How can I get the "black steel" of my razor?

I shave with a str8 for over a year now, and theres nothing better. Im independent, and love the feeling of such virtuos materials as steel and wood. I bought an old razor in a vintage store a week ago in Lithuania, and it looks great, but has that black coating on it. I know its how it goes when its not used a long time, but I was hoping to shave with it one day. Are there any tips -mechanical, chemical ways of getting my razor to shine again? Its a ERN , WALD-GERMANY 20 razor if that is any tip of the type of steel they used.
Please help me out

Pictures?

.j,.,m.m,

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Originally Posted by shaver55

I shave with a str8 for over a year now, and theres nothing better. Im independent, and love the feeling of such virtuos materials as steel and wood. I bought an old razor in a vintage store a week ago in Lithuania, and it looks great, but has that black coating on it. I know its how it goes when its not used a long time, but I was hoping to shave with it one day. Are there any tips -mechanical, chemical ways of getting my razor to shine again? Its a ERN , WALD-GERMANY 20 razor if that is any tip of the type of steel they used.
Please help me out

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Must have pictures!!

well, I dont have my camera today, sorry, but I believe its quite a common thing to happen. How would you start with cleaning it? It doesnt have rust or any thing else than the color, witch is dark grey/black.

It's hard to tell without a better description or pictures. Black coating could be a lot of things; tarnish, oxidation, spotting, devil's spit. Each require different levels of abrasive to remove ranging from a metal polish (very light, polishing abrasive) to sanding or greaseless compounds (more aggressive). I would start by trying some maas on it and rubbing it down until an application of polish and cloth doesn't turn the cloth black. Then you know you've gone as far as you can with the polish. This is just a shot in the dark since I don't know what the "black coating" is without pictures.

I'd start with the least aggressive method and work toward more abrasives. Start with soap and water, then a mild solvent, then polish and then move on to abrasives and sanding. As mentioned, without pictures its tough to tell.

You can also take to a local jewelery store that you think is credible and ask them to identify what the discoloration is.

Any type of metal polish and a cotton cloth will work for starters & not hurt the blade. I have kept "patina" on blades deliberately. It doesn't hurt them a bit and actually makes it worth more to collectors and many of us shavers. That's why we ask for pictures, we can give you a valid diagnosis. Without it, we are only shooting in the dark...

Is the black all over the razor (including the blade part) or just the tang? Sometimes, as I understand it, there's something called a "Blue" tang (not sure if I got this right though), which is probably a black deposit that razor manufacturer's put on for aesthetic reasons...Hopefully, someone more experienced in this will chime in and speak more intelligently.

I have an Ern "RELIABLE" full hollow razor that had a bit of surface rust on it when it was given to me. I treated it with Evapo-Rust, an excellent rust removal product which I have used on many tools in my workshop. The razor came out of the bath rust-free, but it has a blotchy black look that just won't go away. I've tried removing it with some polish on a rag, but it won't budge.

I'm not sure why this is, but I'm wondering if there are some elements aside from iron and carbon in the steel. Perhaps this is "silver steel" or something like that. I'm hoping that the black layer will provide some rust protection. It sure made the razor butt-ugly!

Cheers,
Ian

Ill make a few pictures and show you all in a wile. Thanks though for all your answers, it makes me feel that razors are still alive, and not all can understand there individuality.

It may just need a good cleaning and polishing, but pics would be nice!

here are the pictures with the dark "patine". So Gentelmen, should I remove it to get a shining blade, and if so-how?, and if not- can this stay for shaving?
Thanks a lot

From what I can see, there should be no reason to remove it, other than aesthetics. Make sure there is no active rust, as that will be a problem, but the patina is just fine. Nice scales, BTW...

Speaking of, that may be a good reason not to clean it up: to do it properly, you would have to remove the scales, and may risk damaging them if you don't know what you're doing. Buffing without removing the scales would be even riskier.

Get some 2000 grit automotive wet and dry sandpaper to remove the rust and then use a quality polish such as Simichrome or Maas to bring the shine back. From what I could see there was some honewear there and quite possibly a frown in the blade. But then again it may have been just the lighting and the angles.

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Originally Posted by Vulcan500rider

From what I can see, there should be no reason to remove it, other than aesthetics. Make sure there is no active rust, as that will be a problem, but the patina is just fine. Nice scales, BTW...

Speaking of, that may be a good reason not to clean it up: to do it properly, you would have to remove the scales, and may risk damaging them if you don't know what you're doing. Buffing without removing the scales would be even riskier.

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HUGE +1

Those scales are really nice and very collectible, anytime you pop scales you stand a good chance of cracking them, I don't care how good you are at it...
I would do the least amount of work necessary to keep the razor in the best shape possible...Stop any active rust and keep the blade oiled when not in use...

nice advice!
Thanks gentelmen.

From what I can see, you have two things going on here, the typical dark patina that forms on carbon steel over time, and some pitting at the grain boundaries. The first is not a problem since this type of oxidation actually forms a protective layer on the steel surface. The pitting, however, is somewhat of a concern since over time and with exposure to moisture, these pits may continue to grow. Fortunately, they do not appear to be on or near the edge so you can probably leave them as they are, but I would definately coat the blade with a light film of mineral oil between uses.

It's a well used blade. I would just clean it up and not worry about doing anything drastic. It isn't worth it to try and get those soft pits out.

Your scales are really nice & I wouldn't chance trying to remove them from the blade like Glen said. With the pitting & blade wear, I'd personally just hone it and use it. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice razor that should give you years of good service.

I would just run it up the micro grit pad line and maas it... that pitting is not deep and will not show up as much when you shine it....I have a griffin that looked like that...