Hi Guys,
The tip for this month is that under no circumstances, nada, never, don't do it, stop, should you ever get water into the scales or handle of your razor when shaving.
We get a ton of questions on the forum about why is my blade staining and how do I prevent this and will I be able to clean these spot off my blade. This comes up often enough that I thought a beginner's tip would be in order.
I can't tell you how many blades I get in every day for honing that have rust in the hinge pin or dark stains all over the blade. This is normally caused by either a blade not being thoroughly dried when put away or by thinking all the water has been dried from inside the scales when that task is nearly impossible.
I have noticed that many people who use running water to rinse the suds and whiskers off the blade when shaving stick the scales under the water or stick the tang of the blade under the water close enough to where the water runs over the scales of the razor. When done, the razor is dried off, closed into the scales and put up until the next use. In some cases, it can take only hours for the water left in the scales to start rusting the razor itself. This process normally starts off as a dark color staining which can either show as spotting or sometimes with larger areas of discoloration. Although this does happen frequently with plastic scales, it happens a lot with wood or scales of natural materials as the water imbeds itself into the pores of the natural scales and is extremely hard to dry off either manually or just by letting the scales air out for a short time.
The easiest way to prevent this is to simply pay close attention to not getting any water on any surface other than the blade of the razor. Another way is to not use running water at all and just use a towel or a sponge to wipe off the blade when shaving. Sounds simple right? Should be, but..........
If you do start getting stains on the blade and if you catch them early, you can normally remove them with some substance like a Maas Polish and a light wiping of the blade. You can also use a dremel or buffer to remove them but remember that in any case, if you have gold wash or etching on the blade, the removal of the stains will likely remove or lighten the gold wash or etching.
Have fun
