Wilkinson Sword Empire E21

[pjgh]

Another one ...

An E21, this time, cleaned up with Cif and polished with Peek.

... one whole tube of elbow grease later ...

... and with a blade in place, shave ready:

I'm very pleased with this one. It was in reasonable condition to start with, but has polished up beautifully, especially the handle.

 

[pjgh]

Today, I completely stripped this razor down ...

There are two screws to remove the head from the handle. Actually, there are four, but you might as well leave the gear housings on the handle bracket.

Next, there are four screws underneath the head, all of which came free easily ...

Then, a little bracket and a spring dropped out. No drama! I cleaned up the razor further, as best as I could see and then set about re-assembly ...

Three hours later, I finally nailed it! More by chance than skill, although I did have all the pieces back in the right place, compared to another model that I had. Getting the bracket in and the spring compressed, then head clamped down requires three hands, but there is not enough space on the razor for three hands.

I have nothing but the ultimate respect for the folks who originally assembled these razors. I'm certain that there must be a simple way of doing this; perhaps the folks on the factory line had special tools? Almost certainly.

Anyway, it's back together now ...

 

[NotTheStig]

Imagine showing those people who had assembled them a twenty pack of really budget disposable cartridge razors for a pound. (And explain how little a pound is these days)

 

[pjgh]

Indeed! Although I think the notion of anything disposable would have been entirely anathema to them.

Getting properly under the hood with this razor made me really appreciate the absolute genius of the mechanics. The stropper head is so simple, yet to well engineered; it's the spring and the bracket that is so clever, too, the bracket almost unnecessary but in there for purposes of perfection in the mechanism.