Nickel plating 'cloudy'

I have a 1953 Gillette President that has a 'cloudiness' over most of the silo doors. The rest of the razor looks great. When I attempt to clean it (dish-soap and toothbrush), it initially appears to go away but comes back after it dries. Is there something wrong with the plating on the doors? Or would some polishing (felt wheel on a dremmel) take care of it? I'm sure someone here has dealt with this, though my search-fu has failed me.

Hard to say without seeing, and I imagine it may be difficult to capture in photos. In any case I wouldn't leap straight to the Dremel until you've tried some manual work with something like Flitz or Maas and a soft cloth first.

I would suggest manually polishing and buffing with Flitz or Maas. I would be careful with the dremel you could breach the nickel plating.

only the handle is rhodium plated. The head is nickel plated.

I know most will cringe at this suggestion, but I have had great success bringing dead looking plating back to life by buffing with Flitz or MAAS and #0000 steel wool.

Don't use a Dremel. Just use some maas and a soft cloth.
-- Chet

+ 1 on the Maas and soft cloth. I wouldn't use steel wool. I had a bad experience soaking a gold razor in simple green, and it was kind of cloudy for a while. The Maas did the trick, though I suspect I removed the varnish. If you have not shaved with it yet, I predict you will love the President. I picked one up a couple of weeks ago, and it is the first safety bar razor I love. It's a mild razor, but works great with a very sharp blade. I used it with a Med Prep this morning, and it was perfect.

if you have it buffed out with some metal polish that should bring back the shine

ive used white jewlers rouge and a few seconds on the buffing wheel of the dremel cleand up a treat

Thanks for the advice folks! I'll pick up some flitz tomorrow. I'll post some photos of my efforts as well.

Here is the razor in question.

It actually looks worse in the photo than it does sitting here next to me.

Success! It's tough for me to get the lighting the same, but it turned out very nice! I used Flitz and a soft cloth. Thanks!

Now to see how it shaves...

good job

Beauty. Looks awesome!

That looks great!

Wow, great job!

From the look of the first photo I suspect that your plating has worn off. Obviously polishing brought back the shine, but it may dull more quickly than before.

Which works better Fitz or Maas?

From the look of the first photo I suspect that your plating has worn off. Obviously polishing brought back the shine, but it may dull more quickly than before.

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Isn't there a layer of copper under the nickel? I don't see any showing through.

If you have not shaved with it yet, I predict you will love the President.

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Your prediction was spot-on. I dropped in Feather, and had a very enjoyable shave.

Which works better Fitz or Maas?

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I've never used Maas. But Flitz has worked well for me in the past on firearms and such, as well as this razor.

damhans said:

Isn't there a layer of copper under the nickel? I don't see any showing through.

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Chrome plating requires a copper base; nickel plating does not. Even if there were a copper base, my suspicion is that layer has also worn away.