Hey everyone, I've been interested in tradtional shaving and have lurked here and at B&B since late 2008, reading the guides and watching mantic's videos. It was this interest that led me to ask my father if he happened to have any of his old shaving stuff around, and as it turns out he still did. He gave to me my grandfather's 1971 black handled Gillette adjustable and shaving mug. In addition, he had three brushes (all boar), one of which he is sure was my grandfather's. One of the remaining two brushes may have also belonged to my grandfather, but possibly both belonged to my father instead, he can't quite remember. So since the start of 2009 I've been shaving using the adjustable with American Personnas I pick up at the local Loblaw's and have been getting used to it, slowly ratcheting up the setting as time went on. I had begun to get my technique down, was starting to get good (not great, not yet) shaves and lather and of course bad luck strikes, which lead to making my first post here. The spring in my grandfather's adjustable appears to have broken, and I posted here to try to find a way to fix it. I've gotten some helpful advice from the good people here, and I think I'm getting closer to fixing it. And that's how I ended up down the badger hole. That's probably enough information for a first post, more to come as needed. Let the welcomings commence!
Welcome to TSD! Sorry to hear about your grandfather's razor.....I assume you've already posted about it? Hopefully we can get you fixed back up...
Hi, let me be the first to adress your question and possible concerns. Personally I know nothing about repairing clasic razors but I will tell you what I have heard from others that know more than I, and that's not something that is hard to do. An adjustable consists of two parts, an outer shell and a small cuff that rotates back and forth underneath the surface of the shell. Sometimes the cuff gets stuck or caught on something and needs to be dislodged. How to accomplish this, I have no idea but again I will tell you what others have told me. Try throwing it in a pot of boiling water and let it bop about in there for approximatly fifteen minutes, hopefully that will be enough to dislodge what ever is in there. Also I would recommend buying a backup razor that is the exact oposite of your grand's razor in terms of complexity. I am suggesting a three piece safety. The three peice is the oposite in the way that there is nothing moving in the three peice what is holding it together are simple screws. I will attempt to show a photo of a three piece so you can see what I am talking about. Also make sure that you have tried at least fifteen different brands of blades before you settle on which is best for you. Also get at least a best badger brush, this is the low end badger. Try as many different brands of soaps that you can get your hands on, typically Williams and Crabtree and Evelyn brands. Also try at least one cream, the one from Prorasso makes an excellent candidate. Another great thing to do is to get your name in the grab bag list. What this is a box full of shaving stuff that gets past around between the members on the list each one mails the box to the next on the list and is entitled to remove things from the box as long as what you put back into the box equals or exceeds the cash value of what you took out. Its a great way to get ahold of products that you would not normally be able to get ahold of. For example, I am second on the list - when I get the box I have $40 worth of items that I know I will never get to so I am going to donate them to the grab bag. I am then entitled to a mazimum of $40 worth of items from the box. I will then mail that box to the next name on the list. The last time the box made a stop here I got to try a single edge razor, not something that I could ever possibly get here in DC, however I can get the blades for it. :whacky011 Here is a finaly issue for you. Did your pop ever use any of this stuff? If so he probably knows how to use it. If you tend to take after your pop he can show you the way as to what hardware works best. I don't, I tend to be like my mom. :mad: And she really never used any of this great stuff. However, my son tends to take after me and there is a lot I can show him. Since the terrible cartridges only came in the 70's, its likely that your pop used a double edge before that time and can recall a lot of how to use them properly without getting cut. Let me tell you there is nothing like having a teacher standing next to you showing you how to get the job done with the minimal fuss. Also think about a straight. I know they have that undeserved image of being a cut throat, but if you use it right its better than a double edge. Hope I have helped. What you see below is a disasembled three peice, the top part is the handle which screws into the other two parts. The screws are not shown here as they are underneath what you are seeing. The peice in the lower left is the bottom plate and around the edges is the comb, see how its open? Thats called an open comb. The bottom right is the top plate.
