Thread: Razor ID and first shave...

I have sinned against my straights!

Today I got a nice deal on a few Gillettes...three razors for my $20 Benchmade Benchmite knife. Sooo, I cleaned them up with an old toothbrush and some baking soda to get rid of the bioburden that was on it and then dowsed each in some alcohol. Loaded them up with a cheapo Wallyworld blade and went to work. I had the dial setting at 3, but quickly changed it to a more aggressive setting of 5. Figured that it would be easier than a straight and just did it...all three passes. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting the world since it was my first time, so I'm not going to beat myself up over the dozen or so weepers and a mediocre DFS result.

Can you guys ID the years and models of these guys?







Think I'll keep these guys around in case I end up going to bed without shaving with a straight and don't have much time in the morning...nice alternative and certainly fancier than current offerings.

I can't do the years except in ballpark figures, but you have a Fatboy, a Slim and a Superspeed (there's a chance I'm wrong about the latter as there are a few cosmetically similar razors such as Rockets, Aristocrat Juniors, Parats etc). The easiest way to research all this is to Google it, which will very likely lead you to the B&B wiki. There you'll find a list of the date codes which were stamped into the undersides of most Gillette safety razor heads which will enable you to pin them down to within 3 months. As a rough guide, the Fatboy is '58-'61; the Slim '61-'68 and the Superspeed '48-'50. The Fatboy is the most collectable, but the Superspeed is the best shaver in my opinion.

I'm certainly no expert on Gillette DEs but I can id the silver razors in the pics. The thicker one on the left is a Gillette Fatboy and the thinner one on the right is a Gillette Slim. You can check under the head of the razor and there will be a letter and number on each side of the handle. The letter corresponds to the year of production and the number is for the quarter of the year (i.e., 1st, 2nd, etc) that it was made. You can then check http://safetyrazors.net/gil_ser2.htm to the get the exact year and quarter of the razor was made. When checking the chart, look for adjustable dial TTO (twist-to-open) razors for the Fatboy and Slim production. Those should all be late 50's on.

Thanks for the dating info..didn't know they dated these things. Apparently, I have a:

1948-49 Superspeed
1960 Fatboy
1965 Slim

For future reference here is a good webpage with Gillette dating info. I have never cared for the fatboys but the early super speeds from the 47 to early 50s are some great shavers IMO ..... if you like DEs.