Plating Materials Hardness Scale

I’m often asked about the hardness (wear-resistance) of various materials used in plating of razors, so here’s a quick comparison.

Obviously I don’t replate razors in Diamond, Tooth Enamel or Lead (at least I haven’t been asked yet ) , but these are included for comparison:

Those in Bold are materials I use for plating razors.


The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is based on the ability of one natural sample of matter to scratch another:


Diamond – 10
Tungsten – 7.5
Tooth Enamel – 5


Nickel – 4
Platinum – 4
Chromium (and Black Chromium) – 8.5
Rhodium Family 5 to 6
Silver – 3
Gold (24ct) – 2.5


Lead – 1


It can therefore be seen that Gold and Silver are quite soft and Rhodium and Chromium provide the most wear-resistance, with Nickel being a good middle-of-the-road

Platinum is expensive, but has a lovely silvery sheen similar to Rhodium, but is no harder wearing than nickel.

Also bear in mind that most vintage razors have lasted 50 years or so and being nickel plated, it's pretty dammed wear resistant.

Gillette originally covered early gold razors with a clear lacquer to help with wear resistance - it's horrible stuff to remove and over time turns a reddish colour - which can be seen on 'New' and early USA Aristocrats etc.

Nice, thanks for the info.

Actually reassuring to see that chrome is so wear resistant.

Good info, thanks.

I quibble with this conclusion, though: "Chromium provide the most wear-resistance, with Nickel being a good middle-of-the-road". Hardness is not everything: sometimes a softer material survives better because it can tolerate more abuse. Some trees bend, while others break.

Anecdotally, my nickel-plated razors are in much better shape than the chrome-plated ones. This is true even when the nickel is much older than the chrome. Chrome seems to be prone to bubbling and flaking. Some of this may be due to poor work on the original product, but I have seen it with several different makes of razor: Gillette, GEM, Shave King, and others.

Or consider silver. Although silver is barely harder than gold, and less hard than nickel or chrome, those early silver-plated Gillette razors held up extremely well.

onotoman said:

Nickel – 4
Platinum – 4
Chromium (and Black Chromium) – 8.5
Rhodium Family 5 to 6
Silver – 3
Gold (24ct) – 2.5

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Nice to see this post!
I will soon be sending this one to you :

or this one


I have not yet decided which handle to use! I am contemplating Black Chrome if I use the Weber stainless handle or Rhodium for the BRW. For those of you who don't know Onotomans work check out what he did to my Slim:

Good post and observations.

Is anyone doing enamel? Maybe a porcelain powder coat? An ivory colored three piece would be sweet! Like the white colored German razors only more durable and total coverage.

I bet it would be smooth and easy to keep clean if it could be done.

Very cool info Dave, thanks for posting.
love those replates you did for me; still lookin' great.
hope all going well across the pond.
cheers, marty

Enamel would certainly look good but would shatter if dropped against a basin or hard floor etc - and once applied - enamel is really difficult to remove and re-do.

bakerbarber said:

Good post and observations.

Is anyone doing enamel? Maybe a porcelain powder coat? An ivory colored three piece would be sweet! Like the white colored German razors only more durable and total coverage.

I bet it would be smooth and easy to keep clean if it could be done.

Click to expand...

This is why a thicker plating thickness is not always good.

Gold and silver are indeed, as you point out - malleable and if applied reasonably thickly will last a long time.

Chrome and Rhodium on the other hand suffer if applied to more than a micron or so - they become brittle and can literally peel or shatter off. So for these a thicker undercoat of nickel and a thin top coat is the way to go.

mblakele said:

Good info, thanks.

I quibble with this conclusion, though: "Chromium provide the most wear-resistance, with Nickel being a good middle-of-the-road". Hardness is not everything: sometimes a softer material survives better because it can tolerate more abuse. Some trees bend, while others break.

Anecdotally, my nickel-plated razors are in much better shape than the chrome-plated ones. This is true even when the nickel is much older than the chrome. Chrome seems to be prone to bubbling and flaking. Some of this may be due to poor work on the original product, but I have seen it with several different makes of razor: Gillette, GEM, Shave King, and others.

Or consider silver. Although silver is barely harder than gold, and less hard than nickel or chrome, those early silver-plated Gillette razors held up extremely well.

Click to expand...

Onotoman - how durable are the gold platings you do? Compared to, say, nickel or chrome (or rhodium)?

Ceramic coating!! Yeah baby. Great in engines(at least INA rotary it is) maybe not so good on a razor.