DE Razor Before and After

by double edge

The last post about Fatboys got me in the razor mood.

One thing I like to do on Ebay is pick up old razors that need some tender loving care, and give them a clean up.

Here we have a Gillette Old Type with a ball end handle. The Old Type was Gillette’s original mass production razor. It’s a testament to Gillette and early twentieth century manufacturing prowess that you see a lot of these around to this day. This razor, while not having a date, probably is from the mid-1920’s.

Before:

Gillette Old Type Double Edge Razor with crud

After:

Gillette Old Type Double Edge Razor after cleaning

I recently scored a Fatboy in need of love that cleaned up nicely. Maybe we’ll see that one down the road.

3 comments

1 Scott { 08.10.09 at 06:05 }

I’m interested to know what exactly your process was to get this beauty all cleaned up? She looks fantastic.

2 Bill { 08.10.09 at 07:24 }

Do these older razors shave any better than a new Merkur? I’ve been picking up some older razors myself, but only to ‘collect’. I’ve got a 1927 rolls-razor, a 1930’s nders Dollar Razor w/ lined box, a kriss kross mechanical blade stropper, and a couple of vintage straights.

3 double edge { 08.10.09 at 07:41 }

@Scott: This razor wasn’t plated, so I cleaned it with dishwashing liquid and Oxyclean, then polished it with Brasso. I would never use Brasso on a plated razor, it’s way too harsh.

The gold Gillettes are finished with lacquer so really you wouldn’t want to use metal polish on them at all.

@Bill: I’ve posted before that my main axe is a Merkur 39c barberpole Slant. I love that razor. That said, some of these old open combs, particularly the Gillette NEW, rival the Slant in BBS shave capability.

Thanks for the comments, guys!