DE Razor Replating

Hi All!

Some of you may have seen my intro in the Welcome area of the forum and to all of you that have said hello and made me so welcome - thankyou ! It's been such a warm welcome and a refreshing change to find a forum with so many decent people - run by people that clearly have the right idea for how to do things.

I've also posted pictures explaining my journey so far as I'm madly addicted to restoring DE razors. I had a fair few comments about offering a service to other forum members and as I'm running out of my own razors to work on it sounded like a great plan!

So I've set up a small website showing the things I may be able to do for people. I've spoken to the kind people at TSR and whilst the site and any associated service has no association with TSR at all and any services offered would be direct between myself and anyone that wanted a razor plating, they have been really kind in allowing me to share the website link with you and I would love you to have a look:

www.razorplating.co.uk

There are a few things that I would like to say just so that I'm open about things from the start. It's just a hobby / pleasure and not a full scale company, so my plan would be that I would only ever accept a few razors at a time. I would hate to keep people waiting for long periods of time without their pride and joy, so can switch the service on and off on the website - it would show as unavailable/out of stock if the queue was full. Once I had returned the razors to their owners, I could then switch the service back on in case anyone else wanted a razor plating. That way if I get a razor, I can hopefully get it done and back to you in a week or two tops. I know that some companies have waiting lists of literally months. I really don't want to have piles of razors waiting in a queue as I know how frustrating it can be for things to dissapear into a hole and not know what is happening! It also puts pressure on me because I would feel bad for keeping people waiting. I never want to compromise my standards for volume so would rather keep things small scale. I would also have a simple tracking page on the site to allow you to see exactly what razors I have being worked on and the ETA for them to be finished.

I know it may seem really piecemeal, but I would always rather underpromise and overdeliver!

As far as what razors I can work on, I've done standard 2-3 piece razors and a couple of TTO's so far but other than a quick chrome strip and replate of my Progress adjustable, I've not done any adjustables yet, so to be honest I think I will leave them for a while until I get a little more practice on my own. I would rather not do someone elses adjustable razor "as the first go". I don't do any straight razors - I know there are already some incredible services being offered on the forum so make sure you continue sending those as before!

In terms of the razors themselves, I will treat them as if they were my own pride and joy and assure you that I will deliver the very best work that I physically can on every single razor. If it costs me twice the time and money to get it looking right so that I'm happy then that is exactly what will happen - and you still pay the same amount. It's not so much about the money, it's more pride in what I have done and the pleasure I get doing it.

My favourite razors so far are the Gillette Fat Handle Techs - so if anyone has any that they need restoring just holler as I love them !!

My final comment was to say that I would like to offer fellow forum members a discount code which will knock 5% off the cost of any services ... the code is TSR5OFF and is valid until further notice!

If anyone would like to ask any questions or perhaps have any pictures of razors that you may be thinking of getting restored, I would love to here from you.

Many thanks and happy shaves,

Jay :)

ps .... I have read much about the fantastic work that was previously carried out by the Razor Spa and whilst I joined the forum some time after, I read in the forums that an unexpected turn in events regrettably meant his service is not currently operating. Life can be really harsh (as many of us know) and whilst I would love to help anyone out in the meantime, if and when his service resumes, I would just ask that any customer that had been given great service by the Razor Spa previously, return to him as it seems only the right thing. Whilst I've never chatted to him before, everyone has unexpected bumps in life and it's the right thing to support each other through them. J :)

Hi there. I'm about to take delivery of a 1961 Fat Boy adjustable and understand that it shows a little wear...I'd be very interested to know if such an item could be re-plated without affecting it's performance, which I believe is good - everything works well. Also, what kind of cost would this involve?
Any advice would be gratefully received!
 
Hi @Greybeard

Thanks ever so much for the enquiry. If you drop me a quick email via the website I can pick the convo up there. It would be great if you could send a photo or a link to an auction with pictures if at all possible.

Just so you are aware, I'm currently finishing off a mammoth project this week, but after that probably won't be accepting any new orders for a month as I've been working way too many hours and am taking a holiday in the sun !

Best wishes,

Jay :)
 
Hi @Greybeard

Thanks ever so much for the enquiry. If you drop me a quick email via the website I can pick the convo up there. It would be great if you could send a photo or a link to an auction with pictures if at all possible.

Just so you are aware, I'm currently finishing off a mammoth project this week, but after that probably won't be accepting any new orders for a month as I've been working way too many hours and am taking a holiday in the sun !

Best wishes,

Jay :)

I've bookmarked your website, jaycee, and I'll send you pics etc when I receive the razor. I'm really pleased to find somewhere that specialises in razor plating...I have been in touch with a general plating company but they have no experience with razors so i was a bit dubious! I'll be in touch.

BTW...your website is great...very easy to navigate and good examples of the work you do. I also find the fact that you don't bullshit about when things can be done quite refreshing! Personally, I'd rather have something done right over time than rushed and screwed up...;)
 
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I've bookmarked your website, jaycee, and I'll send you pics etc when I receive the razor. I'm really pleased to find somewhere that specialises in razor plating...I have been in touch with a general plating company but they have no experience with razors so i was a bit dubious! I'll be in touch.

BTW...your website is great...very easy to navigate and good examples of the work you do. I also find the fact that you don't bullshit about when things can be done quite refreshing! Personally, I'd rather have something done right over time than rushed and screwed up...;)
As somebody who has been responsible for two of those "mammoth" tasks (sorry Jay !!! :eek:)I can highly recommend the quality of Jay's work Greybeard and say that the finished article looks even better than it does in the photos.
 
Hi Ian,

It does look really good for its age. If I'm honest I'm torn between whether you should replate it or not.

One thing I would double check .... The 3rd photo showing the silo doors open .... Check carefully as it very much looks from the photo to be back to brass on the left hand door internal - particularly the lower section where the hinge arm is. If it is the case whatever you do don't go anywhere near an ultrasonic cleaner. If you use ultrasound on a razor that has brassing and sections of nickel that have been lost, it will make the razor look fab but do a lot more damage than good. There also seems to be patches on the baseplate too. It may be the photos but do check as its otherwise a lovely razor and its worth a double check.

One option considering it is otherwise looking great it to do a touch up. Rather than a complete disassembly and strip back to brass of the entire razor, it's possible to chemically clean the sections that have lost plate (to remove the oxides) and then selectively plate using a swab electrode. You would not see any 'join' and it would be completely invisible - but it would stop any deterioration in its tracks. A chemical clean of the rest of the razor and a touch up of the numbers where the paint has been lost would then make it look spot on. It would avoid the cost of a replate and keep the razor "original".


Best wishes,

Jay
 
I appreciate the feedback from everyone, and thanks for the detailed information, Jay.
You're probably right about the small area where it seems to have lost its plate...at first I thought it was some discolouration, but it didn't respond to any cleaning.
As I've mentioned in my separate email, I'll definitely give you a shout first if I decide to get a full or partial re-plate done. For now, I'll hold fire and see how it works out.
Thanks again!
(TBH I think I'm just a little jealous of Blademonkey's FB:rolleyes:;):))
 
Is there still someone doing De razor restoration
Thanks

There's Restoredrazors.com based in New Zealand. Dave, the guy who runs it, used to be based in the Newcastle area, but emigrated a few years ago. He does really good work, but obviously shipping and any import duties will cost you. There are a few guys doing similar work based in the US, but the better ones have huge waiting lists, and again the costs will be pretty high. I'm not aware of anybody repairing or plating DE razors in the UK or EU atm.
 
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