TL;DR - I inherited a vintage razor. Restoration ensued. Film at 11.
Yesterday I came into possession of my great grandfather's (father's mother's father's) old safety razor. It had been wasting away in box in my grandmother's garage for probably at least 27 years, and probably hadn't been used for 40. It looked pretty grim, like an old bronze cannon.
Still, as soon as I got my hands on it, I could tell that there was actually a good razor somewhere under there. The twist-to-open mechanism still operated perfectly. Inside was a blade identical to the current Walgreen's house brand, which was eerily untouched by time. I guess when they say "stainless", they really mean it
. The blade had obviously been used and the razor stored away without so much as a good rinse. There was still ancient soap and beard gunk on its underside.Long story short, it's a Gillette Super Speed. Gillette updated the original 1947 Super Speed Design in 1955. That base design, with unpainted tip, was sold up to 1966. This is usually called the "flare tip" version. From 1955 to 1959, they also sold two variations of the flare tip, distinguished as the Red-Tip and Blue-Tip models. These are all non-adjustable (i.e. fixed blade position) razors, but each model had a slightly different blade position, in contrast to the one-size-fits-all 1947 style. When the first adjustable Super Speed razor ("Fat Boy") was released in 1960, the Blue-Tip and Red-Tip variations were discontinued. All of the versions were nickel-plated brass, but the Blue-Tip had the option of an aluminum handle, probably to give it a lighter touch.
Edit:
Whoops, I forgot to mention: the Blue-Tip was the "light" (i.e. gentle) version, and the Red-Tip was the "heavy" (aggressive) version. The unpainted "flare tip" was in the middle.
After about two hours of work with some Blue Magic, an old toothbrush, some toothpicks, q-tips, and a whole lot of buffing, it has markedly improved!
(Click for gallery)
I think I can still make some improvement in the all the crannies of the undercarriage, but I think I'm going to need some pipe cleaners for that. I might try a weak silver polish dip solution (salt, baking soda, foil lined pan, etc.), but I need to research how that might affect nickel plate (and the paint). I know silver plate can be eroded that way, and I don't want to damage the nickel. It's already worn thin in several places. I could have it re-plated for practically nothing, of course, but I'd strongly prefer not to. IMHO, this sort of thing is what gives a vintage razor its character and sense of history.
I shaved with it this morning. It's going to take a few weeks to be sure, but I think I might like it more than my Futur. The results were pleasing; easily as close as I can get with the Futur, but it felt less aggressive to me. And I only keep my Futur tuned to about 2.5-3/6. This may be due in part to heft, but I suspect it's also due to a lower arch and shorter safety bar on the SS. Either way, I think it might have a better comfort-to-closeness ratio. But as I said, it's hard to tell from one shave. The real acid test is going to be me shaving in the shower, sans soap, first thing in the morning when I'm still not worth a damn. The sad truth is that I shave like that probably more often than I take the time for a real wet shave
