Thread: General maintenance on straight razor ?

Hi everyone,

I am new to the world of straight razor shaving. I just ordered my first straight razor and I was wondering what is the general maintenance I should do to it.

I live in Quebec, Canada and there not alot of product related to straight shaving/razor avalable here. I know that i have to put some mineral oil on the blade to keep it away from rust, but i cant find some here.

I read that i should store my blade in a dry area with oil on it. Is there other thing that I need to Know ?

I learn alot on this forum (I read everyday since I register), but I sure need to learn more.

Sorry for the bad english, it is not my first language.

Welcome and enjoy the straight razorr world.

I strop before and after every shave. When the razor does not shave as smooth as it did I do 10 passes or so on a SRP modular strop felt pad with .5 micron diamond spray. Alternately I may substitute CROx for the diamond spray. When the time interval between diamond sparay gets too short I will do a complete honing with stones or send it out for honing. I do not profess to be a expert this is what I do. BTW when i store a razor for a period of time I wipe the blade down with camilla oil.Your English was fine. Bonjour

The single most important thing you can do for your razor is to keep the pivot area dry. That is, don't ever let that part get wet in the first place. You accomplish this by using a dry hand to hold the razor. If water does get into the pivot area, use tissue paper to wick it out, let it air dry, and then oil it. For most of the rest of the blade, just keeping it dry is sufficient because it is exposed to air.

Originally Posted by Utopian

The single most important thing you can do for your razor is to keep the pivot area dry. That is, don't ever let that part get wet in the first place. You accomplish this by using a dry hand to hold the razor. If water does get into the pivot area, use tissue paper to wick it out, let it air dry, and then oil it. For most of the rest of the blade, just keeping it dry is sufficient because it is exposed to air.

I am guessing it is ok to oil the pivot and leave the oil on the pivot area?

Originally Posted by macpowa

I live in Quebec, Canada and there not alot of product related to straight shaving/razor avalable here. I know that i have to put some mineral oil on the blade to keep it away from rust, but i cant find some here.

Here in the UK I have the same problem with obtaining pure mineral oil but what is sold as baby oil is simply mineral oil with some added fragrance.

Originally Posted by TSasser

I am guessing it is ok to oil the pivot and leave the oil on the pivot area?

Yes and no.
Oiling the pivot will help to protect it from corrosion, but it can also loosen up the pivot, which partially depends on friction to keep the pivot tight.

Originally Posted by Jeltz

Here in the UK I have the same problem with obtaining pure mineral oil but what is sold as baby oil is simply mineral oil with some added fragrance.

That is very good to know! That stuff is easy to find and cheap.


Thx everyone for all your answer, that help me

Once the oil has been applied to the pivot area it would be kinda hard to get it all out again, don't cha think?
For the record I ensure the pivot has oil on it, just so that moisture stays out of this area. It being the hardest to get dry when it inevitably does get wet.
If I'm using the same razor (I only have two in rotation) every other day, I hardly worry about oiling the blade. I just ensure it is as dry as possible before putting it back in a little rack in the medicine cabinet. If I don't plan to use a razor for a while (currently using a DE to learn the ins and outs, so one CT razor is sitting unused), I oil the blade with a thin film of sewing machine oil.

Mick

You can avoid the fragrance and find pure mineral oil by looking in a pharmacy in the section for treating constipation. The mineral oil that is used for ingestion as an "intestinal lubricant" is probably the most pure version that you can find.

Originally Posted by Utopian

You can avoid the fragrance and find pure mineral oil by looking in a pharmacy in the section for treating constipation. The mineral oil that is used for ingestion as an "intestinal lubricant" is probably the most pure version that you can find.

I will try that, i hope we have this kind of stuff at our drugstore.