Another Gillette Single Ring Cleaning (Picture Heavy)

Well, it seems that I had so much fun cleaning the 1906- 1908 English Gillette Single Ring sometime back that I decided to do it again.

Here is a 1918 Single Ring needing to be cleaned with the pitiful old box and blades that came with it.

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Here are some views of the razor as received.

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It looks in good shape, but dirty.

In the next post we go to cleaning.

 

At first I cleaned the razor with baking soda and vinegar to remove dirt gently, then I moved to a first immersion in Baking Soda, Hot Water and Aluminum Foil to allow the oxidation to release the sulfur from the Silver and onto the Aluminum Foil.

The following process explanation is excerpted from this website:
http://www.darylscience.com/Demos/Silver.html

"When silver tarnishes, it combines with sulfur and forms silver sulfide. Silver sulfide is black. When a thin coating of silver sulfide forms on the surface of silver, it darkens the silver. The silver can be returned to its former luster by removing the silver sulfide coating from the surface. There are two ways to remove the coating of silver sulfide. One way is to remove the silver sulfide from the surface. The other is to reverse the chemical reaction and turn silver sulfide back into silver. In the first method, some silver is removed in the process of polishing. In the second, the silver remains in place. Polishes that contain an abrasive shine the silver by rubbing off the silver sulfide and some of the silver along with it. Another kind of tarnish remover dissolves the silver sulfide in a liquid. These polishes are used by dipping the silver into the liquid, or by rubbing the liquid on with a cloth and washing it off. These polishes also remove some of the silver. The tarnish-removal method used in this experiment uses a chemical reaction to convert the silver sulfide back into silver. This does not remove any of the silver. Many metals in addition to silver form compounds with sulfur. Some of them have a greater affinity for sulfur than silver does. Aluminum is such a metal. In this experiment, the silver sulfide reacts with aluminum. In the reaction, sulfur atoms are transferred from silver to aluminum, freeing the silver metal and forming aluminum sulfide. Chemists represent this reaction with a chemical equation.
3 Ag2S + 2 Al 6 Ag + Al2S3
silver sulfide and aluminum "gives you" silver and aluminum sulfide
The reaction between silver sulfide and aluminum takes place when the two are in contact while they are immersed in a baking soda solution. The reaction is faster when the solution is warm. The solution carries the sulfur from the silver to the aluminum. The aluminum sulfide may adhere to the aluminum foil, or it may form tiny, pale yellow flakes in the bottom of the pan. The silver and aluminum must be in contact with each other, because a small electric current flows between them during the reaction. This type of reaction, which involves an electric current, is called an electrochemical reaction. Reactions of this type are used in batteries to produce electricity."

Here are pictures of the cleaning process where the sulfur is being removed.

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After a time in the Baking Soda and Aluminum Foil mixture, we will see what is available for the final polishing process in the next post.

 

Here is a view of the razor following the solution cleaning.

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That is much better than what it started out as. This can be easily finished with some Hagerty Silversmith's polish as we will see in the next set of photos.

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Now with a short amount of time to polish the remainder of the tarnish away, here is the finished product.

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Here are some additional pictures of the final product.

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This in total took about 1 hour to complete. It went from dregs and rags to spiffy and shiny.

I hope when you see that old tired Single Ring that you think of the beauty that lies below the grime and take a chance on it! You might just be pleasantly surprised.
Lastly, yes, they are excellent razors to use, not just to look at!

Enjoy your shaves!

 

When I did this one, I wanted to have the explanation for how the chemical process works so that people realize it is not magic, but real science involved.

Thanks for the review!

 

Just an additional note, you will know that the chemical process is working both visually and you will also receive a very slight trace of sulfur scent. Nothing to be alarmed about because this is a byproduct of the reaction and there is not enough to cause concern.

 

Wow, nice cleanup , I did not see it coming good in the end but IT did.

 

Really great! Thank you for sharing this with us ...

 

WOW, nice!

Now where is the original dirty razor?

J/K of course, fantastic save Gary.

 

Did I say there was science, or magic?

Thanks for the kind words!

 

I vote for the magic of science.

 

Sweet job, Gary! Looks great

 

That is most impressive! Great clean up. Nice going GD!

 

Excellent result. Funny you should post this - I came by this exact same razor (American version, I suppose) in the same condition this weekend for $1.50. No cracks, either. Haven't tried polishing it up yet.

 

This was an American version of the Single Ring on this thread.

The rarer English Single Ring that I restored is on this earlier thread.

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/the-1906-1908-engish-single-ring.24826/

 

From the pics I can't tell the difference - what's the giveaway for U.K. versus U.S. made?

 

The British Patent Number. The British patent system number is found on the outside ring of the English model along with a Gillette Serial number on the barrel (double numbering). When you read the thread on the English model, I noted that I had to do some research to find the differences.

I have one more American model made in 1916, but it was already clean so there was no thread given to that one. It has the Gillette Diamond Logo and the serial number on the base plate and not the barrel. It looks nice and shiny too.

Here are some photos of the 1916 for an additional comparison.

 

Thanks for sharing the info and process. I have not wearied not one bit on the baking soda aluminum foil method of cleaning silver. It's exciting every time!