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Good afternoon, chaps ... well, an interesting razor arrived this morning, so I'm going to walk you through the razor and have a little play with blades in the sequence I did upon its arrival.
It is an AutoStrop 7 O'Clock. Nothing at all to do with the company 7 O'Clock which was bought out by Gillette and subsequently used as a trademark, this is from the AutoStrop stable who brought us the Valet razors. I guess this pre-dates many of the popular Valets that we know and love, this one being around 1911/1912. I think they were fairly short lived and most probably ceded to the popularity of the Valet razor.
Enjoy
Upon arrival, it looks good! It's just going to want a good clean-up and it'll be a sound razor.
... the blade slides in between two plates which will only accept the blade once the arms are swung open. My guess is that there is a semi-circular lobe on the arm between the plates which clamps the Feather (Valet copy ... remember, this is an AutoStrop, so modern Feathers should work) in place perfectly.
Clamped shut and snapped back into shaving position, we have a little problem ...
... but with the arms open and the blade pushed all the way to the back, it's usable:
Hmmm ... back to the drawing board. Let's pull out an old de-spined GEM.
... you can see that there is quite a difference in the depth of these two blades. Again, disappointed! I simply could not get the arms closed. Here's why ...
... and so, the GEM snapped in the relevant places to create a similar gap to the Feather.
Loaded up, it's not perfect ...
... but it works! So, GEM it is.
My usual routine for cleaning is to give the razor a damn good clean with Fairy and a toothbrush. If it is excessively tarnished, it will go into a pan of hot water, tin foil, salt and soda bicarbonate on a gentle boil for a few minutes. This razor seemed good after a wash, so I gave it a scrub with some all purpose metal cleaner and then a deeper scrub with some Peek Polish.
Not too shabby, eh? What else do we get?
... a very gentle scrub brought that up reasonably well.
But it's the razor I'm most interested in and so, on with a damn good buffing with Peek and a yellow duster ...
Blade loaded ...
... the stropping mechanism is curious!
... it's simply a length of leather on the inside of the lid.
Glamour shot!
... can't wait to shave with it!
It is an AutoStrop 7 O'Clock. Nothing at all to do with the company 7 O'Clock which was bought out by Gillette and subsequently used as a trademark, this is from the AutoStrop stable who brought us the Valet razors. I guess this pre-dates many of the popular Valets that we know and love, this one being around 1911/1912. I think they were fairly short lived and most probably ceded to the popularity of the Valet razor.
Enjoy
Upon arrival, it looks good! It's just going to want a good clean-up and it'll be a sound razor.
... the blade slides in between two plates which will only accept the blade once the arms are swung open. My guess is that there is a semi-circular lobe on the arm between the plates which clamps the Feather (Valet copy ... remember, this is an AutoStrop, so modern Feathers should work) in place perfectly.
Clamped shut and snapped back into shaving position, we have a little problem ...
... but with the arms open and the blade pushed all the way to the back, it's usable:
Hmmm ... back to the drawing board. Let's pull out an old de-spined GEM.
... you can see that there is quite a difference in the depth of these two blades. Again, disappointed! I simply could not get the arms closed. Here's why ...
... and so, the GEM snapped in the relevant places to create a similar gap to the Feather.
Loaded up, it's not perfect ...
... but it works! So, GEM it is.
My usual routine for cleaning is to give the razor a damn good clean with Fairy and a toothbrush. If it is excessively tarnished, it will go into a pan of hot water, tin foil, salt and soda bicarbonate on a gentle boil for a few minutes. This razor seemed good after a wash, so I gave it a scrub with some all purpose metal cleaner and then a deeper scrub with some Peek Polish.
Not too shabby, eh? What else do we get?
... a very gentle scrub brought that up reasonably well.
But it's the razor I'm most interested in and so, on with a damn good buffing with Peek and a yellow duster ...
Blade loaded ...
... the stropping mechanism is curious!
... it's simply a length of leather on the inside of the lid.
Glamour shot!
... can't wait to shave with it!
