cleaning lady left my dovo in a puddle

I've only been at this game a couple of weeks. This morning (Sunday) I discovered that my idiot house cleaner had soaked my (two-week old) ebony-handled Dovo. For all I know it had been sitting like that for three or four days, at the very least since Friday. Black marks/watery-looking stains all over the blade. Seems possible (though difficult) to scratch some of it off with a finger nail, near the spine where I don't mind applying pressure with my fingers. But no idea if it's possible to get rid of the rest. Is it gunk from the ebony? Rust? or what? So I'm begging for advice from the more initiate on two questions:

(1) Is it still usable? If so, how can I (or someone else) clean it up?
(2) Should I fire the cleaning lady?

V grateful for any wisdom...

Welcome to SRP. You could try getting some of the gunk off by using a metal polish such as Maas or Flitz on a Q-tip and a paper towel. I would worry about the scales warping. You may have to send it out to be honed again. If you go to 'member services' in the classifieds here you'll find guys that restore and hone razors.

Your cleaning lady is an example of the way to hell being paved with good intentions. I don't know if I would fire her but I would let her know that my shaving gear is off limits.

It should still be usable provided the marks don't go too deep. Your best bet is to hunt through the classifieds for a restore pro and see what magic they can work, though you will likely lose any gold wash or light etching. As far as the cleaning lady goes... If she does a good job, I would keep her. But I might also ask her to pay for the restoration as it was her mistake.

it should be able to be saved. i use mothers mag and aluminum polish and get good results with getting out stains.
do not fire the cleaning lady, she probably does not have a clue to what she may have done.
good rule of thumb, do not leave straights around so others can get at them easily or warn everyone to "keep yo cotton pickin' hands offin my blades":rant::D

So, am I too understand she soaked it in some kind of cleaning solution. Do you know what she used? I don't think I'd fire her either. It's near Christmas, and jobs are tough to come by. Sounds like she had good intentions, misplaced as they are. I'd go with the Maas cleaner, available on Amazon, or you can try Mother's mag and aluminum polish available wherever auto parts are sold. I used that myself on my razors. It sounds like a chemical reaction between the steel and the cleaning solution. It should clean up. If not, you may need some pro help. Let us know. Rich

P.S. If you haven't yet, you need to rinse it off with fresh water right away and let it out to dry. If she used some kind of Acid based solution, you need to soak it in a baking soda and water solution to neutralize it for a minute or so, then let it dry out.
In any event, you need to get what's ever on it, off.....

Black marks are harmless, they are in fact protective on carbon steel. If you don't like the way they look, you can take them off with metal polish and a soft cloth. Proper stropping will take them off the edge itself.

Rust, (the red stuff) is more of a problem and needs to be removed immediately.

This is all terrific and reassuringly consistent advice. Thank you. And it was quite right for Old_School to chastise me for inappropriately venting at my cleaning lady. After all, who am I to criticise her lack of knowledge; I'm only one step away, posting in Newbies Corner.

I think the plan is:

(a) soak in baking soda / water [action since complete] and dry out
(b) clean with maas
(c) send off for honing
(d) visit Geo F Trumper's on Curzon St for a shave in the meantime [I live in London]
(e) Offer pay rise to cleaner if she can learn to strop better than me [which shouldn't be hard].
(f) Review Newbies Corner posts every day.

Cheers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Straightface

(a) soak in baking soda / water [action since complete] and dry out
(b) clean with maas
(c) send off for honing
(d) visit Geo F Trumper's on Curzon St for a shave in the meantime [I live in London]
(e) Offer pay rise to cleaner if she can learn to strop better than me [which shouldn't be hard].
(f) Review Newbies Corner posts every day.

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Don't be too hard on the cleaning lady, just store your razors better next time.

Umm... are you sure about a? Haven't tried it myself, but generally hicarbon steel and water don't mix very well. Do you know this is a working method? EDIT: Ok, zib suggested minute or so. That might be safe.

Was the edge damaged? Why don't you clean it up and continue shaving with it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Straightface

(e) Offer pay rise to cleaner if she can learn to strop better than me [which shouldn't be hard].

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Get her to learn to hone and you'll be set. :D

What you need is a time machine:)

http://straightrazorpalace.com/489641-post41.html

Cleaning lady eh? You must be a rich guy so in that case I'd just throw the razor away and buy another-Just kidding.

