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Post by fram773 on Oct 18, 2014 20:37:22 GMT -6
For those of you who aren't members of TSD take a look at this discussion between Birdlives, HoosierTrooper, and I: theshaveden.com/forums/threads/injector-se-party.23113/page-93#post-646076 In short, GEM learned that for durability's sake they should not plate gold over brass. That is not durable and the plating practically washes off. That is why we see so many early GEM razors that are unplated today. At some point they decided to plate nickel over brass and then gold over the nickel. This is the first Junior I see in person in gold on the left. On the right is the unplated one. Here is a shot of the inside on the gold Junior. As you can see there is gold plate loss that shows nickel plating underneath:
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norfolkdick
Master Shaver
Captain of the Razor Blades
Posts: 1,601
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Post by norfolkdick on Oct 19, 2014 4:20:03 GMT -6
Greetings
My GEM Junior with the black baton handle is plain unplated brass and has never been plated at any time. I know this as I bought it NOS all wrapped up and unopened, a chap in the states had about 20 of them for sale a couple of years ago. I suspect these were made as utility models just before or during the war years.
I also have a GEM OCMM that has lost every bit of it's 'gold' plating, when I purchased it, it had a tiny bit of plating remaining on the inside of the frame actually on the blade tray, I cleaned up the razor and polished it with Brasso which removed in seconds what little plating was left, leaving plain brass underneath with no nickeling. These early forms of gold wash (it is hardly durable enough to be called plating) when plated onto raw brass does not seem to have any 'staying power' at all.
Personally speaking and as a side issue, these two razors are amongst my favourites and I find no issues at all with shaving with an unplated brass razor.
Regards Dick.
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RocketMan
Gem Star
RazorAddict
Welcome To The Sharp Side!
Posts: 4,167
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Post by RocketMan on Oct 24, 2014 0:59:30 GMT -6
Like NorfolkDick I have an nos baton jr which has a brass head. I have a couple of CPs that I would swear must have been sold as brass. They never had nickel over the brass, and with the CP coming out in the 30s, when did they learn not to plate gold directly on brass - which the CPs must have been if indeed they ever were gold plated.
I have seen the adverts for gold razors, but this does not rule out brass only.
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Post by fram773 on Oct 24, 2014 11:43:30 GMT -6
I have seen the adverts for gold razors, but this does not rule out brass only. It does not rule it out as a possibility but there would be a burden of proof to prove it was unplated. It was hard for me to believe my brass razors where ever plated due to my bias of seeing late model gold Gillettes which even in a sorry shape still had evidence of having been plated due to having nickel plating as well. So far I have not seen any historical documentation of unplated razors being sold. I searched google books for old ads of GEM Juniors and all I could find was an ad for gold plated metal handle Juniors.I set out to try to disprove Norfolkdick's claim but could not find evidence either for or against. I would really like to see one of those ads with a baton handle Junior. I think it would be a further bias to think just because it was NOS it was never plated. Brass reacts with air to form tarnish and in all the decades it sat unopened and exposed to air it may very well have shed its gold plating. Gold is very valuable and plating must be extremely thin so just how much gold dust would have been visible? This of course, is speculation. I'm not sure as to when the shift to nickel plating underneath occurred but I have never seen an unplated Bullet Tip.
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RocketMan
Gem Star
RazorAddict
Welcome To The Sharp Side!
Posts: 4,167
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Post by RocketMan on Oct 24, 2014 18:48:12 GMT -6
You make good points. I think it is indeed possible the baton handles GEMS appear to be brass but could in fact be gold plated. As for the clogprufs, it would need to be fairy dust indeed to disappear quite so thoroughly.
I enjoy a good razor related hunt though! I'll have to polish up my hunting chops and test my mettle on this brass business! : )
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