This primarily applies to safety razors, such as the gold, silver, and chrome plated Gillette razors, but can apply to almost all brass, bronze, or even some steels from the 1860s through the 1960's. One of the issues that has plagued metalworkers since the beginning of metalworking is how to keep the metal looking good. Not necessarily how to stop oxidation, but how to make it so that the oxidation doesn't stop the object from being useful. Oiling has been around since early days, and pickling metal can create a protective layer of oxidation. The problem is that they don't last, and frankly, pickled metal isn't very attractive. So, different cultures came up with different ways to deal with it. From SE Asia/India came a small insect. The Lac beetle. Shell-lac is a waxy residue left on the bark of a tree, which is then rendered down into what are called flakes. These come in different refinements, generally yellow to clear. Shellac is a fantastic product, and leaves a wonderful finish. It also is easy to clean up. The downsides are related to the upsides. It's an alcohol solvent finish, so alcohol will cause it to dissolve and discolour. It will also cloud up when exposed to water, but when it dries, it goes back to clear. It also has a very limited shelf life; use it within 6 months, or toss it. When shellac was expensive, people in the US used mostly wax based finishes or oils (You can look up various finishes online. I'm only listing those that are useful on metal), which required regular refreshing. Then, in 1855, a new form of lacquer was developed, out of nitrocellulose. This quickly became popular, especially for instrument manufacturers, as you could put layer after layer on wood (or metal), and like shellac, each layer would bond to the previous layer. Brass plates on equipment, various metal frames and furnishings - all were becoming coated with the nitrocellulose lacquer rather than shellac. After WW-I, there was a LOT of guncotton left around, as well as problems getting shellac, which led to a huge boom in the lacquer industry, at least in the US. Many musical instruments are still done with this lacquer, because of the richness of the finish compared to the thickness. The downsides of nitrocellulose lacquer are that the solvents are considered VOC (volatile), and the EPA doesn't like them as much as poly finishes. (Funny how they don't care about the _production_ environmental impact of poly finishes, as most of them aren't in the US) Also, lacquer is a constantly changing and drying finish. On wood, it can take months to get a fully hardened finish (multiple coats). On metal, you can bake the lacquer on. This constant changing leads to the finish flaking off over the years (we see this on old razors), and the colour changes somewhat. The other problem is that if you soak nitrocellulose for a lengthy time, it will soften and flake off. For razors, this is a BIG problem, as almost everyone says "Soak the razor for a few days in hot water". The final finish is probably what will end up being the de-facto finish. Polyurethanes. These come in various thicknesses, and are more solid than solvent (nitrocellulose is more solvent than solid). That means that you get thicker coatings with each application. There are urethanes that have UV blockers to reduce yellowing as well. So, if you have an old razor that you are trying to protect, you have a number of options. 1) Wax the metal. You _must_ use a non-cleaning paste wax. Cleaning waxes, which is _most_ of the waxes out there, are one step abrasive cleaners. That means that they are closer to metal polishes than waxes. Now, if you're trying to polish up the metal, then yes, use a cleaning wax. They seem to be less abusive than standard metal polishes. Otherwise, a paste wax with no abrasives will give a smooth coating without abuse. You'll simply have to put more muscle into the buffing. 2) Oil the metal. This is best if you're using the razor regularly, and you do regular cleaning/maintenance. 3) Shellac. This will give a great finish, and is easy to apply, but would be best for items that you're not going to have exposed to water regularly. 4) Lacquer. This is what Gillette would have used on their razors from the beginning, and would be best for those wanting to return a razor to closest to 'original' condition, but has its own downsides. Many of these were tinted, so you may not be able to find the right tint for the metal. Get an instrument grade lacquer. 5) Poly finish. This is the simplest option for us today, and there are several 'no sand' multiple coat poly finishes (best for metal, because you don't need/want to scratch up the underlying metal) Possibly the longest term benefit nowadays, but can look 'not quite right' depending on if you use a gloss, semi-gloss, or satin finish. -- The process. (All of this information is readily available. I recommend hitting the vintage clock or instrument forums for detailed steps) Clean off all of the old finish. The Nitrocellulose finishes should come off with lacquer thinner or acetone. Thoroughly clean off the residue of the thinner, being careful not to put oils (fingerprints) on the metal. denatured alcohol is good, but soap and water can work, with a hot water flush, then drying with compressed air or cloth. For a three piece razor, I'd personally recommend either a thin finish that you put on with a cloth, or dipping. For a straight razor, you'd want to unpin everything, and coat each part separately. I believe that TTO's were coated in separate pieces, then assembled, but as long as you use very thin coatings, I suspect that you can coat one assembled. I wouldn't recommend dipping If you don't want threads to be coated, you can use a q-tip or similar, and put a VERY thin coating of silicone or Vaseline on the threads. Another option is to wrap teflon plumbers tape around the threads - this is less likely to cause any sort of cross contamination. One method to dip parts: Thread a screw into the handle, and use that to dip the handle. If you've dismantled the handle so you can dip the inside and outside, hold onto one small location with a tool (nylon tipped pliers, etc), and dip the entire thing. For the second coating, hold onto a different section, and repeat the dip. Another option would be to put slight friction on the _inside_, where it can't be seen, and dip. Then repeat the process with friction elsewhere. Thin wires and threads are your friends For items as small as razors, I wouldn't regularly use a spray can. Maybe a small air sprayer, but that's more controllable. You'd be spreading more coating over the environment than the target. Wipe, brush, or dip. Ventilation. A MUST. Especially if working with lacquer, you need ventilation. Don't try to smoke around it, or you'll end up on fire I just wanted to get this out there while I'm putting things together to try to end up with a nice coated NEW that I don't have to get re-plated. I kind of like the three toned brass/copper look.
