I have many vintage safety razors; double edge, single edge, and Schick injectors. They have all cleaned up to shaving condition very nicely, but some of them could use a good shine. I'm looking for advice on metal polishes that safely work well on vintage safety razors. I opened the cap on a bottle of BRASSO and took a sniff. It smelled very caustic to me. It is readily available, but I don't want to damage my razors. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
That's not caustic, that's basically mineral spirits. Brasso is good stuff. I use it frequently. There are many out there though, Flitz, Mothers, etc.
I use a variety, depending on the severity of need. All work fine on most DE razors. Avoid applying these to a gold-finish. • Flitz • Maas • Mothers • Blue Magic • Stanley metal polishing paste
I've heard the Brasso is hard on plating. To clean/polish my razors I'll use hot water and Dawn dish detergent, scrubbing bubbles, old soft tooth brush and Mothers Mag Polish and a soft cloth. Sometimes on my Injectors, Adjustables and TTO's I'll put them in a sonic jewelry cleaner for a bit..
now, bare brass I just put in my sonic cleaner with a little bit of dawn and Lemi-shine. Works very well on cartridge cases.
I started using Flitz on my the brite work on my boat many years ago. Works great on every metal I've used it on. I have the liquid and a little goes a long way.
For gold finishes, would you recommend sticking with the non-bleach scrubbing bubbles and dish soap? How hot should the water be allowed to get? I just bought a NEW LC. It still has a lot of the finish intact from what I can tell. I also like the look of the brass/gold combos like the one shown in the second link, so I'm not sure which way I should go with mine. Do I preserve the gold finish as much as possible, or do I selectively elminate it? My new NEW LC: http://www.ebay.com/itm/121414710984 Beautiful NEW LC with polished brass: http://www.sportshaving.com/razors.html
If you wish to preserve the gold, MILD cleaners and light polishing is recommended. It really does not take much to diminish whatever gold finish is present. Depending how worn the finish is, even aggressive rubbing or buffing with a cloth can begin to remove (!) some of the gold. Whether you decide to go to brass is a personal choice. I prefer a good brass finish in appearance vs a spotty gold finish, but with brass, you'll still need to maintain the appearance as it will tend to darken/tarnish. Additionally, a naked brass finish will leave a residual metallic smell on your fingers. If you've ever handled brass bullet casings, you'd be familiar with the aroma.
I also heard Brasso was hard on plating. I've used it with no problems but maybe I just got lucky. I switched to Mothers right after I heard about what Brasso could do to plating.
Brasso will remove the gold plating from a razor in just a few minutes. It's very definitely not recommended, unless you want to strip the razor down to the bare brass. Most folks who restore vintage razors recommend MAAS and Flitz metal polish. I like them both very much. I've also had good luck with Weiman silver polish, and for a quick shine on a razor that's already clean, a 30-second dip in a liquid jewelry cleaner. As HolyRollah noted, a shiny brass finish can be very pleasing, and sometimes it's the best solution when the gold plating as been severely compromised. But you will need to give it a polish every now and then to remove the tarnish that will accumulate. Keeping the razor clean and thoroughly dried after use will help prevent tarnish from building up.
