avoiding rust in the pivot area

Hi all,
Like a true newbie, I got some rust in the pivot area.
It got me thinking, even though I can be more careful (and I will) in keeping that area dry, or give up and get a stainless razor at some point, why not make the razors such this won't be a problem at all.
What I was think was either have some sort of protective film in that area, or just electro-plate it, I mean, one can dunk only that are up to the pivot in the electorplating tank.
Otherwise, why not make the pins serviceable without pro tools, like hex nuts that some brands use.

What do you think?

Now that rust is started, the only way to stop it is to take the razor apart and sand out the rust pits and polish. Otherwise, be extra careful not to get water in the pivot again. I spray WD 40 in my pivot because it is a water displacing oil. Watch that rust closely because it will come back, guaranteed.

If you don't allow water to get into the pivot area, you won't have to worry about rust.

Unfortunately i don't have the tools to unpin a razor, so it would have to wait until the next time i send it out. I dunked it in 90% alcohol jar and worked the hinge while in the jar, that removed a lot of the rust, but no doubt more is left there. I learnt my lesson... i wonder if the silicone sleeves sold by TSS would have helper though.
Thing is, once water get there, how can you dry it 100%?

If you wipe the lather and whisker on a dry washcloth you dont have to rinse. If you dont rinse you dont get rust.

Depending on what the scales are made of you could introduce one of the acidic rust reformer solutions. Cold blue, oxalic acid, Phosphoric acid, tannic acid. This would result in converting the red rust to black rust.

Personally I have made myself be very careful of water around the razor. I accomplish this by removing the lather with a dry washcloth.

If you have the razor unpinned and fixed, have brass washers added.

Jonathan

I just realized the same thing happened to my razor. :cry:

I try to never get the pivot pin area wet when shaving or honing. I like single use dental floss that is attached to the plastic holders that you can buy bags of, and every few weeks I use it on the pivot pin area of every razor I own just as a precaution. It is also handy on dirty restorations to decide if you need to re-pin.

I like to use eucalyptus EO Blend in a spray bottle. Just run a peice of toilet pat on either side of the blade and give a little spritz of the oil every so often. PS eucalyptus eo makes an excellent pre shave regimine. I use it every time. It is soothing, lubricating and contains highly anti-bacterial properties as well. O yea and point in case... no rust!!!

As part of my clean up routine, I clean and wipe my blade and scales, running some tissue between the scales. With that, I dip the open blade into a bottle with a 75%-25% mix of rubbing alcohol and mineral spirits. One floats on top of the other. This is your basic WD-40 mixture.

The razor goes into the bottle well past the pivot. What happens is that between the oil and the alcohol, whatever water still on the blade or scales is removed and the pivot and blade are coated with a protective film. Wipe off the excess and you're good to go.

Cleans out the gunk in the pivot areas of the blades that I haven't repinned.

It's a "Mr. Wizard" moment.

In reality,water or lather should never come close to the pivot.

I dipped my razor in 70% isopropyl alcohol and worked the scales to stop the rust from spreading at least. My celluloid scales ended up cracking when I was working the pivot so I figured might as well unpin it and sanded it down with fine grit sand paper...there want much rust but it was starting to form around the pin hole. Now should I expect for this rust to come back even if I keep it dry from now on?

Rust will continue to form if it is not all removed or converted. Once the area is free of rust, just keep the pivot area dry and your razor will be fine. In my earlier post there is a list of chemicals to look for to do the job.

Jonathan