When I consider the TTOs I have, all over 60 years old and none have ever experienced a drop of oil or special "care" of any kind and have at most a little soap scum to show for it, I consider this pampering not maintenance. Think about it; what good is a razor that will spend its life in hot, soapy water if it needs such special care just to survive? By the way, that's why I won't have a Zamak razor in my house ever again.

zamak; just say no...

I need to take some photos and put it up, but speaking of Zamak - I ended up with a ball end tech - made of Zamak. Even the head (maybe not the base plate) _no_ indented GILLETTE in the head.

considering the amount of scum that's come out of the center of some of my TTO's and adjustables, I don't have any issue with running some oil down them every year or two. It helps protect the center shaft from corrosion.

Fifty year old +/- brass? Since I already own the bottle of oil I'll pamper my vintage tools. Maintenance beats repair. And I get to play with my toys! They all get a Dawn and toothbrushing every blade change. Sometimes a dab of polish, but I'd hate to wear the plating off. One of those Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaners is on my shopping list, too.
Most of the razors I find in the wild look like they were never cleaned by the previous user. The ones that were I wish they'd not have. 80 grit sand paper, really?

@RyX - I don't know how good the current one is. Mine is a Chicago Electric. It's actually heated, it turns out, and they don't tell you this. The problem is that it only runs in 3 minute cycles, and you need at least 4 minutes to properly degas the solution. (you have to run out most of the air bubbles so that the cavitation is small and dynamic enough to remove dirt). I also had to run new wires to the controls, because they're in the lid, rather than the base, and one+ wires broke. Network cable worked quite well.

In any case, the current one looks like it is about the same, power level wise, and has some sort of 'five settings' for cycles.

Keep in mind, these are _low power_ units. If you expect to throw shooting brass from ex-soviet ammunition into the box with a little bit of soap, and have them clean in 4 minutes, forget it. If you plan to toss in a razor with detergent and a surfactant (not the same thing, despite some of the stuff out there), and soak for a while, then vibrate loose old soap and dirt, it should work fine. Also, use _warm_ water - 115-150 degrees. It apparently makes the unit work better. Cold water doesn't. (I had always been told the other way around, until I started reading what the manufacturers of the BIG units had to say)

Edit - warning. I just saw people in reviews discussing using half full, rather than fully filling. Don't do that. The piezio unit can burn out if it's not spreading the vibrations completely. Also, the HF unit has a max 8 minute cycle. I'd prefer to see a 15 and 30 minute cycle, personally.

I picked up an adjustable that was kinda squeaky. Cleaned it up put a drop of hairtrimmer oil in the shaft at the top. Seems smoother and completely quiet now.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Thank you for the review.
Inexpensive, weekender tools. Hopefully more than a one time use electric unit. Harbor Freight tends to have lighter duty electrically powered gear.
If I need a work duty tool, I go Northern Tool or pawn shoppping for a used.

If it helps, their current iteration doesn't have a button on the lid, so that problem is gone. I've used mine for about.... 8 years, off and on. Mostly cleaning out knives. After they've been in my pocket for a month, they need something to clean them out. That and fountain pens.

So, after that 8 years, I then had to repair the wiring. I've known about that issue for about 4 years

wow.de just got a little more pricey....i m the same way with my mechanics tools

It's your stuff. Treat it how you want.

Go to your local pharmacy and look for the Mineral Oil in the Laxative aisle. (Sorry...but that's where it is)

I use my stuff in the way the manufacturer intended. Never have I seen Gillette advise me to use an Ultrasonic cleaner or perform any other extraordinary servicing on their now vintage razors most of which are older than a good number of users at TSD.

True, but we're talking about 50-70 year old razors. By comparison, Gillette had only been making a TTO for around 20 years when they came out with the first adjustable razors. Gillette probably had little data on long-term maintenance requirement and less incentive to provide it as they would have preferred you just replace the razor with a new one, anyway.

My personal preference (though it puts my solidly in the minority) is WD-40, especially on something like a crusty Adjustable. As I see it, it combines enough solvent to help with the crap with a decent lubricating oil.

Heh. When you're trying to remove 40 years of soap scum and other detritus from a sealed razor, an ultrasonic cleaner is a godsend. See the cruddy micromatic thread for an example.

TTO's are all sealed. @Captain Murphy can probably give chapter and verse on disassembly.

Nothing wrong with WD-40, although it's primarily a penetrant and displacer, not a lubricant. Once you've used it, adding a good lubricant is a good idea.

I don't believe we need to do these crazy little maintenance things we do now to TTO razors or any vintage razor.
Goodness. They've made it this far without any maintenance.

*If door's are stuck and or not operating properly, yes then do whatever you have to do

How do we know there's been no maintenance for the properly working ones? I know that even 20 years ago, I occasionally lubricated my SuperSpeed, because I didn't have access to clean the shaft. Usually about once a year.

I know that I've picked up an awful lot of razors that REALLY needed that maintenance.

The rednecks out here in Colorado use gun oil.