Shaving Stick Restoration

Good Afternoon All! I recently purchased a few Vintage Colgate Shaving Stick Containers to hold some of my Shaving sticks for travel. Although in decent condition, the finish is dull and shows some light surface rust. Any ideas on a safe and effective method to cleaning and restoring the shine? I haven't seen much information on processes for this. I was wondering if the process was similar to cleaning and polishing safety razors (which I have done before). I just don't know if all the products are safe to use on the containers (scrubbing bubbles, soap, water, maas polish). Any insight and advice is greatly appreciated!

I have several of these. The caps are aluminum, I think, and tend to dull easily. The tubes seem to be brass, plated in nickel. Unfortunately the plating is very thin, and does not polish up like a vintage Gillette would. I have used Flitz on mine with some success, but serious tarnish is probably a sign of plate loss.

Even this one — NOS when I bought it — does not take that great of a shine. But I enjoy using them as shave stick holders, and many modern sticks will fit. Sometimes I add a little extra foil around the stick, as a shim.

Thanks! I already have one loaded with some Arko in my Dopp Kit. I think they're awesome and love the look even if they don't polish up to a mirror shine.

You might also be interested in some older discussion at http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...ave-stick-container-(Vintage-Shave-Stick-Ads).

I have one in decent shape. I used soap & water and then a light polish with flitz, it didn't hurt the finish but didn't really improve it much either. I think its nickle plated brass so there shouldn't be any rust.

Thanks guys! Ill put a little spit and polish on them tonight and see how they turn out. Here's how they look compared to one I got from the antique store next to some awesome slims I picked up.

And apparently I do not know how to properly upload pictures.

Ah, I thought you meant Handy Grip containers. In that case disregard what I said about aluminum caps. With yours I think the caps are also plated brass.

There is another type that seems to be all aluminum, and later on they went to plastic.

Those are some good looking containers too! Like I said, I originally sought out a shave stick container to put in my Dopp Kit so the soap wouldn't rub off on everything. The vintage metal ones are the first I saw and fell in love with, but now I think I might need to pick up some vintage Bakelite or plastic ones!

Here's the finished product (as best I could do). They'll hold some sticks just fine.

Well done: nothing wrong with a little wabi-sabi in your shave.

zakatk said:

Thanks guys! Ill put a little spit and polish on them tonight and see how they turn out. Here's how they look compared to one I got from the antique store next to some awesome slims I picked up.

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Nice score! The soap stick containers are really cool and the Slims look to be in super shape. Congrats!

Take care in polishing these up. The silver colored plating (whatever it is) is very thin. If you rub too hard with metal polish, you'll take it right off.

TheVez2 said:

Take care in polishing these up. The silver colored plating (whatever it is) is very thin. If you rub too hard with metal polish, you'll take it right off.

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Yeah, the plating was already gone in spots (as you can see). I did a light polish and figured the imperfections give them character!