Thread: Hey there everyone!

Well I read that I need to be sure I do an introduction, and I'm trying to follow all the rules here, so here it is. =)

My name is Dan and I've been shaving with a DE razor for the last 2 years. I just recently made the switch over to straight razors starting with a few changeable blade straights such as the Magic Razor, the Fromm Shaper, and the Dovo Shavette.

About a week ago for my 25th birthday gift to myself, I made the transition over to a real straight by going over to vintagebladesllc and spoke with Jim (who's a very nice and helpful guy by the way) and wound up purchasing his starter razor/strop combo set consisting of a 3" vintage blade's brand red latigo strop, and a Dovo carbon steel "best quality" 5/8" fully hollow straight razor with black plastic scales.
Then I did my research on hones and went over to amazon and purchased the Norton Waterstone starter set consisting of a 220/1000 grit combo stone, a 4000/8000 grit combo stone, and a lapping stone.

This is where my nightmare started.

Prior to purchasing the razor, I dove into the "deep-end" and became obsessed with straight razors, and watched hours of videos including lynn's DVD and many youtube videos, and also read pretty much everything on SRP's wiki pages, and also did a good amount of reading in the forum threads...
Unfortunately, the one thing I couldn't really find any answers on was how to clean the razor to get rid of hard water buildup, and soap residue that eventually builds up and gives the metal that white cloudy look... And after owning my new straight razor for less than a week and being as meticulous as I am, I noticed a few spots on the razor near the tang on the heel of the blade and in the middle of the blade's edge half way between the heel and toe after about a week's use. I was really kind of upset about this because I'm always so careful to thoroughly dry the blade and scales after shaving and I also even strop the blade again to remove moisture from the blade's bevel. Nervous that it was potential pitting or the start of rust, I had my father inspect it and he seemed to think it wasn't rust at all, but rather hard water stains. So I figured now would be the time to clean it to make sure it's not the start of rust.

So after not being able to find any info on how to clean the straight razor blade or scales, I remembered the video that Mantic59 posted on youtube on how to clean my DE razor with a diluted white vinegar and water solution. I have used this method to clean my DE many times in the past and it has worked great. But knowing that I'm dealing with a different type of steel, I thought it would be best to try speaking with someone at dovo to see what they recommend. I figure that obviously the people at dovo would know how to recommend cleaning and maintaining their own product.

After sending off an e-mail to a woman named Anne Rothstein asking how to clean the metal blade and scales on the straight razor, she sent me a reply stating that I should use a decalcifyer. So I responded that I wasn't sure what they were and so she responded by saying it's the same stuff you would use to descale your coffee maker. So I explained to her that the last two coffee makers I've owned just say to use white vinegar to descale and so I asked Anne if this would be safe. She said yes, and to just to make sure that it's diluted in water and not to let it sit for any more than 20 minutes.
Well, playing it on the cautious side, I only let it stand for 3-5 minutes and then proceeded to pull it out and use a tooth brush to polish the blade. To my horror, when I removed the razor from the cup, I saw the whole blade rusted, and was completely shot! I was absolutely horrified and nearly in tears... So I called Jim over at vintage blades, and I think he felt really bad for me and told me that this was poor information on Dovo's part and said that he would take my razor back and ship me a new one, and send mine back to dovo. And furthermore, informed me to make sure if I have any further questions, to go to SRP... So here I am! =)

First order of business is to find out how to properly clean my razor blade and scales without ruining the razor.

vinegar will do this stuff . your blade is carbon steel (more then usual carbon in it) that is why this happen. you shouldn't ask the some lady advice how to clean the razor instead of just come to SRP AND ASK in here.
use MAAS still may help you a little to clean your blade .
I am sure some people knows how to get rid of that buy using some chemical products but i don't know it is too late or not.
at the end this is just learning Process and we all have done similar or worse things. gl

Welcome.I am expecting my first razor,now i am worried.Cheers Don.

Sorry to hear about your 1st blade. Here is what I do to keep my razors clean and free of spots:

Rinse blade off after I am done shaving, dry with my barber towel (taking care around the edge), give the blade about 10-20 laps on the strop and finally coat with a very thin coat of mineral oil applied with toilet tissue.

