Thread: Straight Blade Care

Razor- Dry it well. Set it down. Walk away. The next morning it goes into a silicon saturated sack up and goes to sleep for a couple weeks until it's turn is up again

Face- Balm, shower, aftershave.

During shave: periodically rinse lather off with cold water, never get water near scales or pin.
Immediately after shave: rinse off blade with hot water, , never get water near scales or pin.
After shave: carefully wipe blade and inside scales with soft towel or t-shirt or boxers, strop 30 laps on pressed wool, 30 laps on leather.
After after shave: leave blade partially open on dresser for several hours.

Rolo

Yea it is dry and lightly abrasive.

When honing I wipe with a micro fiber, when I want a good look at the bevel I wipe with a paper towel, big difference, the bevel is clean.

The problem with just using a paper towel when honing is they get saturated quickly, hence the micro fiber.

TP or Kleenex after a cotton or micro fiber gets the bevel pretty clean.

I always dry the razor, and restrop with cloth and leather. I only do 10-12 cloth strokes and 25 leather strokes. I was taught to never put away a dull blade. You can use a light honing oil, to combat rust, if the razor isn't goning to be used often.

Just remember to aways dry the razor at the very least. Or, you'll have rust.

Big Greg

First, water never touches blade. Lather is wiped off on a washcloth. After shave is finished, blade is stropped 6-8 strokes on a mineral oil containing newspaper strop. Then the entire blade is wiped with a mineral oil containing tyvek towel. Both the strop and towel are only lightly oiled, not anything close to saturated.

I always dry my razor and do 10 laps on the poly web to dry and clean the edge. A little oil if I won't use the razor for a few days.

+1 on stropping after the usage. And keep the scales dry.

Gentlemen,

After the shave, I rinse the blade under hot water, dry it with cloth followed by tissue, run the tissue between the scales, strop the blade 10 strokes on linen and 10 on leather to further clean and dry the blade, coat the blade lightly with Camellia oil and place the razor in the rack. During the shave, the razor's pivot and handle are kept dry and the blade with lather wiped on cloth. I fold a face towel on the edge of the sink to keep my hands dry during the shave.

Originally Posted by Obie

Gentlemen,

After the shave, I rinse the blade under hot water, dry it with cloth followed by tissue, run the tissue between the scales, strop the blade 10 strokes on linen and 10 on leather to further clean and dry the blade, coat the blade lightly with Camellia oil and place the razor in the rack. During the shave, the razor's pivot and handle are kept dry and the blade with lather wiped on cloth. I fold a face towel on the edge of the sink to keep my hands dry during the shave.

I do pretty much the same thing as Obie does. Strop before & after the shave around ten strokes or so on the linen & around ten on leather also. It does help to dry the blade after using a tissue or absorbent cloth like an old t-shirt cut into a few pieces. I like to put a drop or two of Tuf-Glide on the pivot once dried to help protect it. I also have a Marine Tuf-Cloth & wipe the blade once which puts a very light protective coating on the blade but isn't necessary if you only have one or two razors you alternate between. The main thing is keeping the razor dry & keeping water spots off. A few strokes of the strop before & after shaving will help keep the blade dry & sharp but will never hurt it.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Try to keep the scales out of the water,,,, wipe dry the blade,,,,Q-Tip dry the inside,,, strop,,, heavy coat of mineral oil on the blade,,,, wrap in a handkerchief & set on counter top until it's used again,,, 3 blades in the rotation at a time.

You do this every morning? Impressive.

I wipe the blade dry, visually inspect the scales for water droplets (usually none- I don't get the blade wet), then put it away away from the shower. I keep a 3-4 blade rotation and strop all 3 once I'm done with the rotation (couple times per week).