Try some metal polish,I like simichrome or you can try some cape cod polishing cloths and see what happens.

Straghtface,

Your story brought a tear to my eye. If your razor just needs a new edge, I'll be happy to hone it for the cost of postage. It sounds like you're in London too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Straightface

This is all terrific and reassuringly consistent advice. Thank you. And it was quite right for Old_School to chastise me for inappropriately venting at my cleaning lady. After all, who am I to criticise her lack of knowledge; I'm only one step away, posting in Newbies Corner.

I think the plan is:

(a) soak in baking soda / water [action since complete] and dry out
(b) clean with maas
(c) send off for honing
(d) visit Geo F Trumper's on Curzon St for a shave in the meantime [I live in London]
(e) Offer pay rise to cleaner if she can learn to strop better than me [which shouldn't be hard].
(f) Review Newbies Corner posts every day.

Cheers.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by 59caddy

good rule of thumb, do not leave straights around so others can get at them easily or warn everyone to "keep yo cotton pickin' hands offin my blades":rant::D

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WHAT HE SAID ^^

Let me clarify, If she used an ACID BASED CLEANER, do the baking soda rinse, just dip it a few times....that will nuetralize the Acid.
Don't worry about your razor getting wet, it shoudn't cause any harm...I rinse my blade as I shave...They get wet all the time if you use shave cream and soap. Just allow it to dry. Your goal is to neutralize the chemical reaction. You want to prevent further damage, that stuff could be eating away at your spacers, pins, scales, blades...If you don't it couldl cause further damage. Black spots on metal could be from acid, could be....Big Could.......I've seen it before...Find out what she used...

No disrespect to anyone. Take all suggestions with a grain of salt.

And Good Luck....

Rich

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Straightface

(f) Review Newbies Corner posts every day.

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This has become the first step in my daily shaving routine now.

I'm afraid of even looking at the edge of my blade wrong for fear it will get angry and chip or something. :D

You all are so right; the poor dear who soaked the razor over the weekend should be rewarded for her concern about total cleanliness. Hopefully next time the cleaning person will use something that will assure complete and thorough asepsis - like bleach. Certainly your clothes get boiled; can your other accouterments be expected to be any less clean?

:beer2:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bruce

You all are so right; the poor dear who soaked the razor over the weekend should be rewarded for her concern about total cleanliness. Hopefully next time the cleaning person will use something that will assure complete and thorough asepsis - like bleach. Certainly your clothes get boiled; can your other accouterments be expected to be any less clean?

:beer2:

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Or better yet, start wearing medieval plate mail and have it autoclaved every evening. There's nothing as luxurious and smooth as chainmail briefs ;)

I think she may have been inspired by the "Barbicide" jar... just soak it in, leave it in and it's clean! Which is the case with combs, not razors.

I don't think the scales will warp - ebony is a very dense wood and I never saw any water damage on fingerboards or tuners (the latter, which are more or less the same thickness as scales) from years of working as a luthier. If you're REALLY concerned about them AND handy, you can put them in an oven at a very low temperature, with some weight on them so they stay flat, but that's really as a last resort and not at all necessary.

Definitely don't fire her AND learn to respect her. Education is key: you were visibly lucky enough to get where you are and not everybody were born into that.

Like everyone has said, you shouldn't fire the cleaning lady. Running a business has taught me that now and again people will use their initiative and find ways to mess things up that you never dreamed possible. At least she now knows that cleaning your shaving gear is not in her job description. It's good that she didn't cut herself. As for the razor, I doubt if much harm has been done.

I don't know, but depending how she is otherwise, I might fire her. Not in a mean way at all, it's not like she did something terrible, but that sounds like a pretty thoughtless thing to do, so who knows how thoughtless or half assed she does other things. Have you had her around a while or is she new?

I've never had a cleaning lady (or the money to even think about it for that matter :P), but I would think they would just clean things and make sure everything goes back in a nice neat clean manner. That's basically the opposite of leaving things sitting in puddles of liquid. And maybe it's just me, but if I were cleaning someones house, I wouldn't even be messing with their razors. Does she mess with your toothbrushes and stuff too (an actual question, like I said, I've never had a cleaning lady)? That would be gross.