Brotherhood of the Open Comb

warhawk said:

Hope all is well with U & your families. I just wanted 2 post that my user grade vintage Gillette New OC arrived today and I gave it a test drive on the face. I had a DFS. The handle felt great & I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I loaded it with an Astra SP. I will definitely assign this razor in my rotation.

Does this qualify me as a member of the BOTOC? Enclosed are a few pics. The bottom portion of the handle has an engraved date of JAN 13, 1920. Although its a user grade its still a nice looking razor. And most importantly....I love it!

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WARHAWK

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Welcome to the secret-tree-house gang also known as the BOTOC!

turtle said:

Ah... The allure and siren's song of the magic elixir has captivated ye I see.

That be a bottle of pure euphoria or pure torture.

Only the pure of heart can handle THE VEG.

Be ye strong and pure or be ye week and evil? The VEG will know.

The VEG sorts the wheat from the chaff.

The VEG trumpets the "Toque a Degüello". The VEG takes no prisoners.

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You know Australia is a long way from most things and that includes the Veg. Because these things aren't sold here I have no idea what they smell like but noting the reaction to turtle's post and even reading the post and seeing the way it has brought him to raptures of delight all I can say is does this stuff come with a warning from the Surgeon General?

Because if it doesn't then it should.

I posted some of my thoughts on my first Tradere shave in this thread.

Hello all,
Just received a very soiled Gillette New bar handle. Thanks to the suggestions here I cleaned it up and wanted to show before and afta pictures.
By the way, first shave with it yesterday and, man oh man, it was a great little shaver (after cleaning) loaded with red Personna.

BEFORE:

...as you can see, the gold plate was GONE in a lot of areas. Therefore I modified my restoration, because I was not concerned with perfect preservation of gold plating. If you have a gold plated razor, I was advised to avoid metal polish. Alo advised to be careful with scrubbing bubbles, as that can also be destructive to thin gold plating.

Steps in order:
1. Soak in dishwashing liquid and hot water 20 min, scrub with soft toothbrush.
2. Repeat #1.
3. Soak in Scrubbing bubbles 10 min, scrub with soft toothbrush.
4. Repeat #3
5. Disinfect- soak 1 hour in 91% isoprpoyl alcohol. Rinse and dry.
6. Disinfect again- soak in Barbicide (thanks Sally's!) 1 hour. Rinse and dry.
7. Because the dirt was still there, I broke out Maas polish. Tried with newspaper but that didn't seem to work too well, so I scrubbed the Maas in with fingers and more toothbrush.

AFTA:


I was pleased with the result since this was an experiment. The gold was gone on the cap before I started, so again I was not concerned about destroying the finish. Also because this will be a user, not a museum piece.

Cheers!
Mike from Detroit

Welcome to the Brotherhood. The Gillette NEW is the razor that introduced me to OC shaving too. I loved the razor so much I bought another when I sent my first one off to be replated because I missed it so much. Excellent razor.

warhawk said:

Thanks Ken for welcoming me to the BOTOC.

WARHAWK

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I will call on the brethren. I need a Short Comb New. I am sending a few razors off to a friend to get replated and loaned out my only SC New (I completely forgot and loaned it out). If anyone has a user grade one with straight teeth, please PM me.

itsmedave said:

I will call on the brethren. I need a Short Comb New. I am sending a few razors off to a friend to get replated and loaned out my only SC New (I completely forgot and loaned it out). If anyone has a user grade one with straight teeth, please PM me.

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I might be able to help...I sent you a PM.

Snargle said:

I might be able to help...I sent you a PM.

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Snargle, you rock!! Thanks so much

itsmedave said:

I will call on the brethren. I need a Short Comb New. I am sending a few razors off to a friend to get replated and loaned out my only SC New (I completely forgot and loaned it out). If anyone has a user grade one with straight teeth, please PM me.

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I did the same thing with both my OC. I sent out the short and long comb razors for plating not thinking about what I will use in the meantime. I am now using my TTO and Tech until my OC's return to me. Two weeks into this, and I find myself missing my open combs! I am hoping to get mine back maybe by beginning of next week. I can feel for you brother......I had a good friend loan me an OC for a short, but I had to return it after a couple uses. I was afraid of dropping it or hitting it up against the sink and bending a tooth. I hate to borrow just for that reason. I have never dropped a razor while shaving, but borrowing a very nice one like I did made me super nervous and I returned it quickly before bad luck fell upon me.

