How would I tell if a razor is chrome, Nickel or Silver plated?
Don't have a problem with the gold plated ones
Don't have a problem with the gold plated ones
Chrome, Nickel or Silver??
- Thread starter Hanspleasure
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Its easy if you have some to compare. The silver razors have the warmest silver colour, I'd say chrome is the hardest, brightest silver colour and nickel is between the two. If you have a merkur,thats chrome, and post 1960 gillettes will be nickel. Then theres the rhodium plated Aristocrat. I'll post a picture of the various colours
From left to right chrome, nickel, silver and rhodium
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Thanks!
Is there any advantages to having a razor made from any of these metals?
I'm guessing they are all brass underneath and are just chrome or nickel or what ever has been electroplated on top.
I'm guessing they are all brass underneath and are just chrome or nickel or what ever has been electroplated on top.
I dont think there are any Gillettes post 1960 made with silver plate, and I'm not sure of the cut off for Rhodium plating, which may have been earlier, so I put 1960 as a cut off to be safe. In fact I think there are no post ww2 silver plated Gillettes, but I'm always being surprised by what turns up.
I was always told the Ranger Techs onward were nickel. I never knew about rhodium. (Isn't that what they put over silver to make it shine like silver?) I'm not a metallurgist, so I must depend on what I read here.
Me
Rhodium plating I've only seen on the British Gillettes. It is similar in shine to chrome but is less reactive to oxidation and acids. Just by reading wikipedia on them both it also looks like rhodium is easier to refine and plate.
Aaron, do you know when the last English Rhodium plated gilletes were produced?
I've included one in the picture to give people an idea of the finish.
Wish I knew for you. I'm focusing on learning all I can about the USA made Gillettes right now so I can compose some helpful resources for the community. Maybe after that I can venture into learning the Brits. Only problem with the Brits is they are so darn expensive...