I know there are many more experienced members who will let know how they do things as well, but this method has keep my blades shinny and free of crud.

Hope this helps

-Jeremy

Welcome to SRP Dan. Anne Rothstein is a nice lady. She helped me out once with a Merkur slant that I converted but that is a long story. Obviously she had good intentions and poor info. Kudos to Jim for making it right.

Get a tube of Semichrome, Flitz or Maas or a similar metal polish. If there is any gold wash on the blade it will take it off but it will clean most superficial stuff. Depending on your water you may have to contend with a certain amount of spotting.

I rinse my blade in hot tap water and dry it with a kleenex tissue. I also check inside the scales to make sure there are no droplets inside. I strop 20 or so round trips on leather to insure there is no micro gunk on the edge and then I wipe the blade with a rust preventative on a silicone gun cloth.

Welcome to SRP, Dan!

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I wipe the blade with a rust preventative on a silicone gun cloth.

The silicone gun cloth is a great idea, Jimmy! I have two new razors that I've been worried about keeping rust-free between uses, and that seems like a great idea. Jeremey's oil wipe sounds good, too.

Cheers,

Larry

1st off, welcome to SRP!!

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

vinegar will do this stuff . your blade is carbon steel (more then usual carbon in it) that is why this happen. you shouldn't ask the some lady advice how to clean the razor instead of just come to SRP AND ASK in here.
use MAAS still may help you a little to clean your blade .
I am sure some people knows how to get rid of that buy using some chemical products but i don't know it is too late or not.
at the end this is just learning Process and we all have done similar or worse things. gl

I had the same thought, so I googled the name of the lady. She works for DOVO. I can assume that the new member didn't know about SRP yet and asked the manufacturer for advice.

• Export sales: dovostahlw@aol.com
Mrs. Anne Rothstein
+49-212-23001-35
a.rothstein@dovo.com

I'd suggest taking Jim up on his offer. Hopefully Anne will learn something from this.

*edit* oops, I guess that I skimmed over that part of the OP that explained this.

Hey guys. Yea, I figured in most walks of life, when in doubt, ask the manufacturer any questions you may have about the product... I figured that if anyone would know how the product should be cared for, it would be the manufacturer... lol Guess I was wrong this time.

Anyways, I read your replies, and I've heard the MAAS and Flitz polish mentioned a number of times now, and I actually had a very nice conversation with Lynn Abrams yesterday. Just curious where you guy buy your MAAS and Flitz polish? Because I've made phone calls to my local home depots and lowes, and neither store carries MAAS nor Flitz polish.

Originally Posted by Larzz

Hey guys. Yea, I figured in most walks of life, when in doubt, ask the manufacturer any questions you may have about the product... I figured that if anyone would know how the product should be cared for, it would be the manufacturer... lol Guess I was wrong this time.

Anyways, I read your replies, and I've heard the MAAS and Flitz polish mentioned a number of times now, and I actually had a very nice conversation with Lynn Abrams yesterday. Just curious where you guy buy your MAAS and Flitz polish? Because I've made phone calls to my local home depots and lowes, and neither store carries MAAS nor Flitz polish.

Try Amazon.com...That's where I got some polish--Semichrome. Amazon vendors also sell MAAS and Flitz.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Welcome to SRP Dan. Anne Rothstein is a nice lady. She helped me out once with a Merkur slant that I converted but that is a long story. Obviously she had good intentions and poor info. Kudos to Jim for making it right.

Get a tube of Semichrome, Flitz or Maas or a similar metal polish. If there is any gold wash on the blade it will take it off but it will clean most superficial stuff. Depending on your water you may have to contend with a certain amount of spotting.

I rinse my blade in hot tap water and dry it with a kleenex tissue. I also check inside the scales to make sure there are no droplets inside. I strop 20 or so round trips on leather to insure there is no micro gunk on the edge and then I wipe the blade with a rust preventative on a silicone gun cloth.

Have you ever heard of (or used) Brasso metal polish? Is this something that would be any good or should I just stick with flitz or MAAS?