The single ring razor when received looked like a piece of ... yuk! The case is in very bad shape. The razor was dirty. I wondered what I had bought. There were no standard serial numbers but an patent number RR. No.28763 of 02. Here is a picture of the case. It shows the age of over 100 years. There are some of the three hole Gillette blades in the box. Here is the condition of the razor upon receipt. Sad looking isn't it. Here is an image after the first cleaning. Getting better as it is cleaned. Now for the polishing. Now for the finished view of my razor. Now it looks almost a good as new. What is nice about the English models is that they seem to have a very good fit and finish to them. The inside barrel serial number indicates that this razor was more than likely made in 1907. Not bad looking for a 104 year old razor that first looked like it was a piece of ... yuk! Mr. Razor's site displays this razor as follows: Obviously his case is in much better condition as is the razor. However, after cleaning up mine it looks far better than what I initially expected. The English Gillette single ring. I will be interested in trying this one out soon.
That was what threw me for a loop. I was expecting an American unit and I was slightly dismayed with what I had gotten, until... Sometimes you never quite know what you have until you start cleaning and researching.
I don't know why, but I am amazed every time I see one of those older silver Gillettes clean up to a shiny new luster. It is a thing of beauty
Well, this morning I used this razor. I prepared with a nice hot shower while heating my water in the hot pot. After showering, I poured some hot water into the two mugs (one to make lather and one to leave hot water in to clean the razor). When the mug for the lather was warm, I poured the water out and made a combination lather with C.O. Bigelow Cream / Barbasol Brushless Tube Cream using the FS Synthetic Brush. This makes a thicker and pastier lather that works well when I use a more aggressive razor. The razor and vintage blade was impressive. I took 2 1/2 passes on the face because I was trying not to cut myself with an unfamiliar razor. The Single Ring was going to have no part of a mild shave, and I drew two small weepers. Since I have a medium to course fast growing beard and very sensitive skin, this is normal for me. I was less adventuresome with an unfamiliar razor on the head shaving. Normally it is one pass, but today I used two passes in a reduction technique for safety sake. After the shave, a splash of Witch Hazel cleaned and sealed the small weepers and some Nivea balm topped off with O.K. 33 Cologne (Knockoff brand that I like). All in all a super smooth BBS shave all over. I like it. The only disadvantage is that silver plating tends to tarnish quickly so this would not be a daily shaver for me, but it sure is nice every once and a while to go way back....
WOW!! GD...Looks like you got you a Holy Grail.....Man, and she cleaned up to museum piece status....A regular Mona Lisa.... And I see you didn't waste anytime getting passed the introductions and on to capturing that shave....You da Man! You should have let us known what was up...we could have had a moment of silence this morning around your shave time...Lol... All kiddin' aside...Things like this are really special...When you can connect with history in such a pleasing way....and now that razor is part of your history and you it's....And to top it off you got a great shave...I reflect Steves sentiments in wishing you many more.... Congrats on this whole chapter, my friend...I know it'll take a while to wipe that smile off your face...)
Good stuff Gary. If the single ring was the only DE razor in the world, I could live with that and be happy. They really are great shavers.
soon the DE shaving noobs will wake up to the beauty and functionality of these wonderful antiques and drive the prices to astronomical levels. enjoy them while you can still pick up a mis-labelled one on the bay for $20.
