Opening/cleaning a Schick injector

LondonCalling · Mar 18, 2009

Apologies if this has been dealt with elsewhere...I've just acquired an old Schick injector and it seems clear to me from what I've read and marks on the razor itself that one should be able to somehow unlatch the big spring on the underside of the razor, rotate it 45 degrees to the left and open out the whole thing and give it a thorough cleaning. But I'm buggered if I can work out how to do this....

The voice in my head keeps saying "Use Force, Luke" but I've just had the thing shipped over from the States and don't want to reduce a semi-valuable antique to shards of twisted metal. All suggestions welcome.

merwtje · Mar 19, 2009

It's not quite clear what you mean by the rotating. Could you give us a picture of the razor?

mmack66 · Mar 19, 2009

Some of the old E-type razors can be easily opened up for cleaning. I have noticed 3 different types of arrangements for the spring underneath. The first two allow easy opening, but the third one doesn't.

The first one is easy. The second takes a bit of work. The third escapes me.

LondonCalling · Mar 19, 2009

After a bit of what I can only describe as "a bit of woggling about"with the blade key I achieved this result.

Once you get the blade out the whole thing loosens up,

Then the little stirrup-shaped spring on the underside can be popped out of its holding catch and swivels to the left--revealing a ton of verdigris inside, most of which Ive scrubbed off.

Although this makes the razor a lot easier to clean it still seems to be a bit of a dirt trap, particularly between the spring and the body where it rotates.

Has anyone tried one of those ultrasonic jewellery cleaners?

akhorosh · Mar 19, 2009

Thank you for making this post. I wanted to ask the same question.
In regard to ultrasonic jeweler cleaners, I have one and it works fine.
You can buy it on EBay for around 65.00

kzoo1 · Mar 19, 2009

No ultrasonic cleaner. Just a toothbrush and some scrubbing bubbles. Mine cleaned up very nicely.

AsylumGuido · Mar 19, 2009

I use an ultrasonic cleaner on all my razors with great results. The only thing to watch for is the paint on some adjustable numbers. I have had a couple of nasty ones that I ran multiple cycles on that not only cleared all the gunk out, but also stripped the remaining paint.

Darjeeling Express · Mar 19, 2009

London Calling - I am very surprised you were able to open that E type up. These are one of my favorite razors, but it seems some were designed to be opened and some were not. How did you do closing it back up again?

cutting_edge · Mar 19, 2009

There are several sub-types of the "E" and some can open simply by moving the spring aside. But the ones that are not, and those are much more common, forcing the spring open could create irreversible damage to the spring, resulting in a loose blade.

Here are a couple pics of the E1 and E2 types (the types that open):

mmack66 · Mar 19, 2009

Never seen one with a square spring before.

cutting_edge · Mar 19, 2009

That is the so-called "E1", apparently the first of the E series. Rare, and quite nice actually:

LondonCalling · Mar 20, 2009

cutting_edge said:
There are several sub-types of the "E" and some can open simply by moving the spring aside. But the ones that are not, and those are much more common, forcing the spring open could create irreversible damage to the spring, resulting in a loose blade.

Yes, those look much easier than mine. Perverse design decision here: the spring at one end is clearly designed to rotate (and when I got the razor there was a clear scratch indicating where it had been opened before) but at the other end the retainer has been reshaped to grip it firmly in place.

What's a boy to do? I don't think I did it any good by opening it, but nothing "irreversible" and there was no way I was using it without getting at all the crap inside...

IMO these are pretty poorly designed bits of kit, not really fit-for-purpose from a hygiene perspective. The average Gillette or Merkur would not look out of place in a surgeon's tray, these things look more like they belong in a sewing box.

LondonCalling · Mar 20, 2009

Darjeeling Express said:
London Calling - I am very surprised you were able to open that E type up. These are one of my favorite razors, but it seems some were designed to be opened and some were not. How did you do closing it back up again?

Not well, but I got there in the end. Whoever designed it should be shot.

cutting_edge · Mar 20, 2009

LondonCalling said:
Yes, those look much easier than mine. Perverse design decision here: the spring at one end is clearly designed to rotate (and when I got the razor there was a clear scratch indicating where it had been opened before) but at the other end the retainer has been reshaped to grip it firmly in place.

What's a boy to do? I don't think I did it any good by opening it, but nothing "irreversible" and there was no way I was using it without getting at all the crap inside...

IMO these are pretty poorly designed bits of kit, not really fit-for-purpose from a hygiene perspective. The average Gillette or Merkur would not look out of place in a surgeon's tray, these things look more like they belong in a sewing box.

THe sliding mark is there even when they are new, and the spring is fixed in place. Must be how they were put together in the factory. Schick never came back to allow opening for cleaning in any of the later models. One way to clean, is to eject the blade without letting a new blade in, and then clean with ultra-sonic and detergent or scrubbing bubbles. That can be as good as oeniong the head.

Davidkimberly · Aug 5, 2018

This post is just what I was looking for!

santamariasteve · Aug 6, 2018

David,

Just remember the three magic words: Don't open it.

They are self-cleaning every time one ejects and loads a blade.

A few Type E's were designed for the spring easily to be swung aside, per Post #9 above.

Twelvefret · Aug 6, 2018

I've recently gotten a couple of the E type Schick injector razors. The first one had dimples to prevent opening. The other easily swings to the left. I suspect the reason Schick decided to prevent them from being opened was their 20 year warrantee. I'd think those springs that could be moved eventually failed to maintain a tight fit and snug blade. Razor evolution is cool.

RalonOriginal · Jul 25, 2021

Hi guys have one question i got schick adjustable razor and yesterday i taked carefully out old blade from it cleaned it and tryed to put new blade in it and it was lot harder to load new blade in so i needed to use bit pressure to get blade in and some gray or white grime camed out too so what can that be maybe piece of plating or it is not possible to damage plating with loading blade? And today i shaved it was great shave and al right but i just wanted to load a blade because blade was in razor and it was much easier now.

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Opening/cleaning a Schick injector

LondonCalling

merwtje

mmack66

LondonCalling

akhorosh

kzoo1

AsylumGuido

Darjeeling Express

cutting_edge

mmack66

cutting_edge

LondonCalling

LondonCalling

cutting_edge

Davidkimberly

santamariasteve

Twelvefret

RalonOriginal

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