Polished iKon SBS Razor Head

Matthew, I agree with all of the compliments your work has generated.  Please add mine to the list.  That is a stunning piece of kit.  Congratulations on a job beautifully done.

Thanks for all the comments so far, I appreciate them!

Turned out great. Unlike I did with my 104 you apparently stopped before the copper layer started to peek through.

Thanks! I’m still sorry about what happened to that 104 of yours.

I feel like this SBS does have more of a yellow hue than the unpolished satin finish. Perhaps I stopped just in time… I’m still tempted to fine-tune the work on this, but on the other hand, I don’t want to take it too far. (Not only because of the risk of uncovering something, but also because I don’t want to affect any tolerances.)

Good job, looks beautiful
I have it too and i always need watching angle to avoid irritation

Good job, looks beautiful
I have it too and i always need watching angle to avoid irritation

Thank you! Yes, even though especially the safety bar side is such that the blade can be difficult to even feel, irritation can still occur if one gets too reckless with the razor.

When I first shaved with the iKon SBS (not sure if this model should still be designated as a ShaveCraft or not), I was sufficiently impressed to immediately order another one.

The SBS is surprisingly efficient for the relatively mild razor that it is. The blade tabs are completely covered (although I honestly don’t mind them in razors that leave them exposed). The open comb side leaves a good bit of lather behind, which I believe was one of the purposes of early open comb designs. And there is a degree of adjustability to the razor, as the base plate can be flipped, and there’s an open comb and a safety bar onboard.

However, for a razor head that is made of some kind of proprietary aluminum alloy, this is a heavy piece of metal. Although it is a relatively smooth shaver, it still requires some attention in order to avoid little nicks and irritation. And then there was the fact that it has a satin finish, whereas most of my razor handles are shiny. Not that that’s a big deal, but it’s nice when things either match or contrast well.

So I decided to polish one of my SBS heads. I did so by hand, using Flitz polish paste and two grades of steel wool: #00 (very fine) and #0000 (super fine). I thought it would be a lengthy process, but surprisingly, I completed most of the work while watching two periods of an ice hockey game. The results aren’t perfect, but I’m quite happy with them. Some pictures follow. The first one shows an unpolished SBS next to my polished one.

That looks great, Matthew!

Turned out great. Unlike I did with my 104 you apparently stopped before the copper layer started to peek through.

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This is what I was surprised by with Matthew's SBS, as it looks polished with no copper.  I also have a 104, jmudrick.  While I did not try to polish mine, I did lap the small circle(on the bottom side of baseplate where the handle mates) with a small fine stone to remove tool marks and square up the mating surface.  This resulted in exposing copper for me as well.  It didn't bother me, since the surface is smooth and somewhat square now.  My 104 head was a BLEM and I assumed that maybe the tool marks were the reason for the designation.

I also have an iKon Bulldog matte finish handle that I lapped the top mating surface.  This also revealed a layer of copper.  Again, I'm not concerned about the appearance, but just wanted flat mating surfaces.  I was concerned with galling since the handle is stainless steel and the 104 razor head is aluminum.

Sorry for going off topic, but I just wanted to stress this possible issue in case anyone else decides to polish or lap any surfaces on these razors.  I want to warn folks to proceed with caution if you are concerned about exposing some things unintentionally.  These particular razors(104's at least) must have some sort of coating or plating on them.