I polished my Rockwell 6S

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by MoAllen, Aug 4, 2017.

  1. MoAllen

    MoAllen King of Unscented

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    My Rockwell 6S has been my favored razor recently because of the comfort, easy shaves, no irritation, no problems.

    But I have to admit that I was not a fan of the dull, industrial-looking bead blasted finish of the stainless steel. I decided to try to brighten up the look.

    First, I attacked it with a generous amount of Flitz metal polish and a lot of vigorous rubbing. I used a toothbrush and Flitz on the knurled handle. I used a rag and Flitz on the top cap. The handle started to look great, but as the bead blasted finish began to disappear from the top cap, it became obvious that the metal had a slight texture from molding I guess. So I decided to go for it and began sanding, starting with 800 grit, then 1000, 1500, and 2000 paper. After I was satisfied that the metal surface was smooth enough, I attacked it with Flitz again. This is the result.

    I was afraid to use sandpaper on the base plates, worried that I would change the geometry of the shave. I did polish one with Flitz, but it didn't change much in appearance, so I left the others alone. The base plate in the photos is unpolished.

    As a bonus to the looks of the polished cap, I think the razor glides a little better on my face.

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  2. BambulanceMan

    BambulanceMan Well-Known Member

    Oooooo shiny. I like it good sir.

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  3. PickledNorthern

    PickledNorthern Fabulous, the unicorn

    Very nice look to it. I like when razors have some contrast between the cap and the plate. Good job!
     
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  4. Jayaruh

    Jayaruh The Cackalacky House Pet

    Supporting Vendor
    Hey, that looks pretty good. I'm glad all the effort paid off.
     
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  5. McHale

    McHale Well-Known Member

    Very, VERY nice. I've been meaning to do that myself. Thanks for the pics and info.
     
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  6. PanChango

    PanChango Not Cute

    Looks good. Nice job.
     
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  7. RaZorBurn123

    RaZorBurn123 waiting hardily...............

    Beautiful!! I need to get this razor.
     
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  8. Terry Williams

    Terry Williams Well-Known Member

    Wow! So, cool. I love the glossy satin finish. Gets me thinking that I need to break out the Flitz and put it on mine.
     
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  9. Kokak

    Kokak Well-Known Member

    The 2 tone of the cap and base plate, really do look great! Add to that the nice shiny handle and you have turned a great razor into a GREAT razor.
     
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  10. Enrico

    Enrico Popcorn

    That's right purdy! I still want to pick one sometime. :D
     
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  11. clint64

    clint64 Blind Squirrel

    Great job. The razor looks fantastic. :happy096:
     
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  12. ugadawg

    ugadawg Well-Known Member

    It looks better that way. Nice work. How long did it take?
     
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  13. fsfty

    fsfty New Member

    Wow that looks awesome. I hate the utilitarian look of the razor but love the shaves. Was the original colour the blueish one or the tannish one? Something to think about doing...

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  14. SpeedyPC

    SpeedyPC Well-Known Member

  15. Kypros Christodoulides

    Kypros Christodoulides Well-Known Member

    Good job, bravo.
     
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  16. MoAllen

    MoAllen King of Unscented

    Thanks. I worked on it over a span of several days. The longest amount of time was probably an hour sanding the top cap. But I was being very cautious, especially when starting with 800 grit paper. It took a while to flatten out the metal texture.

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  17. MoAllen

    MoAllen King of Unscented

    The stainless steel is a neutral gray color. The dull finish of the metal makes it take on color casts in photographs sometimes.

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  18. fsfty

    fsfty New Member

    Can you tell me in detail how you did the handle? I would love to use the 6s handle with my Timeless.

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  19. MoAllen

    MoAllen King of Unscented

    I used Flitz metal polish. For the threaded end of the handle, it was easy to use a cloth with the polish and to turn the handle briskly with pressure on the cloth. That end came out very shiny. Likewise, the other end was shined the same way. I had trouble doing that to the shiny bands between the knurled sections, and of course, a cloth was useless on the knurling itself (I tried). So I used plenty of the polishing compound and a toothbrush and scrubbed the knurled sections and the bands in between. Eventually the polishing compound began to turn black, indicating that it was removing some metal. I did this several times, following the diagonal lines of the knurling each direction. Then I used a toothbrush, hot water and soap to scrub the residue out of the lines. Some areas were shinier than others, so I repeated until I was satisfied. It is not perfect, but it is so much nicer than the original finish.

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  20. Rhody

    Rhody Well-Known Member

    Very cool
     
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