The Curious Case of the Antique Gillette ABC DE Razor.

Hey all,


Yes, that is fully restored purple felt interior, painstakingly matched by Razor Emporium who spent more than a week special ordering the right material for this restoration. The original "Gillette, Known the World Over" badge was salvaged and transplanted from the diseased, decrepit old interior and placed over the new felt.



3rd shave with the Feather blade and it's already toast?


In this picture, it shows that the blade seating is uneven. The right side of the blade protrudes out further than the left in this picture.


In this picture the blade seating is corrected and is ready for the final tightening twist.

I had not really paid full attention to this before today and had a terrible shave with this this morning. I apparently either missed centering the blade or forgot to the last time I cleaned the razor, dried it and put the blade back in for the next shave.

I felt the need to put this up for the community to show that with these old razors, you must be sure to check the blade position both before your final tightening and after to ensure they blade isn't uneven. The results are weeper city and a very uncomfortable shave if you fail to position the blade evenly.

I'm sure that many veterans in here are already aware of this 'catch' with the very old antique-age razors. I think this shows how good we have it with our modern razors today. For example, my $25 Edwin Jagger "Kelvin", sold by Amazon never needs blade adjustment. The blade fits perfect each time, every time and my shaves are all bullet-proof perfect. The Edwin Jagger works with virtually every blade beautifully except Derby's. On the OTHER hand, the antique Gillette ABC Empire razor looks ornate, gorgeous and like a beautiful work of art. Superior artistry in every way compared to my modern Edwin Jagger that cannot hold a candle to the Victorian beauty of the ABC razor, BUT....the antique razor only really shaves well with the SHARPEST modern blades and has problems with fitting the thinner, modern blades. I believe this isn't a sign that the ABC razor was poorly designed or poorly made, but rather the ABC razor, as was the Gillette Old-Type, designed and built to fit thicker blades than we use today. The Old-Type also has 'wiggle' room and can be aligned improperly to give bad shaves.

I wanted to post this as a reference for this razor and for the community to add any additional experiences or tips & tricks for getting the best possible shave out of this uncommon antique razor. I'm STILL slowly learning how to shave best with this razor as I don't use it all the time (I rotate a number of razors and sparingly use this stunning beauty).

I just wanted to say that this razor only seems to look better with age now that so much time has passed and we are in a "disposable" civilization now where we take for granted the things that are made to cheaply and easily. This razor comes from a time where the age of mass production was just beginning and you would soon after not see products like this again. It is an immense pleasure to have put together a shaving set like this. This razor, despite it's finicky and problematic shave, is my prize razor. I'm beyond proud of it. I hunted it down for over a year and spent quite a bit of money to have it restored to a look befitting royalty. Since taking the first pictures of the Nickel Plated Razor Case I have it sealed in a small plastic slip cover to protect it against any potential scratches and it sits quietly in a closet undisturbed. I had Rhodium Plating put on the razor to give it enhanced durability and resistance to damage so that I could shave with it. And true enough, it has stayed in perfect condition through more than a dozen shaves so far.

Here is one of the pictures that Razor Emporium took of my Razor. They take much better pictures than I do.

 

Nice set Tim.

 

I think your blade alignment issues have to do with that soldering/weld work to repair the threads and shoulders on the head. I hope that wasn't professionally fixed, if it was I'd ask for my money back or ask them to ground that down smooth and/or re-plate depending.

 

Thanks man. I hope anyone that happens to buy one of these can find my, and any other's info in here, useful.

 

Nope, not so. My 1907 Old-Type also has this same issue. As does a left over ABC razor I bought that wasn't restorable. Modern blades have a little bit of wiggle room in these. It's very small, less than a millimeter, but it's there on each one I own. I've seen posts from others who own Old-Types who also talk about how they have tried to use thicker blades or cut a 2nd blade and put two together to thicken the fit. The blades made back 100 years ago were thicker than the ones made today and these razors were made for those blades.

My pictures clearly show that the head of the 3-piece has no welding marks visible. It's a perfectly intact piece. Razor Emporium spared no expense in the restoration of this. What I think you 'think' you're seeing is actually reflections of the shafts due to an extremely shiny Rhodium plating job.

See ma, no weld marks. Just for your inspection to assuage your initial observation. Razor Emporium would never have allowed a head with weird welding blobs out of the door.


And here, is a picture of the beat-up ABC razor and an improperly seated blade where clearly it's bulging out too far to the right side. And off in the backround you can see the dirty, old ABC Case that came with this beat up razor. It's just cool to look at sometimes even though it isn't restorable.


