copper and brass looks so right together, IMO anyway. For now the cap has a slightly matte finish because it came with the number "4" scratched in it. I was able to remove most of it using, but my Micro Mesh sheets are getting worn and need to be replenished.
Who needs gold plating when ....
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They do look sharp in two tone. The metals are red and yellow brass. The red brass has a higher copper content and is often mistaken for copper.
Nice polish work.
Nice polish work.
I prefer the gold plating but it is your razor after all. I just wish sellers on eBay would not get so enthusiastic with their buffing as I've seen a few where the shape of the metal has actually been changed, looks warped, and has rounded corners.
Yep, I've seen way too many old tools and razors that survived the test of time, only to be abused by ebay sellers.
I agree. Far too many remove detritus with steel wool, permanently scratching and otherwise destroying a razor that perhaps could have easily been saved. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
I've passed up quite a few that met the untimely death of steel wool. It hurts to see.
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Well, that answers a question I had to myself. I wondered why brass and copper pieces were used together and now I see that's not the case. Thanks for the education.
Very nice.
Nice but the gold plating did serve a purpose, preventing corrosion and pitting in areas of high humidity and air pollution. At the time an ounce of pure gold was $20 to $32 and could plate literally hundreds of razors so the cost was minimal on a per razor basis. Gold is soft and wears off and some manufacturers used inadequate thickness. I have a supposed NOS MMOC which has darkened due to inadequate gold plating and 70+ years in a poor storage environment. Similar problems with a German Mulcuto.
BTW what was the design life as expected by Gillettefor their razors. IMO it must have been fairly short seeing as how they never addressed the fundamental problem of splitting handles that lasted from 1905 or so until 1939 or so in 3 piece razor production. I swear that 80% of ball end handles and 90% of New Improved and New Deluxe handles have the problem to some extent.
But most of those razors seem to still be usable even with the split handles. And the later brass Gillettes don't seem to have any durability issues at all. I think the mistake was making those old ball end handles hollow. The solid ball end tech handles certainly can't split in any way
Not just the ball end handles. The fixed handles on the single rings, the New Improved and New Deluxe that use the inner barrel to hold the parts together also have a very high percentage of split handles, and they are not nearly as easy to fix or replace the handle on as the fully removable ball end handles. Maybe not as inclined to split full length but still a high percentage of handle tubes show splits.
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