Newbie how to tell a Slim from a Fatboy Guide ( and other things )

[Bearded Dragon]

Mission accomplished, fidjit.
I'm a newbie -- still . I'm just not shaving much as the weather cools, and I'm working around an artful 'cowboy Fu-Manchu' when I do engage in the whisker reduction process. .

Anyway, one of my nephews is rather intrigued by my modest yet cool acquisitions of three vintage Gillettes, all of which were gleaned from eBay, no less. He likes my 'old' New and ball-end open-combs -- one long, the other short -- both of which came as cased sets from well-meaning sellers. However, consistent with the nature of the eBay beast, one was misidentified as an ABC set, and the other is a Tuckaway case containing a New Bar handle. I've been met with a little bit of Frankenrazor mix n' match.

To my point, I've been considering trying to score a '59 Fatboy for my nephew as a Christmas present. That's the year his grandfather graduated from high school, and this 23-year-old 'kid' is a staunch fan of family history as well as much of the music and culture that long preceded him. I recall his GREAT-grandfather's old razors, one of which was either a Slim or a Fatboy. Well, I recently saw a near-mint, in-case 1959 Fatboy on eBay. Or did I? Thanks for the tips. As I said, mission accomplished. Your June, 2009 post endures as I write this, just before Thanksgiving of 2013. Peace!

 

[rxonmymind]

Thanks for bringing this back up. I enjoy reading well put together tutorials with pics. Sometimes one finds gems like this along with blueeyedsons, Guido and so on.
Cheers

 

[drawonme]

Fidjit, you are the man! Thanks for a ggreat piece of work!

Marty

 

[fidjit]

Bump time!

 

[Beav]

Wonderful explaination, fidjit!

Subscribed for future/easy reference.

Thanks for your time and effort.

Beav

 

[khun_diddy]

Very handy info. Cheers.

 

[dosboss57]

Nice post....very informative but, for me, the easiest way to differentiate a Slim from a Fatboy is to look right below the knurling below the number dial. You'll notice that the Slim has a taper while the Fatboy does not.

 

[KYBLUE]

Five years running and still informing the greenhorns.

Thanks

 

[Chreees]

Bump for an epic thread... Helped me figure out what I just purchased off Craigslist! (Ended up getting a Slim Adjustable it looks like, I'll check the date code once it's in my hands)

 

[mcdig]

Bravo fidjit!

 

[Wolfthorne]

I googled the difference between a fat boy and slim adjustable and lo and behold I was led back to Badger & Blade.
Great read many years later fidjit & company

 

[Mitretnuh]

Well hell, it appears that I just bought the much acclaimed gillette biggest loser, most weight loss weigh in, the amazingly once slightly plump, but now toned down, Slim.

 

[Sharharn]

Even though this post is old. Thank you so much for all of your information. I was wondering the differences between the slim and the fatboy ever since i started DE shaving

 

[fidjit]

Hokay

Though I'm long gone and only check here infrequently and my ADs are over I'm a bit bored at work and figured I'd update this since the whole Photobucket debacle. I suspect still as relevant today as it was when I first posted. Luckily I had the photos backed up here on B&B (why I didn't link to them I have no idea ) Enjoy......

Here's my quick guide for telling the two units apart.

In all pictures the slim is on the left and the Fatboy on the Right.

Case

If you're lucky enough to find a cased Slim or Fatboy then they're pretty easy to tell apart though beware, I've seen Slims in Fatboy cases and ( more rarely ) the other way around . In fact keep your eyes open because you see all sorts of razors in all sorts of cases that may or may not be a match. You can be bitten badly or you can also get some really nice buys ( this goes for all cases and all razors not just the two discussed here )

The slim case comes in a number of colours white, red , blue ( and maybe more ) and the backing "glitter" came in a number of colours as well.

Razors

While they're pretty similar , note that the Fatboy is slightly shorter than the Slim. Note that the TTO knob and the "body" of the razor handle on the slim is much longer. The Fatboy is thicker ( hence the name ) and the TTO knob is more obviously wider than the handle and has the smooth area above the knurling.

If you can't see the TTO knob , another way is to look at the Adjuster Knob. Most obviously the "grip" on the Fatboy knob has long vertical lines while the slim has a smaller knurled pattern. Also the adjuster on the slim has smooth ( where the numbers are ) , knurled, smooth while the Fatboy has smooth then knurled only ( does that make any sense ? )

Slim: 9 cm ( 3.5 inch )
Fatboy: 8.5 cm (3.35 inch )

Dating

Underneath the head of the razor you'll find a date code which consist of a letter on the LHS and a number on the RHS. From this we can tell the year and quarter in which the razor was manufactured.

Given that the Fatboys were manufacture before the Slim you'll see them with the ranges between D1 to G4.

Slims will have the markings of G1 to N4 so there was one year of crossover.

There's a full chart on the Wiki here: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/US_Gillette_Dating_Information

Below is the Fatboy , note the G 2 underneath the Gillete logo, so manufactured second quarter of 1961 .

( This doesn't only apply to the slim and the Fatboy, most USA razors manufactured after 1950 will have these datings on them )

Head

The Fatboy has a much higher domed head

( Note the differences between the knurling on the adjuster as mentioned above )

Weight

The Fatboy is fat and the Slim is slim.......

Slim approx 71 gm ( 2.5 oz )
Fatboy approx 78 gm (2.8 oz )

Adjustable ?

While this probably won't help identify a razor a quick discussion about the adjustable component. Most often you'll see razors discussed in terms of "agressiveness". If you take for example the Super Speed family, they put this out in a Blue tip ( mild ), Silver tip ( Normal ) , Red Tip ( Aggressive ). With an adjustable razor you can change the "aggressiveness" all in one razor.

Notes On both the Slim and the Fatboy when you change the setting ( by turning the adjuster knob at the top between settings 1 and 9 ) you should open the doors, adjust your setting then close the doors. Common belief is that if you don't do this you may put undo stress on the system. In addition, once you've made a change tighten the TTO Knob and once you meet pressure you should turn it another 1/4 twist to lock it off.

What does the adjuster do ? On the LHS picture the adjuster on both unit is set to 1. On the RHS the unit is set to 9. Note the height of the "bars" in the silo. 1 raises the bars, 9 lowers the bars. Settings in between ... set the bars in between these two "extremes"

The effect of this is that it changes the pressure on the actual blade and increases or decreases the gap between the razor edge and the safety bar.

So compare the blade distance setting on 1 on the LHS versus the setting on 9 on the RHS in the picture below.

In general the larger the gap between the razor and the guard, the more blade that is exposed and the more "agressive" the razor is.

Gee 9 razors in 1

General consensus seems to be that if you're new to DEing and have one of these, start at the 3 setting and practice your technique at this setting. Once you become more experienced you can start playing with the adjuster to find the right setting for you. Some people find their ideal setting and just leave it on that, others will use different settings for different passes.


Hoping that this helps. If it helps one person on the forum at least I'll feel like I've contributed something back to the forum .

BTW If you don't want to face the unknown factor of buying off Ebay in terms of model, the condition or the price, try using B&Bs own Buy/Sell/Trade ( BST ). Takes all the risk out of the purchasing