Thread: Beginner's Tip For December 2013

Good day ladies and gentlemen. I've been given the privilege of providing the last beginner's tip of 2013 and thought that razor care would be a good topic to end the year. Anyone who has ever had an old time barber shop shave will have experienced the barber having a towel over his forearm, of his stretching hand, to wipe the razor as the lather builds up on the blade. I've also seen one right handed barber use a shaving towel draped over his left shoulder to wipe the lather off of the blade. I am one of those who rinse under the tap as needed during, and after, the shave. I've read of more than a few members who've dinged their blade on the spigot. This has never happened to me. I assume it is a matter of 'keeping my eye on the ball' so to speak. Say that to say, if you're going to rinse under the tap pay attention to where the blade is relative to the faucet.

Whether wiping or rinsing under the tap, the blade should be throughly dried following the shave. I personally set the blade aside, rinse and dry my face, wash out my brush and bowl, and apply A/S, before tending to the blade. Depending on the mineral content of your water this minute or two may leave a water spot or two, especially if it is a mirror finish. Satin finished blades can also be effected but not as much as the mirror finish IME. So if that is going to be a concern tend to the blade before you tend to your face, brush and bowl.

I wipe the blade with a Kleenex type tissue when I am done. I look at the scales, inside and out, wipe them with a dry tissue if there are any droplets inside or out. I then strop it 20 to 30 round trips, depending on the phase of the moon, and if I am going to apply any rust preventative I use a product available from Birchwood Casey called R.I.G. (rust inhibiting grease). I use this stuff initially with a Q-tip applying it to the blade, wipe it off with a silicone gun cloth, and put the razor in a dry place where no moisture is present. There are many lubricants/rust preventatives that can be used alternatively.

Plain old mineral oil, Ballistol, Tsubaki oil, Tuf-Glide among many others, can also be effective in protecting our blades from corrosion. A product called Renaissance Wax is also great for protecting both blades and wooden scales. This stuff was recommended to me by Robert Williams the custom razor maker. An application of Ren-Wax followed by the gun cloth impregnated with R.I.G. and I sleep soundly knowing my blades are protected. Having said all of that I, being basically lazy, stopped religiously applying the aforementioned rust preventives to my blades. I live in a tropical climate, have air conditioning on most of the year, and therefore the humidity is largely removed from my environment.

I've read threads on the topic of where to store our straight razors and some members leave them in the medicine cabinet, or elsewhere in the bathroom, and suffer no negative consequences due to corrosion. I'm from the ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure school, so I store my blades a drawers outside of the bathroom in a dry environment. All of the above is based on 7 years of experience with straight razor shaving on pretty much a daily basis. As in everything connected with this hobby YMMV so whatever works for each individual is sorted out by trial and, unfortunately, error. I hope this months tip is useful to someone out there in Cyberspace ....... Smooth shaving .......

Nicely written; it's simple, bread-and-butter stuff like this, that helps us move along from "beginners" to "know-betters".

Me? I'm both a minimalist and risk-averse, so I never let my straight razors get anywhere near a sink or spigot; instead, I wet-and-wring-out a washcloth, crumple it into a ball, and put it to the right of my sink, within easy reach; then, when I finish shaving an area of my face, I just wipe the lather off the blade onto the washcloth.

Smooth shaving!

PS: While shaving, whenever I put down my straight razor I only do so on a dry towel, to the side of and away from the sink. Be safe, rather than sorry.

Something I like to do with the handle of my DE is take it from the bathroom with me and put it near the exhaust port of my Laptop (nearly always on) CPU cooling fan and this gently bathes the instrument in a gentle warm air flow. I do this principally to try and dry down into the screw threads but would imagine this also would help in drying out harder to reach parts of a straight.

I'm sure if some people were faced with the chance to buy a purpose made warm air dryer for their straights for 50USD there would be buyers , but this is free for most of us (?).

Originally Posted by JBHoren

Me? I'm both a minimalist and risk-averse, so I never let my straight razors get anywhere near a sink or spigot; instead, I wet-and-wring-out a washcloth, crumple it into a ball, and put it to the right of my sink, within easy reach; then, when I finish shaving an area of my face, I just wipe the lather off the blade onto the washcloth.

I do this too, except with a sponge.

Thanks JimmyHAD; funny thing is without knowing, I follow your same ritual every morning minus the R.i.G. part.

I have a display case with my rotation in it on the bathroom wall. It also contains a few silica gel packs to reduce the moisture in it.
My ritual while shaving is to rinse the blade in the sink full of hot water and after my shave running the blade under the hot tap.
I then wipe it on a microfibre cloth (while the blade is still warm), strop it, oil it and hang it on a hook in the bathroom cabinet for about 24 hrs and then put it back in the display case.
So far I've had no rust issues.