Shout-Out for the Black Tip

This is one of my favorite vintage Gillette razors. For me mild but still gives me nice close and comfortable shaves. This one is in excellent condition. Good ones are available for ~$20.00 or so if you shop around.

Any Black Tip users? Appreciate your thoughts.

 

I have one, Ed, and I think it is a fine shaver.

 

Here's my '52

Up until I bought my 1911 Single Ring OLD, it was my most expensive fleamarket find at $10. With either a Shark Super Chrome or Voskhod it shaves as close and as comfortable as you could ask for.

 

Only got my black tip a couple of weeks ago, already a favorite. Giving me great shaves. Forgive the other razors in the pic.

 

I have one, also. Nary a qualm when it comes 'round in the rotation.

 

My Black Tip (X2) which came from an estate sale in this case. Only one blade was missing from the tuck, and still in the razor. The razor still looked unused and shaves great. The only problem was the gold logo and lettering were flaking off, probably due to being stored in a very dry environment.

 

Me likey!

 

Yes for sure! I love my Black Tip it's a fine piece of equipment. I can say I've never gotten so much as a weeper when using this razor.

 

Do they shave any differently than the 40's Super Speeds of Flares?

 

A little milder than the Red Tip, a bit more aggressive than the Blue Tip, if that helps.

 

So very similar to the regular Flare and 40's Super Speed. Cool!

 

Pretty much the same as a 40's SS but, depending on what one you get, it may be lighter weight.

 

Good point. Although razor aggressiveness is subjective, many, many folks rate these Red, Black, Blue in order of being aggressive for them. This order is my take too.

 

This is good point too. Some of them were made with aluminum handles making them much lighter. I didn't care for my aluminum handled variant so I let it go.

 

Okay, I have a question...

Why did they make the tip black? I've heard that some of the tips are plastic and it was due to a metal shortage during the Korean War. Is that correct?

 

My '52 is steel apparently. Brass was a war essential metal at that time. My Black Tip is plastic.

 

The Black Tips tend to be a real mixed bag of materials. Mine has, IIRC, an aluminum handle.

 

That's true, but they do shave great.

 

Nice. I enjoy a black tip from time to time.

 

I couldn't agree more. One of my favorite Gillette's