Why Did They Crack

[REB]

I'm curious...

What is wrong the vintage Gillettes that allowed so many of them to suffer cracked handles? Defective design, poor metallurgy, user abuse or ???

 

[Greybeard]

The handles that crack are the ball-end old type. It's a 3 piece handle. The ball and collar are press fitted to the tube part. Compression fittings in general cause a lot of stress and the tube is thin gauge brass.
If Gillette had annealed (basically hardened) the brass or used copper (less brittle than brass) or a thicker gauge brass, then they wouldn't have cracked. This would have added cost to the process though and I guess the bean counters were involved in decision making even then.

 

[Harvey]

most of the cracks don,t effect strength anyway so don,t worry about it..part of using a razor that may be 90 years old !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[HoosierTrooper]

The single and double rings cracked as well. If the crack is wide enough it can cause the ball end or the stem at the head end to fall out.

 

[Radar O\'Reilly]

The handles that crack are the ball-end old type. It's a 3 piece handle. The ball and collar are press fitted to the tube part. Compression fittings in general cause a lot of stress and the tube is thin gauge brass.
If Gillette had annealed (basically hardened) the brass or used copper (less brittle than brass) or a thicker gauge brass, then they wouldn't have cracked. This would have added cost to the process though and I guess the bean counters were involved in decision making even then.

I have seen some other razors besides the ball ends crack.

 

[Oldguy]

Even some of the New Improved have cracked handles as well, but not nearly as bad as the ball end Old Type.

Len

 

[krisvh]

it seems like most ball ends turning up are cracked...

How rare are un-cracked examples??

 

[GentsInstinct]

it seems like most ball ends turning up are cracked...

How rare are un-cracked examples??

Can't speak for the rareness but I've got a gold Palmolive Shave Soap promotion Gillette ball end that isn't cracked. They gave them away with the purchase of the soap. Of course mine not being cracked could be due to the fact that it was never used, still new in the cardboard box.

 

[michiganlover]

Of course mine not being cracked could be due to the fact that it was never used, still new in the cardboard box.

I don't think that has anything at all to do with it. Stress cracks like these would form regardless of usage, in fact I have seen a photo of 20 or so NOS Palmolive sets that all have deep cracks that split the handle in half.

Also, if you have a handle that hasn't cracked by this point in it's life, it very likely never will.

 

[Oldguy]

I just did an inventory of my Old Type ball end razors and found I have 14, all in sets. Ten of the razors have extremely small cracks, three have small cracks on both ends and one is cracked nearly completely across. The one with the severe crack cannot hold in the ball end. The interesting thing about the bad one is it wasn't that way when I bought it maybe 9 months ago. The ball end was tight. It was not attached to the head and I never used that razor. It has a beautiful nickel plated cap and comb that looks like it was never used.

Len

 

[onadraw]

it seems like most ball ends turning up are cracked...

How rare are un-cracked examples??

I didn't know about this issue. I recently bought 8 Ball end Techs and none of them are cracked.

 

[Oldguy]

I didn't know about this issue. I recently bought 8 Ball end Techs and none of them are cracked.

We are talking about the Old Type. The much newer Techs don't have this problem as the construction of the handle is not a thin walled tube.

Len

 

[onadraw]

We are talking about the Old Type. The much newer Techs don't have this problem as the construction of the handle is not a thin walled tube.

Len

Oh, sorry, newbie and all that.

 

[JPDyson]

Not to mention decades of hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold...

 

[Oldguy]

Oh, sorry, newbie and all that.

Nothing to be sorry about. This is how we learn. You just learned a lot with one comment.

Len

 

[Oldguy]

Not to mention decades of hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold...

It may not take decades. The only thing I can think of that made my one razor crack so badly is it was weak to start with and the variation of temperature in my house put it over the top.

Len

 

[sodajerk]

And, shaking water off the razor. If you do shake your razor, be sure to support it just under the head, not down the handle.

 

[Mr. O]

Can the cracks be fixed? I have a beaut that I would love to use that came in a complete kit but is cracked the entire length of the handle.

 

[Wingnut]

This is just a thoery of mine and I have no data to back it up, but weren't the original DE blades much thicker than modern ones? If so, tightening down a razor designed with the "old" blade thickness on a "modern" blade might create stresses that it was not designed for, leading eventually to a cracked handle. My one data point for this theory is a Bulldog that I recently found with an old, thick blade in it, and no crack in the handle.

 

[Oldguy]

Just about all the handles were cracked before the modern blades were invented.

Len