RFB cap query.

[DiggaDog]

I recently bought a Raised Flat Bottom razor.
It cleaned up nicely, but the cap has been hacked about on the underside for some strange reason.
May not even be the correct cap, although it looks similar to a Tech.
I also have a Made in England 7-O-Clock NEW style base, and a Made in England Gillette NEW style of base. My Tech cap fits those two bases and works well...but the RFB doesn't like the Tech cap at all.
It fits together OK, but the shave is rough and woeful. I normally use a Blackbird OC, or ss Karve, plate F or G so it's not as though I'm not used to an assertive razor.
Do I need the proper cap to fit the RFB? Are they different to a normal Tech cap?
My other option of course is to BST the Tech (nice condition, Made in England) plus the 3 other bases (also Made in England) plus another 2 nice handles and someone will have a great wee set to play with.
Thanks for any help and advice.

 

[TobyC]

Pics?

 

[TobyC]

 

[TobyC]

I would think any of the "normal" Tech or New caps would work, show us what you have.

 

[ajc347]

They are slightly different to a Tech cap. It’s worth bearing in mind, though, that there are small differences within the subset of RFB top caps (there’s at least two variants I can think of off the top of my head) and the subset of Tech top caps (of which there’s at least 3 or 4 variants).

Whilst the differences may be small (and in some cases might seem minute), I can understand how they might affect the shave.

Do you have any pictures of the RFB top cap you have?

 

[DiggaDog]

First...what I bought (RFB) 1 and 2 (note scratched underside of cap).No/. 3 is Tech handle with 2 of the 'other' baseplates (are they the 'Flat Bottomed bases...and not a variation of the NEW?).
No/. 4 is a general view of shape of the caps, bases. The brass cap has been rubbed down for (?) a replate maybe (?). looks like an OLD cap though.
No/. 5 is the OLD (?) cap and handle.
No/. 6 is the real Tech.
No/. 7 is general view.

 

[DiggaDog]

The RFB came with the hollow handle. Cleaned up with Silvo...are these Made in England bits Silver or Rhodium plated?
The brass cap (OLD?) has no wee 'lumps' on each corner to locate the blade...it's smooth.

 

[TobyC]

OLD has bullet pins.

I'm gonna let 2ajc347 help with this one.

 

[DiggaDog]

OLD has bullet pins.

DOH!...yeah, how could I forget that? I have OLD style caps on my Fatips.
They have the same curvature and geometry of the Fatip caps but much better pins and allows me a wide choice of other handles.
I must be getting old to forget about that.
But yes, that brass cap is completely smooth underneath.
So I'm thinking that I have a RFB razor, plus 2 'other' baseplates that are plain old FB (Flat Bottomed). Do I have that bit right?
Plus my Tech is a normal 'Made in England Tech'?
That handle with the brass ends came with the brass cap. Yet the middle portion is plated. I can't see that anyone has polished just the end bits and managed to not mess up the plated inner part. Possibly not a Gillette handle either?
Not that it matters...the RFB is the main focus.

 

[TobyC]

Handle looks like Gillette stuff, maybe assembled from parts?

 

[pjgh]

I'm going to lift a couple of pictures from mr-razor.com

First, I think this is your set:

... notice the open-ended handle. Alas, we can't see the underside of the top cap in this picture.

Second, from memory, there were two types of top cap for the RFB - a long bar (akin to the Type 134 New) and a twin slot where the slots were slightly longer than for the "regular" flat bottom:

On the "regular" flat bottom top caps, the twin slots are slightly shorter and there is a larger gap around the central pin.

For comparison, here's the long bar on the type 134 New:

But here on the #77 we see the cap with the slightly shorter pins (as per the "regular" flat bottom):

So, I think ...

Either your set is absolutely fine and have no idea why the underside was hacked as it does not appear to have achieved anything - not for this razor of for use with a regular FB.

Or, you have a good set but could do with a top cap with slightly longer bars giving a smaller gap around the central pin.

It will hold a blade and it will shave lovely, so assemble it and enjoy that it has a mystery contained within ...

 

[pjgh]

The RFB came with the hollow handle. Cleaned up with Silvo...are these Made in England bits Silver or Rhodium plated?
The brass cap (OLD?) has no wee 'lumps' on each corner to locate the blade...it's smooth.

The RFB will be nickel. The "hyrbid" Tech came with a rhodium plated variant.
That is correct. No corner nuggets on the 'Old' cap.

 

[pjgh]

View attachment 67539

If all this lot came together, I'd say you have:

1. Full Gillette Tech from the 1950s < the one with the diamond base and thinner ball-end handle
2. Partial Gillette Old missing baseplate and with middle section on handle from another set
3. Partial Gillette RFB New missing top cap with longer slots*
4. Two New (Gillette/7OC) baseplates with hacked top cap* < or top cap could fit the RFB

... needless to say, you can use the New cap/handle with the RFB and the two FB plates.

 

[ajc347]

@DiggaDog - the underside of the baseplate doesn't look that bad and I expect someone tried to scrape some blade rust off without realising that they were actually removing the nickel plating.

I've dug out some old photos of pre-Ball End Tech's and RFB's from the collection I used to own before I sold it and this will hopefully the differences I've seen in terms of basecaps.

Firstly the Tech's.

There's three main types of base plate:

1) The early versions have a more elongated tab at each corner.



2) The later pre-ball end Tech's have a slightly different top cap that has a stubbier tab and is slightly narrower overall than the earlier version.



The difference between them can be seen in the photo below (with the one on the left having the stubbier tab design:





3) Finally, some of the later versions, such as this French Aluminium set, used the same top cap as the Ball-end Tech:

 

[ajc347]

In terms of the RFB, there were a few versions of top caps used. Some had differing length of tabs on each corner and some had different slot arrangements.

These are all different from other Ball End and British Service Set NEW top caps:

 

[ajc347]

There is another difference between a RFB top cap and a some Tech top caps.

Firstly, the RFB top cap is completely curved where it meets the side of the baseplate. This should be evident in the photos below: