Hey! Joel here. Three cheers for Straight Razor Palace!

Hello from west Texas! My name is Joel and I am happy to be apart of SRP! My wife actually got me started on straight razor shaving when she bought me a small starter kit for our anniversary! She's into the vintage ways and got me hooked too! I never would have guess there was an entire community of straight razor users or such a plethera of information! It's so cool!

I just received my first razor, a dovo ebony 5/8 carbon steel razor from vintage blades, a can of Dr. Harris' Arlington Shave cream, and a fantastic 3" strop! I have 2 successful shaves under my belt and am loving the whole process. So far I have had all of my questions answered from previous threads save for one. There is some gold etching on the spine and it concerns me a little because the razor arrived 2 days ago and the gold spine seems to be showing some new discoloration or slight darkening to about a 1/2" area... I don't know what it could be considering I have wiped it completely clean and dry after both uses, lightly stropped, and applied a thin layer of Vintage Blades oil to the whole of the metal surface. Is this something to be concerned about??
-Joel

Hey, welcome to SRP. this forum also blew me away when I found it. I am not sure why the gold wash is fading or loosing color but it isn't anything to worry about. it will not affect the razor at all.

Welcome to SRP. Some pics would help give us a better idea of the problem.

Welcome to SRP! Can't comment myself as I don't have a blade with gold etching/wash on it.

Welcome to SRP........I too hail from far West Texas.......El Paso Del Norte:cool:

problem solved! It was nothing to worry about at all! the black residue i found in my gold etching was from my black strop! haha! NOOB!