won't feel bad that you put so much work into something that may be beat up anyway.

 

[Hansel]

@ Foam Face - You know what......You called it on this one. I've been banging away in google trying to find somebody else who refinished one, and I found one that was stripped and painted flat black. It looks so wrong, the paint fills up all the little detail on the knurling and etc.

 

[Gary H]

I bet black ameron will work great.

 

[Sceptic Pencil]

I also have a black Contract Tech with some paint loss & am also wondering whether I should try some form of restore. Mine had very mild paint loss when I bought it, but lost more paint on the guard & at the thread end of the handle, when I gave it a soak in some mild alcohol (my son's Clearisil cleanser, which has hasn't needed since he started DE shaving). I think the paint would have dropped off in use anyway, or at least that is what I tell myself! Unlike other Techs of the same vintage, the black Contract appears to be made entirely of pot metal & I did wonder about stripping all the paint off & leaving a bare metal finish. As it stands, my Contract looks a bit battle scarred, which I suppose is pretty apt. It just sticks out a bit in my small collection, as my other razors are either new , or mint/close to mint vintage.

 

[hdjj00]

I'd bet there is a Cerakote finish that would closely match the original finish. The end result would also be very durable. Personally, I'd buy another inexpensive Tech type razor to experiment with, then once I found a good match I'd refinish the Contract Tech.

 

[TheVez2]

A member on another forum refinished my Contract Tech. He used flat black Moly Resin gun coating from John Norrell. It is a thermally cured coating. Basically spray it on and then bake it at 300F.

Here is the result:

Here is the before pic:

 

[nemo]

@ Foam Face - You know what......You called it on this one. I've been banging away in google trying to find somebody else who refinished one, and I found one that was stripped and painted flat black. It looks so wrong, the paint fills up all the little detail on the knurling and etc.

That guy obviously went too thick and/or a poor strip. Thin coats only, use a hot rod black.

 

[JayEddie]

A member on another forum refinished my Contract Tech. He used flat black Moly Resin gun coating from John Norrell. It is a thermally cured coating. Basically spray it on and then bake it at 300F. ]

That turned really nice. I was thinking having it powder coated would work well also.

 

[Hansel]

Okay, interesting!

I've decided not to mess with the ones I have that are still in the original finish, but I went ahead and bought the refinished one (Hey, it was cheap) so I'm taking notes here for later.

I might try the Moly Resin, IIRC that's a nice durable coating. It looks like the guy who did the refinish on the one I bought used normal flat black paint, and went so thick that all the little grooves in the knurling disappeared.

 

[flashover604]

Check with jnyost... He did mine. Shaves great, and I love the look.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...eraKoted-Gillette?highlight=CeraKote+contract

 

[NingYupOwaDat]

A member on another forum refinished my Contract Tech. He used flat black Moly Resin gun coating from John Norrell. It is a thermally cured coating. Basically spray it on and then bake it at 300F.

Here is the result:

Here is the before pic:

That looks great

 

[flashover604]

View attachment 395191
Before...
And after vendor member jnyost CeraKoted my contract tech.


View attachment 395193