Thread: DD Goldedge Resto

These always make me smile. Just something about them I like.
Broke down the blade and cleaned it up. The third photo is just prior to plating. It has to be as near perfect as you can get as Gold doesn't hide a thing. It accentuates it.
The scales had the typical curves and needed straightening. These also had initials scratched into them with what looked like someone did it with an old nail. All traces are gone.
Plated the shaft and put her back together again.

Great work, yet again Mark. First I'm impressed with your cleaning up the blade. Can you show a picture of your work platform? I like to see if you made some special tools for polishing. I like to steal your ideas :-)

Second how do you gold Plate? Do you have all the chemical baths or do you use some other technic?

Kristian

Thanks. But in the before photos that blue surface IS the work surface. Just a thin foam pad. For sanding it's very much like the pieces of eraser I cut up that you can see in the workshop thread where I carved the scales. I also use various shaped rubber that I wrap sandpaper around. Low tech, low buck. It works.

Through my regular work I have a friend who does some plating , mostly brass and silver but I use his shop as he has everything I need. I don't want to bother trying to obtain all the chemicals , hassles ( EPA etc) so this works great for what I need to do.

Never tried the " do it at home" kits. I'm sure they work but here I have access to additional underplating should it be needed and something about a commercial process just resonates with me.

Absolutely astounding, I LOVE it!!

Although I'm somewhat saddened, I have one of these coming to me within the next week and when I saw that you said you re-plated the gold, I got all excited because I thought "I'll be able to learn how this fellow did it"... well I don't have a friend that has those supplies lol. But excellent job and kudos!

With my penchant for these I had to find a way around the plating problem. For me it worked but there are other avenues to try.

Great work as always.Lokking at the before Pics,Do you have any concerns about possible cell Rot?

Excellent job!

Now if the owner were to sell this, would you list that it has been re-plated? Reason I asked is I read an interesting discussion about a Gillette DE that had been replated and whether disclosing that it had been replated was required or not.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Great work as always.Lokking at the before Pics,Do you have any concerns about possible cell Rot?

Personally with these I've never seen any. From my research into cell rot and scales gassing it "seems" to be prevalent with the more translucent celluloids. I've seen examples of faux tortoise for example that you could easily see the pattern transferred directly onto the blade wherever a translucent area was on the scale. Some thought leads to believing the more pigmented the celluloid the less the chance for it to happen as the pigments/binders appear to stabilize the celluloid better. As in the case I just described the darker areas showed no sign even though it was the very same scale.
So in the case of these scales where the liner is pure solid white, and the remainder of the cracked ice is heavily pigmented may be just the combination where this may not be a problem.

Originally Posted by Phrank

Excellent job!

Now if the owner were to sell this, would you list that it has been re-plated? Reason I asked is I read an interesting discussion about a Gillette DE that had been replated and whether disclosing that it had been replated was required or not.

I think it's pretty obvious that this has been restored/replated. The factory finishes I've seen look quite different besides the usual wear patterns. Even on DEs the razor has a " just looks too good for what it is" kinda look. This is covered in Malcom Gladwells book "Blink" where Art fakes are revealed.

should the owner list it as such? That's something he'll have to decide. But if it's at least listed as " restored" that can cover quite a bit. Besides. The rest of the blade will look terrific and the original gold and the surface under it won't. It'll look odd. It won't have a unified look.

But another thing to consider is the example of a classic car. It looks perfect and the chrome gleams. You already know it's been replated. That's a given at first glance. No original chrome ( or gold plate for that matter) will look like the fresh stuff. If you see enough of these as well as DEs you can tell from across the room.
The French have an expression for this that is Coup d' Oeil. The power of the glance essentially.l

Originally Posted by Phrank

Excellent job!

Now if the owner were to sell this, would you list that it has been re-plated? Reason I asked is I read an interesting discussion about a Gillette DE that had been replated and whether disclosing that it had been replated was required or not.

Is a faithfull Restore down to a re-paint,On resale just a disclosure that it has been restored should suffice IMO