Thread: Gold washed/plated razors question

There were more than a few razor brands back in the day that had gold plated tangs. The DD Goldedge and Gold Bug razors jump to my mind as the most well known. I have a "Ladwig's Special" square point German razor marketed by Milwaukee Cutlery IIRC that had a gold plated tang.

In studying the Ladwig's Special closely, the entire tang, sides top and bottom were plated. This is a two stabilizer full hollow and it appears there is gold remnant in the crevice of at least the stabilizer bar which joins the tang. Also, the very end tip of the toe of the spine, when the blade is viewed head on rather than from the side, was plated. The spine sides and spine top show no sign of plating whatsoever.

My long winded question: Does anyone have a fine specimen of a razor that has a gold plated tang showing more or less conclusive evidence that the spine and top of the razor were in fact NOT gold plated? I see there is a fabulous example of a Droescher Gold Bug in the Wiki and it looks like the entire tang and the stabilizer bar area are gold plated. I can't tell from the picture if the top of the spine was plated as well.

For aesthetics, if an entire razor tang was gold plated AND the tip of the razor was plated, it would seem logical to plate the entire spine/top of the blade. However, even with proper stropping, I would assume plating would wear off. On my Ladwig's Special, there is not enough gold left to tell if the spine was plated or purposely left unplated.

I'll post pictures later.

Chris L

I would guess that IF a razor was entirely plated then its purpose was ornamental not practical.

It just occurred to me that I probably could have shortened my question to ask simply: Does anyone know if razors that had gold plated tangs also had the gold plating on the razor back?

Chris L

Originally Posted by singlewedge

I would guess that IF a razor was entirely plated then its purpose was ornamental not practical.

What would the practical purpose be for gold plating any area of the razor? Other than that Ladwig's Special, I don't have any razors that had gold plating. In rereading my response, be sure that I'm not asking this to be facetious. I have little knowledge regarding gold plating of razors and why, other than aesthetics it may have been done.

Chris L

Originally Posted by ChrisL

What would the practical purpose be for gold plating any area of the razor? Other than that Ladwig's Special, I don't have any razors that had gold plating.

Chris L

Only its fetching and eye catching beauty. A few small jewels in the handle would be a perfect complement/compliment.

Plating rather than gold wash would be beautiful for certain. I've spent a lot of time trying to obtain gold wash to refurbish the finish on a couple of mine. The problem is it's illegal to import gold wash kits into the USA from the UK.