Thread: Edge Deterioration

Lynn


Regarding your post on 12 - 11 - 08 about Edge Deterioration, I'm wondering if there is the possibility that minute air pockets are formed in the steel during the forging process and manifest themselves on the edge. I have a carbon razor from the 40's or 50's that is essentially a brand new razor I purchased in the 1960's and only started using within the last year. I discovered the deteriorated edge on the same day that I came across your December 08 post.

I look forward an acceptable explanation for this phenomena. If you ever find out the source of the problem, please post it. Thanks ..... JERRY S

Interesting thread that I must have missed back in December so here are my thoughts.

As a sailboat owner who is working toward selling everything that doesn't fit on the boat and leaving for good it seems like I'm dealing with the issue of long term storage in a highly corrosive environment on a daily basis.

It's been my experience that unless whatever you are trying to "preserve" is completely clean and dry before you apply whatever preservative you are using there is the chance that there will be just enough contaminant present to cause trouble...and that includes treating a dry material in a humid environment. It could be those razors that seemed to dull while in storage were not as clean as you thought when you oiled them or at some point became contaminated due to a less than complete application of oil...and I'm not trying to slam you with this remark as I've had stuff rust that I had thought was bulletproof because some of the preservative had wicked off due to inadvertent contact with an absorbent material.

It's also been my experience with razors that it's pretty easy to damage the edge while prepping them or cleaning them for use after storage. Even tissue paper (or a Q-Tip) can dull the edge if you're not careful. The other thing I've noticed is when switching between different razors there is a short re-learning period before my technique is up to par and I'm fairly sure I've needlessly rehoned a few.

Or maybe you just have bathroom gremlins that sneak in a shave with your stored razors.

Thanks for resurrecting this -- I will have a chance to test this
in a couple months when I return to my home and native land.
I usually store my razors without any oil of any kind, so these
will have 4 months of disuse without protectant. I shall report
back, but you folks will have to be patient

- Scott

Hey Lynn, do you think it may just be that your honing's improving over time & that you can get better results as time passes than when you last honed the razor? That's what i find too!

This is in reference to Lynn's December '08 post.........

I just had another thought about the possible cause of edge deterioration. Back in the 90's I killed quite a few Bonsai trees by watering them with "softened" water until a co-worker pointed out that by passing my house water through a water softener was putting salt in my water and the salt killed my trees.

Rinsing my razors in softened water might also be damaging the blade edges. Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?? JERRY

mrsell63, you are exactly correct. The "filters" that are sold to softer our homes' water aren't filters at all, they are ion exchange resins. True, they take out Calcium, Iron etc which result in hard water but the metal ions have to be replaced with another metal ion, mother nature doesn't like to allow electrically charged anything, much less water. So the Calcium, Iron and other ions in regular tap water are replaced by Sodium ions and so you are drinking dissolved Sodium ions which we all know is bad for one's health and is more corrosive that the metal ions it removed. If you buy the more expensive Potassium ion exchange resins the bad effects to your health are averted but the water still is quite corrosive. I drove a girl salesperson crazy one evening with all this. she finally left in tears. That's the kind of amusement that PhD chemists enjoy!!!

Originally Posted by blaireau

So the Calcium, Iron and other ions in regular tap water are replaced by Sodium ions and so you are drinking dissolved Sodium ions which we all know is bad for one's health and is more corrosive that the metal ions it removed.

So where do we get non corrosive water to drink ? Non PHD mere mortals want to know .