NEW handle comparison.

I've picked up three separate LC news, and a NEW handle combined with a undated Tech head (handle cracked)

What I've noticed is that the handles are MOSTLY the same, but with variances in material and patterning.

Going from the top down, we have a NEW handle with the unknurled band at the top. Note that the bottom of the threaded section is flat. There is gold plating left, so it was obviously manufactured flat. The brass is copper coloured, rather than yellow. The next one in line is the handle that came with a Tech head. The bottom of the threaded section is rounded. The barrel, the first section of smooth metal is narrower, and the first knurled section is wider - but the rest is the same. (Possibly a deeper second band). The handle is _yellow_ brass, not copper. (more zinc?)

The third, polished one, is the same as the bottom dark razor. When I started scrubbing, the lacquer just stripped right off. Apparently all that was holding it together was the dirt. So I decided to make a virtue out of necessity, and finished the stripping and polishing. It's definitely a copper coloured brass, and the threaded section is rounded.

The fourth (last) one is a Gillette overstrike Otto Roth NEW. Note the knurling at the top, rather than a smooth section of handle. It also has a rounded threaded section base.

So, at some point in the production of the NEW, Gillette changed the handle design, the threaded section design, and the alloy used for the handle.

 

Handsome patina on the Otto.

 

The NEW is on my list for getting replated. I haven't figured out what the black mark might be.

 

I have never regretted replating mine.

 

I was planning on simply having it nickel plated, as I want it for use, and that's the most robust and inexpensive plating. I could even do it myself if I wanted to order the chemicals. I probably won't, because then I have to figure out how to dispose of everything when done.

Correction to earlier post - the NEW I'm going to leave as is. The Otto Roth I'm looking at replating. I mistyped.

 

My NEW SC circa 1932-1940

 

I just wasn't able to get ahold of a SC, oddly enough. Only long combs.

 

@Jayaruh & @RetLEO-07 , it appears that both of your SC's have the knurling right up against the threaded section. That matches my Otto Roth overstrike, but none of the three Common Bar handles I have. Interesting.

@TobyC , at B&B, put up a photo of a stack of handles here - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/common-bar-handle-thick-vs-thin.498204/

Maybe he'll chime in on whether or not there was a pattern to handles vs base plates.

 

There were different handle designs based on what they were labeled as. Black and Red sets had different handles, like your top pics, and others with knurling all the way. Some were Exposition models, but same as some Red and Blacks. Without cases, hard to tell and at times Gillette would just put what ever they had left over.

 

You mean, "Hey, Bob. I ran out of handles over here. Could you pass some of the ones from your line to me?"

Or, at the end of the day. "Hm. I have four handles left over. Let's just dump them into the 'leftovers' pile for the next guy that comes up short."

 

The one with the patina was just a standard NEW LC. When I washed it, the lacquer just peeled off. Apparently all that was holding it together was dirt and oil.
It's the same one in another thread that I used a polyacrylic.

 

My NEW LC also has the knurling up to the top.
Got a trend going.

 

Same as mine and also same handle used on the 1933 Exposition Model for the World's Fair in Chicago. Also the Blue Gold Special, came in a Blue and Gold cardboard box.