Thread: Straight Edge : Disinfect a Blade

Hi guys, ive been doing some reading about razors and i would like to know about cleaning or disinfecting SE Razor.

ive had a read and a lot of people seem to use diff methods, but no one mentioned milten. is this ok to use ??

im happy to go and get some alcohol from the chemist but if milten is fine i will use that.


thanks

Kris

There is a good write up in the wiki about it.

Here is a link to it
Sterilization - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Originally Posted by TeMpTiN

There is a good write up in the wiki about it.

Here is a link to it
Sterilization - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Hi Temptin,
thanks for the post, i read the article earlier the only thing that made me wonder was the text at the beginning saying

The following is NOT suitable for razors! It will oxidize the high carbon steel (even stanless razors are made of steel with high carbon content) and will destroy the edge!

plus it does not make a mention about using Milten?

Well Steal is an interesting thing most bugs cant live on it for very long.
So time is good weapon.
Also there is a difference in the meaning of these terms

Clean- Removes the big bits
Sanitize- Kills a good number of bugs
Disinfect- a stronger solution or a longer contact time kills tougher bugs depending on the item being treated and the solution being used this can cause damage to the item.
Sterilize- either a much stronger and possible corrosive solution with a longer contact time, and or heat (autoclave) Kills even tougher bugs but there are still things this wont kill. my feeling is the chances of these types of bugs being on a razor are very very slim. Also this type of proses will probably damage either the blade and/or scales.

Ask yourself what contamination are you concerned about being on your razor.

When I picked up my first Antique store find It got a rub down with MAAS, followed by some soap and water, a quick dip in 90% isopropyl, air dry, a light coat of mineral oil. In a drawer it sits till I get it sent out for honing, or get a bevel setter for my self. I expect even that proses on this razor was over kill.

Term bugs refers to virus's, bacteria, and other potential pathogens.

I just realized my last post didn't really address you question.

Whats the active ingredients in Milton?

Edit I think Milton is a concentrate Sodium Hypochlorite (bleach) this is not something i would use on my razors.

These threads are helpful

A final word on sterilization - Straight Razor Place Forums

How to sterilize my blade? - Straight Razor Place Forums

Disinfect a used razor? - Straight Razor Place Forums

Originally Posted by TeMpTiN

I just realized my last post didn't really address you question.

Whats the active ingredients in Milton?

Hi TempTin thanks for the replies again, to be honest i wasn't really aware of the differences in cleaning razors so thank you for clearing that up for me.

if I'm honest i just want to ensure that its clean and that if i did cut myself there is very little change of any sort of infection etc from it. your usual sort of new guy / second hand razor sort of paranoia

according to this link the active ingriedients in Milton are.
- Sodium Hypochloride


ahh ok ill stay away from Milton then. thanks for the links its appreciated.

Not sure about milton, but I know you don't want to use bleach.

If I feel the need to disinfect, I'll swab the blade w/ isopropyl alcohol

Originally Posted by markevens

Not sure about milton, but I know you don't want to use bleach.

Hi Mark, as Temptin found out the active ingredient seems to be something like you would find in bleach if not one of the chemicals in bleach so its not advisable to use Milton.

going to the chemist tmrw to pick up some alcohol or something very similar.

Can you get some barbicide (one brand in the U.S. is called Barbicide, another is called Marvicide)?

It's what barbers use to clean combs, scissors, clippers, anything that is used on more than one person. Many people who sell razors on our Classifieds specify that the blade was sterilized in one of these solutions.

In the U.S. they're easiest to find in beauty supply stores. What they sell is usually a concentrate, so you have to dilute it in water.

I agree with the O.P.--better safe than sorry. That said, sometimes I'm so excited when a new razor arrives that I forget to do anything but wipe off the shipping oil.