Thread: Oiling your razor

As with anything made of iron or steel it is always good practice to keep it oiled, as they will rust. Iron is an ore obtained from mining and it only becomes steel with carbon being added to its molecular structure. And stainless steel is iron, carbon, and chromium. Although stainless is rather handy carbon steel can be tempered to a much stronger preference hence the trade off of oiling. Which is definitely worth it!

I use a mineral oil with a small quantity of bees wax added to eliminated pooling. I have recently heard of people using lanolin as well. I only oil as I store or if it is in my slow rotation. It is very dry here and I don't store near the shower at all.

Oil is used to prevent oxidation, so as long as you dry the razor carefully and don't keep it in humid environment you're good. Whether you want to use oil or not is up to you. If it's just for few days virtually all them won't go rancid which you'll have to take into account if you're using it for long term. Other than that you want the one with as low coefficient of surface tension with the steel as possible. In practice it doesn't matter all that much.

Originally Posted by asj1991

Just regular Johnsons baby oil? And how do you go about applying the oil?

Yes, I just drip it on and spread it with a finger, just be careful.

Thank you very much for all your comments I already got some Camellia oil and I'm going to start using it tonight!

Originally Posted by basil

I use ballistol it came free with one of my razors and it works amazing.

I also use ballistol. Thanks to Stefan who introduced me to it. Also it works so well on the frets of my banjo!

I just ordered some Camellia oil too. Found 2oz on Amazon for $7. Includes shipping with Amazon Prime.

Originally Posted by basil

I use ballistol it came free with one of my razors and it works amazing.

I also use the ballistol, I really like how quickly it comes off under hot tap water.

I've been doing a one week rotation. In that I mean that I will use a razor every day for a week then put it away and use the next for a week and etc. Robert, (Pinklather) got me to thinking about it, and it really has allowed me to 'get to know' my razors better.

My shave den here at the Boar's Nest isn't usually used for showering as the manly men here (father and son) prefer baths so I've never had a problem with rust.

I've been oiling only the razors that aren't being used that week. It seems to be working out fine!

what? I can't use motor oil? Oops!

Seems stupid wiping on oil, and wiping it off a few days later, for razors in rotation that is...I use a silicone treated gun cloth for daily use. The razors are protected, and there's no waste. Oil is good for short term only, (a few months) but does turn rancid and will pool with long term storage, like Gugi said, then you have lot's of resto work on your hands, believe me. Razors in storage I clean first with Maas, then coat and protect with Renaissance wax. So far, so good, no problems.

I hear Tuf Glide is good too....