Post shave routine for care and storage of the straight razor

Ok lads; care to share your post shave routines for care and storage of your straight razors?

I take care to clean all the water off the blade and handle, with particular care to the part of the handle that houses the stem it gets little air circulation when the razor is closed.

I then wage the concept of post stropping vs. letting the edge reset and almost always go the strop route.

I use the linen and leather strop and I think it probably does a grand job of friction drying and keeping the moisture at bay.

I use a qew tip to drizzle some drugstore mineral oil onto the blade, tang, rivets and all indents in the letter stamps.

Then I wage the hazards vs air circulation debate and stash the closed razor in a dedicated section of my sock drawer.

What say you?

Toilet paper to dry blade and in between scales. Then 20 passes on linen and leather each. Then pop it into the lockable metal cashbox (I have inquisitive young children!) which has a few of those silica packets inside to absorb moisture. Take cashbox out of bathroom and into bedroom.

Seems to do the trick! :tu

Cotton ball with a bit of alcohol for the first wipe, a dry kleenex for the second and that should do it.

I wipe the blade and scales with my bath towel. Then I blow between the scales. Then I hold the razor in the open (shave) position with a good grip and wave it vigourously through the air. Then I lay it open on top of my (dry) shaving mug for a half day or so. Then it gets put back in its box and stored in the top drawer of my vanity unit.

James.

I wipe my blade and scales down with a dry towel (careful not to press against the edge) and close it. Then it goes back into the medicine cabinet until called for the next day.

This thread is coming along nicely.

majurey: Nice trick with the lock box and silica pouches. Where did you score the pouches or did you just stockpile them?

I’ve heard chalk is also a good moisture absorber so I chuck some dollar store sidewalk chalk in my toolkits.

Jimbo: Are you doing fight katas while your waving your razor through the air? You’re one scary dude!

I wipe the lather off on a towel as I shave. When I finish, I use tissue paper to dry the blade and put it away as I go to work. Later in the day when I return home, I strop 60 times on each side and give the blade an alcohol wash and tissue paper dry. I always rotate and use a new razor every week, switching out on Sunday evenings.
Ernest

Wipe it down let it air dry apply a thin coat of Kurobara Camellia Oil

I heard bentonite clay absorbs moisture as well. I'd direct you to my dad, but since he's living in Europe and doesn't speak English, I'd suggest talking to Colleen. She should know where to get it here in the Americas.

I use a dry hand towel to dry it off on and than place it in a ceramic vase on the counter. I'm lucky enough to get my own bathroom (at the moment, kitty litter room) so I don't have to worry about others messing with them.

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Originally Posted by Creel

majurey: Nice trick with the lock box and silica pouches. Where did you score the pouches or did you just stockpile them?

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Yep, I stockpile them. They seem to come with everything nowadays, so I just re-use them. They do have a shelf life so you need to change every couple of months.

You should be able to buy them from general stores though.

Instead of throwing them out, just dry them out with a hair dryer. That's what we do with crystals that get soaked with moisture from the air (not silica, but still).

Towel dry everything except the shaving edge.
Blow through the shoulder pin from the spine side.
Wipe the blade and edge with a rubbing alcohol treated tissue.
Strop gently about a dozen or two times on a horse hide leather strop.
Set out to air dry while I clean up and get dressed.
Store in a cedar cigar box.

X

Couple folks mentioned alcohol, what does this help with ?

Helps me to relax afterwards! :roflmao

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Originally Posted by majurey

Helps me to relax afterwards! :roflmao

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:D

Kills germs.

X

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Originally Posted by Creel

...Jimbo: ... You’re one scary dude!

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You have NO idea how scary this dude really is!

-whatever

-One Who Knows

Alcohol also helps dissolve the soap scum so you can easily wipe it off with a Kleenex. Since it's alkaline, it causes those ugly black dots on your razor, so you definitely want it off before putting the razor away.

I use a Moss Scuttle and heat my water in a hot-pot - after filling the scuttle, I leave the pot on - when I finish, I rinse the blade under the faucet, and then, holding the blade open by the tip of the handle (scales), I empty the rest of the hot pot over the blade - this heats up the blade something fierce, so that by time I step over to the strop, all of the water has evaporated off of the blade - the challenge is, sometimes the metal tang is still too hot to handle for stropping, in which case I wave it around in the air and pretend I am pirate-fighting Jimbo.

I have also used the alcohol method - although, I use the alcohol to displace the water and then evaporate quickly and leave the blade dry, but, yeah, I guess there is some disinfection going on, too.

....and, let me just take this opportunity to reiterate......


......Jimbo is REAL scary!

-whatever

-Lou

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Alcohol also helps dissolve the soap scum so you can easily wipe it off with a Kleenex. Since it's alkaline, it causes those ugly black dots on your razor, so you definitely want it off before putting the razor away.

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Awesome tip. Just need to get the spots off my liver too.

Tissue issues: Avoid scented or otherwise impregnated tissue, as the chemicals within them attack blade steel. Similarly, recycled tissue can cause more harm than good, as its composition and roughness are highly variable. Human skin heals, steel blades do not.

Oil toils: pure mineral oil or some non-corrosive gun oils are acceptable
Do not use any form of vegetable oil, as they are chemically active.

Trivia on why the fine sword oils contain clove oil:

mineral oil looks extremely similar to cooking oil. Neither carry odour or colour, and both can be used for cooking. The unpleasant surprise comes when we consider that pure mineral oil is sold in pharmacies as a laxative agent; thus the fairly unpleasant scent of cloves was added to the oil to aid easy recognition to prevent certain undesirable after-dinner consequences.

Years ago I recall watching my home town barber shave my Great Uncle. Guy, the barber (also the mayor), used a piece of rectangular tissue paper (actually a bit more robust) placed on my Great Uncle's right shoulder to wipe the blade.
I've taken to the same thing, except I just use a towel. The only water that touches the blade is after the shave when I rinse only the blade with very hot water. I give the blade a sharp shake, edge down, then wipe with a dry part of the towel. I leave the razor open until I'm dressed (and have my glasses on), then give it an inspection. Normally I pinch the blade between the towel at least two more times, fold up the razor and put her up. Using this method, there is no water that gets on the shank or between the scales. When I first started using a straight I would rinse lather off as with a DE, and everything was wet. Then I remembered Guy's method.
If going into storage for a bit, some baby oil does fine.