Thread: Oil after every shave?

Since all my blades are older carbon steel I oil after every use.Easy way for me was to get a small plastic tub with lid.
Roll of cotton gauze,saturate with mineral oil,dry the blade well when done,few strops on leather,swipe on the gauze,carefully run my fingers over the blade to spread.

I recommend a quick oiling with mineral oil personally. It's cheap and easily obtained from a local pharmacy. I don't recommend baby oil because they add "fragrance" to it. I don't personally trust using things like WD-40 or Corrosion-X or whatever else. I absorb enough chemicals at work, I'd like to keep it to a minimum at home. A Bingo marker as suggested earlier is an excellent applicator, or you can get the applicator sold by SRD.com. A drop or two and fingers or Q-tips would work equally well. I like to use an applicator and thin it out a bit using a higher quality soft tissue. To each their own though.
Dye

I should add that fully drying and wiping a blade down
can permit a patina to develop. A combination of shave soap,
water and air can build up a thin protective layer that protects
the steel from more aggressive corrosion.

Keeping a mirror bright blade mirror bright -- it helps
to wax or oil the large shining areas. Same for gold flashing.

Many polishing compounds do contain hard wax as a basic binder
so many blades are "waxed". Armor folk use Renaissance Wax
and other like tricks to keep steel armor from rusting. MASS
is a suspension/ compound which is mostly oil/wax based so
after a polishing there is a lot of residual protection.

Gun shops have fine rust prevention products. I use them
when I pull a razor from my rotation and put it in storage.
Given the silly number of razors I have, storage can be long
enough to justify a good spray of a quality product.

I should not forget that japanese swords are often polished and protected
with choji or camelia oil. Visit a sword forum to get the details.

Bottom line -- steel rusts if not protected one way or another.
There a lot of ways that work...

My daily shaver gets wiped on a cloth, stropped on fabric then stropped on leather. It then gets put in a wire holder I made for it ready to use the next day.
I should add that it really doesn't get that wet, I use a damp cloth to clean it off during my shave, then it gets the treatment above.
My other two razors got a coat of Inox, applied from a cloth soaked in it and kept in a tub. They are kept in a foam lined box that contains silica sachets. My other razor also goes in this box for travel.
I only really have the other two as back up, they almost never get used.

Vasoline. Cheap and protective.

I have over 50 razors in storage and none of them has any oil on them. I've never seen either water or rust spots.

I never saw water spots or rust on one of my DOVO razors either, but it still wouldn't hold an edge all of a sudden. I used to dry it thoroughly and store it dry. It ended up with micro pitting from rust that couldn't be see with the naked eye. It looked just fine, but was the harshest thing to try to shave with next to 60 grit sandpaper. Since I had it checked by an expert in these things, and was given the verdict on what the problem was, I had the same guru repair the problem with some top notch honing, and now I keep oil on my razors regardless.
This is just one case from my part of the world. Weather conditions and environment may be dryer in your part of the world.


Mick

I haven't started using oil on my razor and I am not sure if I should. I only have one razor yet so it gets regular use. There is mainly one thing that is keeping me from starting with it. And that is the question of which oil to use? I have seen tests where certain oils have made the corrosion worse than if it were untreated. I also doesn't want to use an oil that isn't good to have on my skin. And one that rinse off quite easily.

I have bought an environmental friendly universal lubricant which is made for use on bike chains to prevent friction and prevent rust. I wonder if that will be suitable. I have heard that babyoil can be used but I have also heard that some of them contain water which I don't think is very good for this purpose.

Originally Posted by Ludvig

I haven't started using oil on my razor and I am not sure if I should. I only have one razor yet so it gets regular use. There is mainly one thing that is keeping me from starting with it. And that is the question of which oil to use? I have seen tests where certain oils have made the corrosion worse than if it were untreated. I also doesn't want to use an oil that isn't good to have on my skin. And one that rinse off quite easily.

I have bought an environmental friendly universal lubricant which is made for use on bike chains to prevent friction and prevent rust. I wonder if that will be suitable. I have heard that babyoil can be used but I have also heard that some of them contain water which I don't think is very good for this purpose.

It strikes me that if I am to use something every day, that I clean and dry thoroughly, putting oil on is firstly just going to mean extra work the next day, and it is also another potential way to inadvertently damage my blade, not by corrosion, but by doing something to the edge, either by dropping it, or somehow cutting the cloth with it etc.