Cleaning a non-gold razor - UK/ Britain/ Europe

smith said:

nice restoration....someday maybe 30 years from now someone else will be cleaning that razor and it will live on long after were gone...

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mulligano said:

Here is a a walkthrough on my method for cleaning razors. If this has been done before I apologise, but I did try and find a similar thread using the search function and came up empty!

There are a lot of tips and examples of cleaning razors from the USA, where they all seem to just give brand names like "scrubbing bubbles" when describing products. I thought I might make a UK/ European version that would be a bit easier to follow/decipher. I apologise for the mixed quality of photos, I had to use my phone for some!

DISCLAIMER: I have only ever cleaned up nickel/rhodium plated razors using this method as well as razors with almost total plate loss.

Here goes:

A Gillette Ball-End Old I got from eBay:


It was in decent nick (when considering the plate loss!), especially compared to some I've seen, but could do with a tidy up.

My first step is always a soak in just boiled water with a drop of fairy liquid:


I use an old butter tub and leave it for about an hour - generally until it has cooled down a fair bit. I then get an old toothbrush and give it a thorough, soapy scrub.

I then add a splash of antiseptic (like dettol, but I use own brand) to the tub and mix it then soak the razor for about 20 minutes in it:


NOTE: DO NOT USE THIS STEP ON BAKELITE PARTS (see post #15). After that, I rinse the razor, seperate the parts (if a 3-piece) and place in the sink (with the plug in!). I then cover it in the expanding bathroom mousse (which I think is the UK equivalent of "scrubbing bubbles"). I know Cif make some but I use own brand:


I make sure every part of the razor is well covered:


I leave this until the majority of the foam has disappeared, until it looks kind of like this:


I give it a scrub with the last of the foam to ensure every part has been treated.

Then remove and soak the parts in clean water:


I then take a dot of toothpaste (any brand) and scrub all over each part with a toothbrush:


This is how the Old looked at this point:


Not bad! I could live with this, but what if I want it to be even better?!

Time to polish it:


I use Goddard's silver polish. Make sure whatever you use is a mild polish - I understand that the likes of "Brasso" is too strong. I'd imagine that "Silvo" is much the same as Goddard's, but the latter is cheaper anyway!

I apply the polish with cotton pads and allow to dry, then I buff it all off using clean pads and some cotton buds. If your razor has a lot of tarnish/crud still on it, you will go through a lot of pads!:


I then pour some of the polish onto my toothbrush and scrub it into all the nook and crannies. Then I wait for it to dry, clean and dry my toothbrush and then buff all the dried polish off with the dry toothbrush. You may have to wash your brush quite a few times, depending how much crud you're taking off.

I then finish with a good few buffs/twists using more cotton pads. This razor turned out pretty nice after this:


This may be overkill, but to ensure there's no residual clumps of polish I do a final mousse treatment:


Then rinse and dry, et voila!
The end product:


To recap:
1. Soak in just boiled water with fairy liquid, give scrub with brush.
2. Add a splash of antiseptic.
3. Rinse, disassemble and cover in bathroom mousse. NOT SUITABLE FOR BAKELITE PARTS
4. Scrub using toothpaste.
5. Polish with mild metal polish.
6. Final mousse soak.
7. Sit back and admire your sparkly new razor!

Link to album:How to

Thanks for reading, and if there's anything amiss with my technique, or if there's anything you'd like to add or do differently, please let me know!

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