"Flaws are awesome - so, 'flawsome!' I love making up a word." -- Tyra Banks I started my TWS journey in September of 2015 and, like many, quickly developed a bad case of RAD. As I dived into the forums, I realized that there were many razors that I wanted to try but that were often priced beyond what I wanted to spend. So I took a conservative approach with a mix of patience and an appreciation for the less-than-perfect specimens that many people pass on. In a thread about the Red Tip SuperSpeed, I posted a link to the story of my Red Tip, a victim of severe dezincification of the Nickel plating. A recent photo: It is an awesome shaver and, despite eroded areas on the doors, is perfectly straight and performs as well as any Red Tip. Over on another forum, there is a club/brotherhood known as "Plating Is Overrated"; they actually rejected this razor. So, where am I going with all this? Well, this is a thread to show off those flawed razors that are awesome shavers- the "flawsome" ones. You know, the ones with missing (or no) plating, the OC's with missing teeth that you still reach for regularly. I've got more to share but I want to see yours, too...
Great idea for a thread! This well-used NEW LC was a gift from a TSD member. I found it to be a fantastic shaver, so I sent it to Delta Echo for a spa treatment. It's still one of my favorite DE's.
Great thread! I've got a well-worn Ever Ready 1912 that's an absolute joy to use. Pictures forthcoming, soon...
If it weren't for the ball end handle with no cracks in the tube I might have tossed this NDC OC Gillette. It's seen better days, and worse. Some previous possessor scratched up the bottom of the base plate with very coarse sandpaper. The top cap has lost nickel plating on both edges. It still shave in quite an aggressive manner like many early Gillettes. Like a dog with the mange, it still hunts but it's no beauty queen.
my beaters.. they shave well but aren t the prettiest...#58 crat jr, 1911 ish canadian single ring, u.s. contract tech?
Today's shave: The baseplate and handle for this razor came, along with a mismatched cap, as part of a lot. The handle was bereft of any plating while the baseplate had a few hints of gold along with copper areas and some grey areas that I initially thought were corrosion. More recently, I discovered that the baseplate is actually steel which must have been plated with copper prior to the gold wash. The areas that I thought were corrosion were actually bare steel. I'm guessing that this was a '46 since it has the post-War style but must have been made using leftover steel stock. This is consistent with the Contract Tech handle. The current black color of the baseplate is actually a coat of Rustoleum Ultimate hammered metal paint. I initially painted the handle as well, but was unhappy with the result so I stripped off the paint (some still remains in the deep crevices). While cleaning it, I discovered that the metal (whatever it is, it is non-ferrous), polished to a pewter-like finish which I like the look of. I'm curious to see how the finish holds up. As I said in another thread, it should probably go to DeltaEcho or Northshore for a proper coating, but I kind of like the look of it as it is. My only real concern is the mystery metal of the handle and the possibility of Galvanic Corrosion (something like what happens to a Zamac head with a Brass handle only in reverse).
Today's shave on my NOthing But Techs November: Today's shave is with the pre-War counterpart of yesterday's razor. The head came from an inexpensive eBay buy which I mainly bought for the Bakelite handle and for the fact that it seemed to have the same plating issue as yesterday's post-War Tech. While examining this one, I made the discovery that it had a steel baseplate which had been copper-plated and then gold washed. A wartime razor with steel baseplate, gold head, and plastic handle seems odd but Achim's site does show one such. Like yesterday's razor, the baseplate on this one has also been painted with Rustoleum Ultimate hammered metal paint. The handle came with a somewhat mangled OT head as part of a lot I bought early in my journey. It looks to have originally been Nickel-plated but all that remains is a bit on the end of the handle and in some of the deep grooves. The head was still wet when I took the last photo, so the water drops make it look like the head is more distorted than it really is.
Here is one of my flawsome Bismarck 406 it has some staining to the blade and the bone scales. This razor is one of my best shavers. Which is why I haven’t done anything besides light polishing to it, the staining would have to be sanded out.
Next up Frankengem. I just so dig the fact that whoever owned this went through the trouble to modify and or repair this thing by welding a nut to it so they could attach an autostrop handle and then bending the head inwards enough to modify it so the handle is parallel to the shave plane as per the the old Gem shaving instructions. You can see here how the head was bent inwards compared to some other GEMs.
Looks great....I would recommend a #10 nylon washer between the handle and the head to prevent damage to the paint. You can pick the nylon washers up at Lowes. I use these on most of my razor to protect the finish on the base plate.
If it is steel it is WWII era razor. They switched the base plate from the triangular to oval slots I think either in 43 or 44. The razors were done under contract so they wouldn't have made extras for civilian use. All the civilian stuff far as I know was made in brass once production continued.
Perhaps, but I've never heard of a wartime Tech with what is considered to be the post-War baseplate, only the pre-War and transitional styles. Clearly, there must have been some parts left over from wartime production since the '46 Tech has a Contract Tech handle, albeit Gold plated. My assumption is that there was steel stock left over at the end of the war and that initial civilian production utilized that stock until Brass supply stabilized.
The ones for sure you can identify as military issue during WWII with steel base plates and oval slots have an S stamped on the underside of the base plate.
i see canadian techs were brass throughout,and brits had brass or bakelite..pics show what i think is an early baseplate with a later 40s one beside it..the beat up one on the right came with a gold contract handle..notice the difference between the stamped corner size and the made in usa letters..the shiny one is from my mint 46-50 gold tech..
I have one with oval slots and the 'S' stamp. Oddly, a magnet will not stick to it so I don't think that my particular one is steel.
I could be wrong on the material used but do know for sure those were military issue razors. If it is brass it could be post WWII. It is not like they stopped making razors for the US military when the war ended.
Picked up this '46-'47 Aristocrat in a trade. Besides loss of lacquer and gold wash on the silo doors it's in fine working order. I'm guessing the previous owners rode the cap because the guard bars still sparkle.
