Gillette Travel Tech Aluminium 1968

[flimflam_machine]

I'm new to DE shaving. On a whim I snapped up a cheap razor from eBay. It appears to be a 1968 (code N2) travel tech with an aluminium handle. The seller described it as "mint", it still has the little card, blade substitute and the knurling on the handle is very crisp. However, the nickel plating is bubbling on the cap and one of the combs. It came in a little carry-case with a Gillette Super Stainless box, but with only one blade in it. So a few questions:

1 - Is this worth anything to a collector? Should I sell it or just go ahead and use it?
2 - What are these like to shave with? Since I'm new to this I'm still trying to calibrate myself to what is aggressive and what's mild.

Thanks in advance for your help.

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[NotTheStig]

Probably not worth a great deal - not a sought after model and bubbling not good. Was low but not bottom end when made. Handle should be fine as the years go on because that's not plated. Looks like a nice little set though. I would just use it. It's a mild razor and the light handle makes getting the balance a little tricky for some but it is a good razor. I have one although not with such a short handle. The blades will probably be very nice

 

[flimflam_machine]

Probably not worth a great deal - not a sought after model and bubbling not good. Was low but not bottom end when made. Handle should be fine as the years go on because that's not plated. Looks like a nice little set though. I would just use it. It's a mild razor and the light handle makes getting the balance a little tricky for some but it is a good razor. I have one although not with such a short handle. The blades will probably be very nice

Cheers NTS, that's pretty much what I thought.

 

[majortom]

I have a couple of Techs. Great shavers and very mild. I wouldn't describe yours as "mint". Probably "fair but showing it's age" would be more
accurate. I would normally boil this in a pan of water with some salt for half an hour, give it a little scrub up with an old toothbrush in water and washing up liquid. Sanitize it with some Barbicide, a shine with some metal polish and it'll come up a treat. Worst you'll do if you put it on ebay is get your money back, and at best you'll have a nice little razor that you can enjoy.

 

[Canuck]

I think they're smashing litte sets, not worth a huge amount but the package and setup is a lot of fun as a concept. Totally nuts of course (Techs are some of the smallest razors around, and this concept somehow assumes that a Tech is way too big to carry in a washbag!) but it's a fun idea, kind of an excercise in "just how tiny can we make a razor".

NTS nailed it already, these are mild shavers and a bit too light for most but I think you should just use it and enjoy the experience. Stick it on eBay in a few months if you don't enjoy it any longer, and you will likely get all of your money back, assuming you've paid the going rate. They're worth about a tenner, maybe 15 quid on a good day with the wind behind it. They won't have devalued any in a few months so time is not a factor.

 

[flimflam_machine]

Many thanks for the advice chaps. It definitely looks like one to use rather than collect. I was prepared to believe that it was pretty much unused because of the state of the handle and the little card "blade", so I was concerned that I would instantly write a load off its value just by using it.

I do like the concept and it is a dinky little kit so I shall give it a clean up and see what it's like. Just out of interest majortom, what nasties will sterilising it in barbicide kill that boiling for half an hour won't? Also, are there any alternatives to barbicide? Vodka?

 

[majortom]

In actual fact, the boiling will kill virtually most nasties that may be on your kit as well as removing the crud. The metal is not very hospitable to germs and most will die off within a few days of the last use anyway. Barbicide is used by most hairdressers to sterilise their equipment because scissors etc are being used constantly on numerous clients. A rinse in any mild household disinfectant would do the same job as the risk of any infection is very small anyway.

 

[flimflam_machine]

I gave this a run out last night after a bit of a clean up. It was quite nice! My general impression is that it is very mild. Certainly compared to my cheap-as-chips, but aggressive-as-hell Boots DE it shows less blade and has a much, much smaller blade gap. This was reflected in its performance, it seemed to take off relatively little on the first pass and I had to do a fair bit of tidying up after 2 passes. The short handle made it difficult to judge and control the angle at some points so I'm tempted to create a Frankenrazor with the handle from my Boots DE and the head from this. Having said that, this will probably be neglected now that my edwin Jagger DE89L has arrived, but I may well take it when travelling.