Thread: Oh you Beautiful Orange Patina

Well, I commented on this before, some time ago. Earlier reported, the rusting that appeared on my razor immediately after shaving could be rubbed off (if somewhat vigorously). I mentioned that I would indicate any reoccurrence. Recapping: my razor was new (never used) and came shipped with a nice coating of protective oil. It was (and still is) stored outside of the bathroom and is well oiled.


OK, to the present. Based on subsequent recommendations, I purchased some "steroil" to replace the clipper oil I was using. I also purchased some 1 micron diamond paste (classicshaving...awesome) to hopefully keen up what was a very difficult razor for me shave with (much, much pull, by which I mean that shaving the mustache was damn near impossible). Unfortunately, I believe this was brought about through some improper stropping on my behalf (blade coming slightly off strop, using four sided paddle provided by Tony; thanks again). So I pasted, stropped, and hovered over the arm hair. Although not evenly sharp, I thought 'twas enough for my ugly mug (to let all of you know, I would consider myself a proficient shavette user of just over a year so the technique is sufficient). Needless to say, there was still some pull but I got through it.

Now the problem...

Rinsing the razor under the faucet, after the shave I noticed some orange spotting showing up. Nothing too crazy but present none the less. I was under the impression that corrosion would not happen so quickly (~20 min) and got a little concerned. Well, cleaned off what I could, covered with steroil, and called for help.

Now the questions...

-should I refrain from running water over my razor during a shave? (seems an obvious, "This shouldn't matter" answer here)

-is there something in my shave soap/water which accelerates corrosion?

-should I not give the blade an alcohol wipe prior to shaving and thus remove the protective oil coating?

-how do I get rid of what is currently on the blade?


-am I retarded?

In short, I managed to screw up what seemed a very straight forward (oh...the puns) procedure.

Q

Did you touch something like a styptic pencil and then touch the blade? What is the blade made out of?

I've never seen anything like that happen, though, so it makes me a might curious.

I find a razor will develop little spots after shaving and I really don't worry about it. If it bothers me that much a dab of simichrome takes them right off. But these spots are black not orange. Might be from your soap or possibly water, hard to tell. I use sterol on my razors and they still develop the spots.

There are some who will not let water touch the blade they use a towel to wipe off the lather and I guess if you want the ultimate in protection thats the way to go but not for me. These things are meant to be used and they are bound to show some wear so whats the big deal.

Sorry but that sounds really funky to me. I rinse my razors as I shave in addition to wiping on a towel. That has never happened to any of my razors and I don't coat them in oil or anything after I shave. I just dry them and put them away.

What kind of steel is it?

The only reason I ask is that it sounds a bit like a problem you could expect with stainless . The refrenced article is of interest. In generaly you shouldn't have problems, but it appears that if a contaminated grinding wheel was used on your blade, it could have introduced carbon steel and this could break down the passivation layer. The result would be rouging of some sort - which is a not unknown problem in stainless steel systems in manufacturing. I believe the rust in this case appears quite rapidly.

I use a Hen and Rooster, so I'm assuming it's high carbon steel and I haven't used a styptic pencil. I'll stop by the materials lab later today and try to get some images of what I'm talking about. My digital camera don't do it justice. Thanks for the replies.

Q

I wipe my blade clean with a towel, then with alcohol (before and after the shave), strop before and after to help keep the edge clean 'n keen, and I let it air dry for about fifteen minutes or so before putting it away and this works well for me.

X

Just speculating,
but I wonder if its possible the oil is trapping humidity next to the blade, causing it to oxidise. Is it humid where you live? perhaps try after you dry the blade, hit it for a little while with the wife's hairdryer, then lightly oil it...
I am a big fan of tuf cloth, btw and have also used (to very good effect) corrosion-X, mineral oil, Camellia oil, and when I was starting out, WD-40. In fact, people may make fun but the WD40 really worked well...(try to keep it off the scales, I don't know how celluloid reacts, didn't have it get on there.
Just remember to rinse off the oil before shaving.
but I'll bet the hairdryer trick does it for you....
hope this helps,
John P.

I'll give it a try, thanks.

Q