How do you fix the stress cracked razor?

I have been trolling for an actual guide/products/where to buy them that one uses to fix these old Gillette hollow tube razors with stress cracks. I picked up an Old style Gillette and love the thing to death however the head doesn't stay on as it should.

I see that someone mentioned "4-1 marine epoxy" however I have no experience with such things. Anyone want to put together a sticky guide? I would be the first to test it

I've never tried it, but I suspect JB Weld might work.

those old types with the ball tips are a dime-a-dozen. You will almost always find them with hairline cracks in the handle but even still the head usually will stay on. I don't want to tell you to throw yours into the trash, but if the head doesn't stay on, it's close to junk. If you are going to glue it, I recommend sliding a brass rod into the handle to add some weight (you might like it). You can find a brass rod of the right size at a local hardware store.

I would think solder would be a good fix.

not a bad idea on the solder... perhaps I should find a really cracked ball end and put my hot air reworking station to it.

The head only fell off after repeated abuse when I was cleaning it. In normal use I don't think there would be any issues. I would be worried about causing more damage with some of the soldering, I am more intrigued by the epoxy solutions and using that bronze bar for weight. Now that I think about it I could optionally just have a new tube made, or just get a really nice piece of wood or resin and replace it with that.

I used J-B Weld but had to do it twice. The first time I did not use enough and the glue failed. I should mention that the crack went from one end to the other. Wrapped it with a couple of heavy-duty rubber bands.

I filled the handle with lead shot, # 7.5 to be exact to give it a bit more weight. Did the same with a New. The added weight was nice but you have to top it off with something to hold the shot in when you remove the handle to put in a new blade. Liquid rubber would be a good bet but I made use of some wadded up wax paper so I could return it to 'normal' if I wanted to do so in the future.

Fixing the handle was relatively easy, so you should give it a try. Bon chance.

Simple solution, don't use the handle with the crack, get another one from a tech, especially the 1932 Canadian Tech razor without the ball end. The handles never crack, good grips on them, they are made of copper plated with nickel. They are also a bit heavier too. The important thing is the head, as long as that is good, you can pretty much use any handle from any razor, even a Merkur Classic handle will fit.