Thread: Protect my Steel

How do you store your straight razor. I have heard of some people stropping to dry the blade, then oil it. What kind of oil do you use and how much. i have also heard of some people using chalk but that might be for different kind of knife

G'Day Stozzberry.

I run mine under the hot water tap, wipe it with a microfibre cloth, strop it 20 times on linen, wipe it with a makeup removal pad with some eucalyptus oil on it and hang it up in my shaving cabinet for 24hrs.

It then gets put away in the display cabinet until I use it again.

Hope this helps

Great help, thanks.

I just dry mine and put them away in a cabinet outside the bathroom/shave den.

I've been sorting this same dilemma out over the past few weeks..

I have treated all of my blades with Renesance Wax. Makes rinsing them really easy, though I have adopted the practice of 'wipe on a face cloth instead of rinse'. (I still rinse the Feather AC razors)

I've settled on rinsing the blade with very hot water and drying with a few squares of toilet tissue.. also drying between the scales and around the pivot and giving a good puff at the pivot to blow out any water. I strop it on linen to be sure the edge is dry, then leave it out to dry completely. When I come home later in the day, I strop on leather and put a dab of oil from Hart Steel on the blade. I store them outside of the bathroom. Initially, I hadn't been doing the oil but now that I have a few more razors, the down time for each is getting longer. If you're using one or two razors in constant rotation, the oil might be more of a headache to apply any wipe off.

Mineral oil is a good choice too.. At the suggestion of another member, I have mine cut 4:1 with alcohol. Helps it evaporate, thins it a bit and supposedly helps to displace water. I do find it a bit a pain to deal with. I have it in a smaller vial with an eye dropper and one drop is enough oil to treat a dozen blades, so was just touching the glass dropper tip to the blade and working with that quantity of oil.

My regular shavers I dry with make up removal pads...I blow real hard on the pivot bearing to get any water outta there. Make sure the inside of the scales are dry too. I don't store mine in the bathroom as it is so humid. If I ain't gonna use one for a while, I give it a light coat of mineral oil and put it in a wooden jewelry box drawer. In the drawer, I have 4 of those packs that come in pill bottles for the purpose of absorbing moisture. Desiccant packs I think they're called. Some guys make a point of not rinsing the blade during the shave, but rather keeping a towel or sponge on hand to wipe off the blade between passes. Good Luck.

Originally Posted by MikekiM

Mineral oil is a good choice too.. At the suggestion of another member, I have mine cut 4:1 with alcohol. Helps it evaporate, thins it a bit and supposedly helps to displace water. I do find it a bit a pain to deal with. I have it in a smaller vial with an eye dropper and one drop is enough oil to treat a dozen blades, so was just touching the glass dropper tip to the blade and working with that quantity of oil.

I ordered a small bottle of razor oil from vintage blades with my razor, I believe it is mineral oil, the bottle itself comes with a foam applicator tip similar to the glue applicators we had as kids. It is very easy to put on, kind of a pita to wipe off completely before stropping

I wipe mine with a towel and then put it away in a rack with good air circulation.

Is it a bad idea to put the razor back in the box (if one happens to still have it)?
Bad for letting it air out?

Originally Posted by RoyalCake

Is it a bad idea to put the razor back in the box (if one happens to still have it)?
Bad for letting it air out?

As long as you are assured your razor is dry or have it oiled that is fine. If you are not sure its completely dry and not oiled then leaving it out to dry in a safe area is good. (cats and kids have a way of finding this so be careful!) The coffins come in handy for traveling with your razor. If its a 5/8 or smaller you might want to wrap it with tissue during travel to keep it from rattling around.