For those who might want to re-lacquer, an excellent source of musical instrument grade lacquer: http://reranchstore.stores.yahoo.net/nitclearcoat.html, also available in tinted, for a unrestored look, or a deeper look with gold plate http://reranchstore.stores.yahoo.net/tinclearcoat.html.
ReRanch was quoted in a number of sources as being really good. Some of the Deft spray "varnish" is nitrocellulose, as is most Watco spray lacquer (available at Wal-Mart, and I believe Lowes, maybe Home Depot). Look for cellulose nitrate, or nitrocellulose, on the ingredients list. As it's cheap, I'm probably going to play with that first.
I spent a couple decades working in a wood shop. Used 5 gallon buckets of lacquer for most stained wood product finish coats. If the stain was particularly light, there was a products labeled as "Water White" that had no yellowness. With some companies currently doing replating much thicker than Gillette's gold wash is a clear layer necessary?
A clear layer is a good thing, yes. Even being thicker than Gillette's gold wash, gold plating is NOT particularly thick, nor is it robust. (Well, gold isn't particularly strong unless it's 10 karat or less, like my white gold wedding ring. Even that dinged up quickly, and I don't even wear it that often) The lacquer, or whatever, can take the abuse of being knocked around better than the plating. Even brass plated steel is pretty darned flimsy - the sites I've seen talking about it even suggest to NOT use Brasso on brass plating, because the plating is that thin. At least here, the brass is solid Nickel plating is about the strongest of the 'platings' out there, it can take a beating. Rhodium is strong and pretty, but extremely thin.
Links to more information. http://prorestorers.org/notes/earlyFinishes.htm http://www.lmii.com/nitrocellulose-lacquer-solvent-based
Apparently one of the cleaners I use has a VERY strange effect upon brass. It reverts the tarnish. It's also faster at stripping off the lacquer, but that's not a downside. (It, like many other cleaners, is also contraindicated for soaking aluminum. You can use it to clean aluminum, but don't let it sit. ) The cleaner is called SC-1000, and is manufactured by a company called GemTek. I haven't determined how to get it retail yet, but I also haven't had my mother (who was a distributor for them for many years) to call and find out if they'll sell just a few gallons at a time. In any case, here's the situation. I have three NEW's in various forms of deterioration. Two Gillette, one Otto Roth overstrike. I stripped and polished one so that I could test some waxes on it. The Meguilar's gold that I used was SUPPOSED to be a paste, but is apparently a cleaner wax. Corrosion set in reasonably quickly, because it wouldn't get a perfect finish. Johnson's paste wax, after two rounds of coat, dry, and buff, appears to work to retard corrosion - as long as you don't touch it. If you touch the wax, something about the skin oils and other chemicals penetrates. This is strange, because there are a number of metalworkers that use S.C. Johnson's paste wax on their iron and other metals without an issue. Maybe I need to apply it hot. *shrug*. In any case, I used lacquer thinner and acetone to strip off the paste wax, then alcohol, then soap and water to remove the residues of the former. Dried thoroughly. Still had tarnish. Dropped it in the SC-1000/Dawn mixture I've been having really good luck with removing soap scum, and wandered off for a few hours. Came back, and the tarnish is missing. The entire thing is a continuous colour. Not the 'pink' referred to by some of the metal forums, but not straight yellow brass either. The head, which was a copper colour, has had the numerous brown spots all revert back to the base colour as well. If I was just going to nickel plate this, I think I'd just scrub it down and plate it. As I'm going to urethane or lacquer it, I'll re-polish to make it brighter. This may or may not be a good thing. I'm more tossing it out as it's interesting. The very interesting part is that the screw knob of the NEW (the same type of threaded section as the Fat Handle Tech) is still extremely bright brass. I suspect that they used _four_ different brasses when building these things. One for the cap, one for the handle, one for the comb/plate, and the last for the threaded section. The threaded section might be the same as the comb/plate, as both are the same kind of bright yellow.