Thanks for the welcomes everyone, and thanks for all the advice jbcohen, I appreciate it. I don't believe boiling the razor will help in this case, from what I researched it seems to work when something is preventing the TTO from opening or closing or preventing the adjustment knob from moving. I can say with almost absolute certainty that the spring is broken in this case as I heard the "crack". I'll give it a try though, just to rule it out. You recommend getting a razor which is very different from my grandfather's slim, and as it happens I already have one on the way. From all my reading and research (I've been shaving traditionally for three months and have been reading the forums for six) the slim is considered to be relatively mild, so I wanted something that would new, mine, and more aggressive. I had planned on eventually getting myself a Merkur HD and an Edwin Jagger Best Badger because they were both very highly regarded in pretty much every review. I figured having other options would allow me to use my grandfather's gear less often, allowing it to last practically forever if I treat it properly. But this setback has made me decide to step up my timetable somewhat, and both are currently en route from Rasage Poulin, along with a bowl of Proraso Aloe and Green tea, and a tub of JM Frasers. Months ago I bought a puck of williams (naturally), a blue bowl of Wilkinson sword, and a tube of the nivea cream. I wanted to start with and learn on the basics first, and work my way up from there. I wanted to see how well I get by with things that were easily available to me in my area, and also learn to lather with "cheap" products, so that I wouldn't waste a lot of expensive stuff while learning technique. I find I get pretty good lather from williams and it's my most used, it's not incredibly thick like some people have been able to get fromit, but I have definitely noticed the slickness that people mention in reviews. The wilkinson sword on the other hand seems to be... fussy, for lack of a better word. It seems easy for this soap's lather to swing from too dry to too wet with very little additional water. I have been pleasantly surprised by the nivea cream, good lather, nice slickness and moisture, and I'm in the group of people who like the scent (I used the gel before I saw the light). In terms of my pop, I'm not sure if you're referring to my grandfather or my father. If it's my grandfather, he's actually been gone for twenty years (which makes it all the more surprising and very lucky that my father still had his shaving stuff). My father has helped a bit, but he's also been using an electric razor for as long as I can remember, and this is also the man who can't remember if one of the shaving brushes I have was his or not... Speaking of brushes, I'm going to try and attach a picture of my shaving gear to this post. The brush on the far left is a Simms brush, somewhat stiff and scritchy, it works well on the Williams. The middle brush is one that might have belonged to my grandfather, it's a Surrey 34014 and is "deluxe natural boar". It is far and above softer than the Simms, and I quite like it, it's the one I use the most. The furthest brush is the one that my father is certain was my grandfather's, one of the reasons it's my favourite. The second reason is that it is even softer than the Surrey and very "fluffy", I'm quite surprised. I look forward to getting my Best Badger, and comparing the softness of the two. I'm careful with this brush and use it the least, only on the weekends when I have more time and am using the cream. I don't know the manufacturer of this brush, I can read the words "Bristle" followed by what looks to be "Vulcan Sterilized". Any help in identifying this brush would be greatly appreciated.
I used electric razors for twenty years and never got an adequate shave out of them either and got my face all burned up in the process. Electrics have a tendency to heat up from the electrical current in them and burn the skin. This why if you look closely you will see your pop's skin burned from time to time. Don't let me disuade you from that HD its an excellent razor, but I would not call it terribly agressive. If you want agressive try a slant, they are the agressive razor. It sort of looks like a standard three piece except the guard is at a slant rather than straight, hence the name. Don't quite know if there are shops these days could repair your grandpop's razor. No doubt there is or will be some slims on ebay, but I have looked on another site where I get these items (country joe's collectible stuff) and I do not see any slims or anything like it. Another issue I did not broach before is the after shaves, what are you using there? I have been married for ten years so I have been out of the dating sceen for some time but I do know from personal experience that after shaves can help a lot there, they helped me an imense amount. From my personal experience I found two scents that tend to be attractive to women CVS Old Spice and Clubman-Pinaud. For some reason women did not like the Proctor and Gamble version chosing the CVS version. Do you have a heavy beard? If so try the feather blades. Light beards, like mine is, do not really need that sort of sharpness, try the Derby Extra for that. In between - well try the Astra or Dorcos. I would recommend a visit to West Coast Shaving and get your self a sampler pack and try all of the different brands. Did Grand Pop leave any blades behind? What was his favorite brand? I only knew one of my grandpops, the other was gone before I arrived on the sceen, and he tended towards the Wilkinson Sword brands, widely available and excellent quality, he would say. Wilkinson does great on me too. So what did your grandpop leave behind for you? Might help point the way. My mom threw out his great razor, but he would be flattered that one of my razors is a twin to his great old one. Soaps or Creams - People have told me that creams is where you need to start when you are new to wet shaving. Creams tend to be better at helping the new west shaver from cutting his face up like swiss cheese. Soaps tend to be better once you feel you got the hang of the process. Less protection but cost less and last longer. I am doing a poll on these forums about soaps and what brand members use and at this point (4/9 at 9:53am) the results are 5 votes for tabac, 3 for williams and two for Van De Hagen (sometimes called VDH). Williams and VDH can be found in drug stores, CVS for williams and Rite Aid for VDH. I have not seen any good quality creams in any drug stores, a fact that has got me steamed. Looks like you got the brushes under control. I would also think about a straight, I use mine sometimes. My mrs thinks I am nuts but I pay no mind to her. She thought that I was cool when she saw me use that early on as most women think that its cool to use a striaght. She thought I was a free thinker because I used a straight sometimes. But not now, double edge first striaght later.
Unfortunately I don't think I have seen dis assembly instructions for the Super Adjustable. It has a cap on the end of the TTO, so I am not sure how it is assembled. I do think it is the little "spring" clip that clicks the adjuster. I don't remember if you said or not, but the razor should still adjust and shave properly, but the adjuster dial probably will move out of your set place easily. If you do choose to try to replace the spring, I would disassemble and reassemble the junk razor before you try to take apart your Grandpa's. Right now my guess is you could still use it, it is not worth breaking further a razor that has sentimental value unless you are sure you can fix it. (voice of a guy who broke a usable Toggle while trying to fix a small issue) Best of luck! (boiling won't help with the issue you are having.)
