What's new

Safety Razor of the Month, January 2013 - Gillette NEW

MacDaddy

MacDaddy

Happy NEW Year, everyone!

What better way to start off a new year than to spend a month digging into what is probably the most widely varied generation of razors that Gillette ever made, not to mention the razor that both led to the more-or-less hostile takeover of the company by Henry Gaisman and his associates and saw Gillette through the worst days of the Great Depression? While the Americans pretty much only ran with this generation through the better part of the '30s, overseas the NEW appears to have carried on well into the '40s. Let's see how many different variations we can pull together here in this thread.

Even if you don't have a novel variation of the NEW, if you just want to share your experience using one, or a photo of one of your favorites, or a cool old ad you found for one -- let 'er rip guys!
 
djh

djh

Happy New Year to you as well, Porter. Thanks for the great job which you are doing here!
 
StuMcB

StuMcB

Here's my Gillette (Naked) NEW with short teeth. I cant remeber how I came about this razor. I think I swapped it for something else with a fellow B&B'er. I'd never used an OC in 30 plus years of shaving always things they were going to be super aggressive and there for too harsh for my European Germanic beard. On Arrival I gave it a Good soak and a clean, polished it up and though to myself "I'll through in a shark and see how it goes". Wow!! what a first shave, now remember I'd only ever used safety bar razors and my most aggressive was a vintage Red Tip. I was expecting a super aggressive shave with lots of blood and irritation and burning that would last for days. I couldn't have been more wrong. Smooth, gentle no nicks, weepers or irritation a genuine BBS shave. No burn just a brilliant shave. This razor was like having my eyes opened for the first time literaly. It's such a good razor I even take it on holiday knowing it wont fail to give good shaves. This little brass and copper razor is responsible for me taking a path down the OC road, ultimatley leading to my holy grail razor the Gillette TTO OC Aristocrat being my fav razor currently. Here's the one that statred it all,
$Gillette New.jpg​
 
R

ras120

RED AND BLACK SET
proxy.php


BOSTONIAN
proxy.php


NORFOLK CHROMIUM TUCKAWAY
proxy.php


DELUXE CRITERION
proxy.php


DELUXE LADY
proxy.php


DELUXE BIG BOY CHROME (CANADIAN)
proxy.php


DELUXE BIG BOY CHROME
proxy.php


DELUXE BIG BOY GOLD
proxy.php


BRITISH BALL HANDLE
proxy.php


BRITISH THIN HANDLE
proxy.php


BRITISH #77 TWO-PIECE
proxy.php


BRITISH #88 TWO PIECE
proxy.php


TRAVEL SET (SAME RAZOR AS #77 AND #88)

proxy.php


BRW (BOB'S RAZOR WORKS) COLLECTION
proxy.php


proxy.php
 
sgtd

sgtd

This is one of my favorite razors. It seems that no matter the blade I use I always get a great shave. Used it today as a matter of fact.
 
jbradley

jbradley

I have several variations of the NEW. I had been using a Flair for years, saw this beat up old cruddy looking razor at a flea market. Paid $5 for it. Brought it home, cleaned it up, started doing some research, and discovered I had a regular bar handle LC NEW. I had no idea that you were actually supposed to SHAVE with this vicious looking critter! I honestly thought it was for cleaning up sideburns, mustaches, etc. I took the plunge, put in a blade (all I even knew about DE blades at the time was go to the local big box store and get some Wilkinson's.) Had a mug and a badger brush that I had used for years, again with the local big box soap. Not even sure of the brand. Maybe Surrey?? Maybe not. Anyway, lathered up, had this look of terror on my face, made my first pass, and discovered that this beat up, cruddy, vicious looking critter was probably the pinnacle of razor technology. I have said thousands of times since that if King Gillette had fired his R&D department right then the razor world would not have minded. As a result of this cheap $5 razor, I've spent untold dollars on razors, mugs, blades, soaps, made good friends on B&B, learned more useless trivia than anyone needs, and have discovered one of the secrets of a mans life: There are few times in life that a man has entirely for himself. They should be enjoyed, treasured, cherished. Shaving is one of them, we have to do it every day. We can make it a chore or a few minutes in the day about us. Most men never realize this, they rush through it, dread it every day, never realize the moments they are wasting.