I've seen a number of OC's for sale (in one particular antique shop) with bent teeth, and a few referrences on this thread regarding it. Obviously this is a risk as anything like that is a point of weakness...I'm sure a drop would possibly bend one or some of the teeth. Are they delicate? Would you risk this by just roughly setting it into the sink? Would someone expand on the robustness of the teeth a bit. Thanks in advance!

BigBull said:

I've seen a number of OC's for sale (in one particular antique shop) with bent teeth, and a few referrences on this thread regarding it. Obviously this is a risk as anything like that is a point of weakness...I'm sure a drop would possibly bend one or some of the teeth. Are they delicate? Would you risk this by just roughly setting it into the sink? Would someone expand on the robustness of the teeth a bit. Thanks in advance!

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I think it would take a pretty substantial whack against a hard object (e.g., a tile floor or a ceramic sink) to bend a tooth. They're solid metal (usually plated brass) and are not that easy to bend. Some people have tried to straighten bent teeth with mixed success. It's pretty risky and it's not something I would try with a valuable razor, as you could easily end up breaking off the tooth. For the most part, a bent tooth isn't going to affect the shave, but is just a cosmetic issue.

Used mr Senator this morning Ken. Got a great shave, no burn. Felt great! Tell Ralph he can settle down, I'll use another OC or two before I go back to my Weber.

Snargle said:

I think it would take a pretty substantial whack against a hard object (e.g., a tile floor or a ceramic sink) to bend a tooth. They're solid metal (usually plated brass) and are not that easy to bend. Some people have tried to straighten bent teeth with mixed success. It's pretty risky and it's not something I would try with a valuable razor, as you could easily end up breaking off the tooth. For the most part, a bent tooth isn't going to affect the shave, but is just a cosmetic issue.

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Brass is a soft metal and can be dinged or bent with a drop onto a hard surface a lot easier then some people would think.

jbradley said:

Used mr Senator this morning Ken. Got a great shave, no burn. Felt great! Tell Ralph he can settle down, I'll use another OC or two before I go back to my Weber.

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I used my Tech this morning with the iKon handle and got a super smooth shave. I am allowed to do that and say that because both my open comb razors are still out being plated. I am taking an exemption.

Did we ever settle the question about the Gem Open Comb Micromatic? It's an open comb, but it's also an SE razor. Regardless, I had an excellent shave this morning with one and it will continue to be part of my regular rotation.

Some info on bent teeth from the expert, CooncatBob;

cooncatbob said:

I consider myself an expert and I still have a 50% failure.
I've heated them with a torch and still had them break.

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Gunky said:

What I did was preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Put razor in for 10minutes. Use a thick rag and an oven mit for safety while holding the razor as it is VERY hot. I put a thin rag in between needle nose pliers so it cushioned the gripping part a bit as it can scratch/bent the brass. I then bent the tooth little by little. I would take it out after 10minutes, bend with pliers, put it back in oven for 5minutes, take it out bend a little, keep doing that every 5minutes until tooth looks good. Light pressure.

Also I believe cooncatbob had some success with teeth repair

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cooncatbob said:

I agree, except I use a small screwdriver instead of pliers.
On end teeth I haven't had good luck bending them straight, so I use needle files to square up the gap.
Needle files are the only method that works to clean the harden orange crust out from between the teeth, I use oven cleaner and a dremel with a small wire wheel first then I still have to use the files, then I buff with tripoli and clean before sending off for nickel plating.

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cooncatbob said:

I won't buy head with bent teeth, if the picture doesn't show the teeth, I just last week got 1 in the mail with a bent inner tooth, I used the small screwdriver and wedged it over, waited a bit and wedged it straight.
But your just as likely to break a tooth as straighten it no matter how careful you are or whether you heat it or not.

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Snargle said:

Did we ever settle the question about the Gem Open Comb Micromatic? It's an open comb, but it's also an SE razor. Regardless, I had an excellent shave this morning with one and it will continue to be part of my regular rotation.

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Even though it is a SE, this is the BOTOC Open Comb being the main objective here. I'm just say'n.

I guess the Gem/E-R 1912 heads wouldn't qualify...unless I take a pair of diagonal cutters and snip out a few little strips of metal from the comb.

Snargle said:

I guess the Gem/E-R 1912 heads wouldn't qualify...unless I take a pair of diagonal cutters and snip out a few little strips of metal from the comb.

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I won't tell on you!

Thanks so much 4 the warm welcomes my brothers! I know it's only been since April since I joined B&B but I really feel at home (both B&B & BOTOC). Hopefully... in the near future I will take the SE plunge. Needless 2 say... I'm thoroughly enjoying my traditional shaving journey.

WARHAWK