Thread: Sterilization and Self honing vs Honemeister

Is a barbicide safe for straights? That's what I've always used with DEs, but there is no edge to worry about.

Mikhail is right about evaporation, the 70% alcohol desiccates the organism and dissolves the proteins. 95% just evaporates too fast to do the job. There's a just few things that alcohol doesn't kill as well as barbicide.

Send it out for a honing and get a chinese 12k hone - they're cheap and usually slow finishers which should give you a chance to practice your stroke enough before moving to full honing on a Norton 4/8k or other progression (only when it needs it)

C12k is £19 all in from the invisible edge. If your in the US, I'm sure you'll find it just as cheap

Other than a quick clean with metal polish and then a honing, there's no need to worry about disease living on a razor. There's just no way any disease can live on a 100 year old razor...Hep B only lives for a week outside the body and Hep C for only seven (source: CDC). HIV wasn't around 100 years ago so that's out too.

Thanks for the heads up guys, I'll go ahead for the sterilizing in a bit, then just throw out a good ol' shave and see how it glides around my mug.

Here in Holland there actually is one shop that sells all equipment and does professional honing, also got my first blade there. I guess if it turns out to be dull I'll have it honed there and ask if he can talk me through it for a bit.

Will keep you updated!

If interested, this is the blade:

Aaah, I just tried sterilizing it with a little bleach added to the boiling water (don't ask me why, was still somewhat nervous about diseases I guess) and now it got all stainy! It looked like it corroded very fast but the rust came off instantly when I whiped it off. However a few stains remained, any idea how I can restore any of it?

You have to refinish the surface of the steel and work your way back to a polished surface. Boiling bleach etches the steal.

This is what it looks like after a long bleaching.

Is there a way to refinish without loosing the Solingen mark with the curvature all over the blade?