I will not pull out my gold plated Old-Type for this demo as it's already been cleaned, dried, blade re-seated and it's ready for the next shave. I think that other ABC razor neatly shows what I'm talking about here.

 

No that is not a reflection but I will concede without being able to run my finger on it that the weld/solder may be smooth enough to not effect the blade alignment and is only showing through due to the thinness of the plating. The case restore is nicely done though.

Bottom line if you are satisfied with the work that is all that matters.

 

It looks like a reflection as it shows the threads on the post. One side will look longer depending on the angle the pic was taken or position of the cap.

 

Alright I have to walk back the reflection and weld/soldering statement. The light reflection on threads is consistent from the thread to the plate especially on the close up.

 

I posted follow up pictures with an edit on my response. I figured you thought the reflections were weld blobs. No worries man. I really thought over this blade alignment thing before posting here. I got 2 great shaves from the same blade, but the 3rd shave was giving me bad weepers and it didn't occur to me that it was because I took the blade out to clean the razor after each shave and didn't check the alignment of the blade when putting the blade back in.

I had small weepers all over my face because of just a small difference in blade position on this razor. Pretty crazy how something so small can make the difference on a shave, but there it is. I figured I would post this for other people so they could avoid as many bad shaves as possible with this antique razor.

 

I hope some Gillette ABC razor owners will chime in on this thread to add any tips & tricks to get great shaves out of this old-school razor. I don't have nearly enough experience with this razor to know all the in's and out's of it.

 

I said it before, but she is a beauty Tim. Very nice.
Steve

 

Thanks Steve ☺️

 

There really is no trick to shaving with these once the blade is in straight. Just angle and pressure like any other razor. They also shave just as good with Dollar General Dorcos as with Feathers.

Too often folks make a big deal out of these being monstors...I have been guilty of that . In the end they are just very good shaving efficent razors.

 

I restarted my beard in earnest about three weeks ago. It's coming along fine on the overall shape so I am committed to seeing how long much length/bulk i can get in it. But whenever I see a gorgeous razor-like Tim posted, I waver and start eyeing my Old Type or Rolls.

 

Beautiful set, Tim.

 

Looks great to me.

 

We all have our opinions on shaving and blade choices is one of these 'nebulous' things. I have an issue with 'pulling'/'tugging' with this ABC razor when I use my favorite blade that I use in most of my other razors (BiC Chrome-Platinum). However, when I put a Feather blade in there, I found the hair cuts much easier and I have far more cutting action. I think the blade angle of the razor is meant for the thicker blades of that era and modern thin blades have issues with that angle. So, since it's not efficiently cutting hair with my regular blade of choice, I used the brute-force approach with what is regarded as the sharpest blade on the market (Feather HI-Stainless).

When I first started this wet-shaving hobby 2 years ago, at first I thought all these people were full of fooey with their preferences with different blades. That is, until I ordered a sample pack and tried them out for myself with different razors. And, if I only shaved with my Edwin Jagger 'Kelvin', I would seriously be saying what you're saying because every blade, except Derby (pulling) and Feather Hi-Stainless (BBS+++), shaves exactly the same. In the Edwin Jagger razor it doesn't matter if I use BiC Chrome-Platinum or Astra Superior-Platinum or Pol-Silver or Personna, etc, etc. They all shave the same except the two I mentioned.

However, the proof is in the shaving for me. I cannot scientifically prove it but I swear the BiC Chrome-Platinum works in every other razor of mine perfectly, especially the Merkur Futur, which is a BBS+++ result on the lowest, mildest setting (and the Futur seems 'aggressive' on EVERY setting, even the lowest one).

Yeah, call me kooky. Call my shaving beliefs akin to "Witch Doctor" science, but since this is a hobby for fun and happy feels, why not just go by what you like? If someone thinks their blade is better than other blades, then I figure it ain't hurting anybody. I personally think some blades work best in some razors for me. I hate to be 'that guy' that I didn't think I was going to be, but, yeah, I guess I turned into 'that guy' who believes a certain blade works best in a certain razor. I really don't want to do any tests to prove this wrong or right. I just want to keep on with my experience.

Again, chime in if you own a Gillette ABC razor. Would love to read what your thoughts are, what your blade choice is and how you eventually got the best shave out of it that you could.

 

As you should. LOL

 

Yeah. I've been beyond super careful with this razor and want to use it for a lifetime. I'm not into a whole lot of fancy stuff, but this razor for me seems like what fine-China or some fancy car or treasured art/painting is like for someone else. Every time I put the set out with this razor it's pretty awesome sink ornamentation.