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Gold Gillette Open Comb and Restoration?

As promised on this thread…..

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=86158

Here are some pictures of my recently acquired Gillette open comb, it is a British one so no date code but I believe it is from around 1939. To be honest the razor itself was already in first class condition with only a few scratches on the cap and handle, it is the box that is in a tatty state but I bought this for use not display. Having said that I am thinking on how I can improve it and the box....more on that later.

Here it is in the purchased state for a few pounds,


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I read on this forum a while back how you should not boil gold razors because you can destroy the clear coat. Knowing that gold razors are clear coated to protect the gold gave me somes ideas. I have experience with clear coat and restoration of it on car paint so I have some remedies on hand. Firstly I gave the razor and case a good clean and then a Barbicide soak for the razor. After this I used some mild clear coat polish to take out some of the bigger scratches from the cap. Here it is after a couple of minutes work (case was also cleaned by this point)


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With a little time and patience I will be able to polish this up to a mirror finish with few imperfections on both the cap and handle. The teeth are all perfectly aligned and it gives a close comfortable shave, so much so that my asked what I had done different after the first time I shaved with it, there was less neck irritation with this razor compared to my slant. Here are two closer shots showing the teeth, apart from one tiny chip on the plating on a single tooth it is just about perfect,


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As for the case......well it has seen better days, particularly the red felt lining as seen here, I would also like to get a hold of some Gillette blue blades to make a set, while they are not entirely necessary it would be nice to fill that empty slot with something.


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As you can see compared to the first picture the colour of the felt cleaned up quite well but the felt is just threadbare in some areas and there is no cleaning methods to bring that back. This is where I was looking for some advice, as I see it the case is in good condition, it opens and closes well and is aligned perfectly. It seems to me that replacing the red felt would make a huge difference to the overall appearance of the case.

While this may me not best practise for original razors I think sometimes you have to admit defeat and restore rather than leave completely original. The felt is attached to a metal plate with a glue of some kind and it is already coming away on some areas, it would be easily removed with a mild surgical glue remover. The plate itself has some rust spots which I suspect lead to the deterioration of the felt lining in the first place. Removal of the current felt would also allow me the opportunity to rid the metal of the rust spots. Luckily my wife is a dressmaker so I am sure if I removed it carefully she could source me very similar material and use the removed material as a template if needed.

I am not trying to make a profit from restoring and selling this razor on (it's a keeper) if I ever did sell I would disclose the replaced material to the buyer but for my collection I am tempted to have a go at restoring. What is the collective opinion on this? Should I leave it in its original state (warts and all) or polish out the remaining scratches on the razor and replace the felt to make it look better but not completely original?

Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed seeing an old unloved razor that was lying dormant being brought back into use. I absolutely love this razor and it gives a wonderful shave. It will be in my regular rotation from now on in.

Martin.
 
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