Huh. Waxing philosophical all because of an humble $5 razor. Enough of that. Enjoy your NEWs, the perfect razor!
 
thekinge

thekinge

jbradley said:
I have several variations of the NEW. I had been using a Flair for years, saw this beat up old cruddy looking razor at a flea market. Paid $5 for it. Brought it home, cleaned it up, started doing some research, and discovered I had a regular bar handle LC NEW. I had no idea that you were actually supposed to SHAVE with this vicious looking critter! I honestly thought it was for cleaning up sideburns, mustaches, etc. I took the plunge, put in a blade (all I even knew about DE blades at the time was go to the local big box store and get some Wilkinson's.) Had a mug and a badger brush that I had used for years, again with the local big box soap. Not even sure of the brand. Maybe Surrey?? Maybe not. Anyway, lathered up, had this look of terror on my face, made my first pass, and discovered that this beat up, cruddy, vicious looking critter was probably the pinnacle of razor technology. I have said thousands of times since that if King Gillette had fired his R&D department right then the razor world would not have minded. As a result of this cheap $5 razor, I've spent untold dollars on razors, mugs, blades, soaps, made good friends on B&B, learned more useless trivia than anyone needs, and have discovered one of the secrets of a mans life: There are few times in life that a man has entirely for himself. They should be enjoyed, treasured, cherished. Shaving is one of them, we have to do it every day. We can make it a chore or a few minutes in the day about us. Most men never realize this, they rush through it, dread it every day, never realize the moments they are wasting.

Huh. Waxing philosophical all because of an humble $5 razor. Enough of that. Enjoy your NEWs, the perfect razor!
Click to expand...

Johnnie, thanks for posting. It's quite good and glad that you've shared your shaving story with us:thumbup:
 
MacDaddy

MacDaddy

Geez, ras... Leave something for everyone else. :001_rolle

Beautiful stuff as usual. Out of curiosity, does your British Ball End have the hole in the bottom of the ball? I have one or two of those, and on one of them in particular it seems like the fittings on either end of the tube are actually connected to each other. I'm able to twist the handle tube around what feels like an inner barrel that the neck and ball end fittings are fixed on.
 
B

Barbergutten

I shaved with my New LC today, blade Rapira Swedish Supersteel, supersmooth, supercomfortable and superclose shave. Gillette should start making these again, but will never do that as their sale on overpriced cartridges probably would fall :biggrin1:

I was lucky when I bought my New as the handle is not cracked, the gold is still shiny and the price was right...

proxy.php
 
dgilman

dgilman

Even in comparison to other three-piece DE razors, the New is simple, elegant, and effective. I agree with Johnnie that this may have been the pinnacle of Gillette's production line. Like Johnnie, I also picked up my New for $5, and wondered what I could do with that cruddy, scary-looking old razor. Once the good people of B&B let me know what I had acquired, I had to try it out. Now that humble razor is my daily shaver, and I use it so often that I've almost forgotten what my other razors feel like. Even my Fat Boy mostly sits around in the cabinet nowadays; nothing really compares to the New, for me.
 
mblakele

mblakele

Thanks to everyone so far for their posts. It is nice to know who else is out there bidding up the NEW auctions.

As it happens I had a novel experience with a BRW handle and a NEW short-comb head this morning. Apparently I left the handle unscrewed just a tiny bit for the WTG pass. The blade was perfectly stable, but shaved more aggressively. I knew this could be done with any of the bullet designs, but I had assumed that a NEW would rotate freely unless tightened down.

Oh, and here are pictures of a few of the NEW razors in my possession. This morning I used the left-hand razor in the third photo.







 
Last edited by a moderator:
thekinge

thekinge

In keeping with the "NEW" year's tradition, I finally broke out my Big Fellow NEW set today (bought from a fellow B&B'er) and had a mighty fine shave! I will continue with the Big Fellow and hopefully will add my Bostonian to the rotation next week. Pictures of my NEW collection will be posted hopefully in the next few days!
 
MacDaddy

MacDaddy

I need to get some pictures of my gold and silver British NEW Richwoods for this thread. But in the meantime, since we haven't seen a gold one yet in this thread, here's a picture I snapped of my gold and silver British two-piece Criterions recently for a different discussion.

proxy.php
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

arnuld
A Review - Pearl Semi Slant
Replies
5
Views
2K
A_Fine_Shave
A_Fine_Shave
damnfinecode
  • Locked
Disappointed with Blackland Batch 001 Razor: Quality Issues and Poor Customer Support
2 3 4
Replies
64
Views
7K
Fordfather
Fordfather
O
New Member
Replies
11
Views
1K
cryhavoc
cryhavoc
Guido75
Razor wars - DSCosmetics Poleaxe / AX versus Gillette Red Tip
Replies
6
Views
2K
Guido75
Guido75
TronBonshavey
Newbie goes vintage: My first vintage Gillette experience
2 3
Replies
44
Views
4K
BandeauRouge
B
Top Bottom