Cerakoted Razors

[NotTheStig]

Through someone on the forum who knows someone who does ceramic coating of razors I had the following three done.

The results varied fairly considerably, although none were bad.
Every razor was not new so there were some minor imperfections here and there as you might expect in wear and tear over the decade.

First up is the aluminium Tech. This was, in my opinion, really well coated.
Some missing paint on the thread and its corresponding hole which doesn't bother me.
A small burr on the bottom of the handle.

 

[NotTheStig]

Next up is the Aristocrat. I was told in advance that doing this on a one piece twist to open might be trickier but I went with it anyway.

I will say at this point I think this came out the worst.

The issues I note are some areas on the base plate where there is no paint - on both the top and bottom - and the handle still shows some gold through the paint slightly.
I suspect the issue around the base plate is due to the razor being open when coated; this part lowers when fully opened and is hidden from view.
I'm not sure about the slightly dark gold colour on the handle. It doesn't affect the bottom part that you twist.

 

[NotTheStig]

And finally the Fatboy. Again, I was told in advance that doing this on a one piece twist to open might be trickier but I went with it anyway.

This is my daily go-to razor and back in 2012 I had it replated in gold. A couple of thousand shaves later and the plating was looking pretty lossy on the silo doors, around the edges and on the handle.

I belive this razor came out almost as well as the Tech. The very corners of the tops of the silo doors had gold showing through, and some similar issues on the underside of the baseplate.
Anything else you see is likely reflections.

 

[Mike Smart]

Fair play to you for giving it a go but for me it’s not my thing.
i prefer my vintage to look vintage.
Having said that your look decent but sorry not for me.
although i would do this with a modern razor no problem.

 

[NotTheStig]

The only observation I have with the operation of these razors is the Fatboy no longer has that final quarter turn to lock the mechanism. One shave in but it doesn't seem to cause any issues.

Since I received these this morning I have painted the numbers on the dial, scraped away a little coating on the setting number indicator, and painted the Gillette logo and date code.
I also touched up the black finish where it was missing, which I think looks very good although I'm not sure if my efforts will be hard wearing.

I'm very happy with the results.

 

[NotTheStig]

Fair play to you for giving it a go but for me it’s not my thing.
i prefer my vintage to look vintage.
Having said that your look decent but sorry not for me.
although i would do this with a modern razor no problem.

I get that completely and was quite indecisive about getting it done.
In the end both TTOs had issues which made me consider this.
The Aristocrat had a lot of plate loss and some issues with the bits next to where end caps would sit not being straight. The latter was what swung it for me.
The Fatboy is often my daily driver and the plate loss was making me sad because it isn't original plate loss, it's replating I had done not long ago (in relative terms, at least in my opinion) and it was bothering me. If it had been original plate loss I'd have probably left it.
The Tech had no issues but these aluminium Tech are ubiquitous in cheap travel sets on ebay, and I thought the new aesthetic might make me want to use it more. It's Tech June-kies month still and it'll be putting in at least one appearance in its resplendent red!

But I certainly wouldn't have taken a NOS vintage razor and done anything to it.

 

[NotTheStig]

For anyone who's interested here's the before photos for the razors:

 

[NotTheStig]

The Fatboy started out in a very sorry state in 2011 before being replated in gold in 2012, which you can see when new and just before cerakoting

 

[NotTheStig]