Weird mark on new straight

Good morning all, I recently received my first new straight razor, a Ralf Aust 5/8 from SRD. After my first shave I was inspecting the razor and notices a few odd marks on it. First there is a red splotch and next to it a small black line, I tried rubbing them off to no avail. I was wondering if this is a normal thing or if I should contact SRD and see about getting a replacement. I have attached a few photos to show exactly what I mean. Any help and advice would be much appreciated.


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Looks like a water mark to me or some sort of transfer from your fingers aftershave or some other shave product left when closing your blade.

Just give them a call and pictures.

Off hand I would say it looks like a watermark. Did you dry it well after use and put it in a safe area where it wouldn't get splashed or sprayed? I have had issue (and made mistakes) not drying the blade well enough. If it is a watermark, than a non-abrasive polish/cleaning compound like MASS or Blue Magic will get rid of it.

Thank you all for your responses. I doubt it is a watermark as much as it does look like one, as soon as I was done shaving I wiped it down with a tissue. Including on the inside of the scales and then I applied some razor oil too it, put it in it's holder and put in a drawer with my other straight. In person it has a redder hue to it that doesn't quite come out well in the pictures I took. I suppose it could be an aftershave transfer, but my other blade is fine and I haven't switched aftershaves. I will shoot SRD an e-mail with the pictures and see if they can help me out, I was hoping it was something that just happens to blades because of the uniqueness of the metal.

It could be a drop of etchant if they used a stencil for what appears on the blade.

Yes, call and let them know.

Try rubbing a little polish on it with your finger (avoid the etching). If you don't have any polish toothpaste should work.

It looks like a stain of some sort. The question is, did it arrive with that on it or did it form after you used it?

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

It looks like a stain of some sort. The question is, did it arrive with that on it or did it form after you used it?

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I'm not 100% sure, I didn't notice it when it first arrived. I only noticed it after my first shave but it only shows up when looking at it from a certain angle.

My guess is it's from your water. Do you have very hard water-Ha I see you're in L.A so that answers that.

I would say a water mark as well, I've also got very hard water and get them sometimes. Polish will remove them

Thank you all for your advice, I contacted SRD and they said water mark as well. So I grabbed some metal polish and did some work on it, It looks like it is all gone. It was definitely the weirdest looking water spot I had ever seem. So again thank you all and I look forward to make great shaves with my new razor.