Roller Guard Razor Co.

[Witterm]

Gents,

I just recently sold off a whole bunch of NOS Roller Guard baseplates over in BST. These are an aftermarket baseplate meant to magically transform a Gillette Old Type into a better shaving razor; eliminating "pulling, tearing and scratching". Got to love marketing, right?

I'm setting up this thread to get some feedback from the folks who are the proud new owners of this wacky shaving device. I hope you all enjoy them !!

In the meantime, here's a few pictures of this thing as it was marketed and sold nearly 100 years ago... I'm not sure when these baseplates were made, they say "Patent Pending". I do know that the patent was granted in 1929, so these were manufactured before that.

 

[jmudrick]

Patent was applied for in August 1927 so there's your window. Patent link here:

US1712086.pdf

 

[kingfisher]

That is actually really cool.

 

[Witterm]

Patent was applied for in August 1927 so there's your window. Patent link here:

US1712086.pdf

Thank you for sharing.


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[gvw755]

I got one a while back and have shaved with it quite a bit. When @Witterm offered some for sale, I got another one as a spare. It is an interesting shave. At first it felt like the first time I was on roller skates, where I tried walking normally and found myself going faster than I expected with my feet going out in front and my body had to catch up. It does take some practice, however I have gotten excellent shaves with it since. It s like a cross between a safety bar and open comb where the rollers really help direct the lather but also moves the head along smoothly. It works great with an OT cap, however will work with a lot of other caps that have the pin type alignment. This is great Frankenrazor material (especially since it was intended to be that from the beginning).

 

[jmudrick]

I got one a while back and have shaved with it quite a bit. When @Witterm offered some for sale, I got another one as a spare. It is an interesting shave. At first it felt like the first time I was on roller skates, where I tried walking normally and found myself going faster than I expected with my feet going out in front and my body had to catch up. It does take some practice, however I have gotten excellent shaves with it since. It s like a cross between a safety bar and open comb where the rollers really help direct the lather but also moves the head along smoothly. It works great with an OT cap, however will work with a lot of other caps that have the pin type alignment. This is great Frankenrazor material (especially since it was intended to be that from the beginning).

View attachment 973980
View attachment 973982

Some reviews said it was milder than the Gillette plate. Your experience?

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[gvw755]

Some reviews said it was milder than the Gillette plate. Your experience?

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Yes, milder than an OT, very similar to a triangle slot Tech.

 

[Witterm]

I haven't tried the Roller Guard without a shim; however, I think I will be doing this on the next blade change.

I do have a complete razor from the same company and its a beautiful piece:

Roller Guard nirvana

 

[jmudrick]

One can certainly see where Stahly picked up some ideas, if not the rolling function.

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[gvw755]

I just received my Roller guard today and after opening it up and putting it through a couple of cycles in the ultrasonic cleaner (yes there were spots of tarnish from being packed up too long), I compared it with my original base plate. The plate itself appeared to be similar, however the stamping was different. The one I received today had thicker stamping and "patent pending". My original plate had very thin stamping and said "Patented May 7, 1929"

The profile seemed very similar, however the patented one (left) had machine marks visible on the side and the roller pins protruded. The patent pending plate seemed slightly thicker and had the pins recessed. I assembled the new plate on my original OT/Tech Frankenrazor and will shave with it on Monday.

 

[Gryffindor]

I’ll be giving mine a go later this week. I’m taking your lead and trying it on an ABC.

 

[BBS-1]

I'll chime in once I get to use mine.

 

[Felix G]

One can certainly see where Stahly picked up some ideas, if not the rolling function.View attachment 974059

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You stole my words

 

[BigJ]

That is actually really cool.

+2!! Absolutely!!

 

[DCRIII]

Just received mine this afternoon and will use it tomorrow morning.
It was mildly tarnished, but shined up quite nicely. I love the color of Silver!
For tomorrows shave I'm paring it up with my gold Tuckaway, but I have quite a few razors that this roller base plate appears to be compatible with.

 

[Witterm]

I kept one back for myself and took it on the road this week with my Tuckaway. Will have to see how it goes in the morning.

This is fun. I’m glad to see you all are enjoying these.

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[jmudrick]

1927 Roller Guard-Fatip Mk1/BIC, Palmolive Classic. A lot of cap swaps until arriving at one which wasn't unacceptably mild. I don't think the Old Type benefits at all from the Roller Guard but this ain't bad, surprisingly smooth given the large cap span. Still required more buffing than i like but BBS capable.

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[DCRIII]

Well, my shave using the roller gaurd base plate with my Tuckaway was interesting to say the least.
WTG, the shave was definitely smoother than with the OC plate, but ATG and XTG seemed more aggressive.
With that said, I'll try it again with another compatible razor tomorrow.

 

[jmudrick]

Much better match for the Roller Guard is the Henkels/Henso cap. More blade feel than with the Old Type and Henso plate, smoother than the Fatip Mk1. This is where the Roller Guard will stay I think.

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[DCRIII]

I used my Asylum Evolution today with the roller gaurd plate. It turned a normally aggressive razor into a super smooth shaving machine. My Evolution bites me at least once every time I use it, but this time around I came out unscathed!