Thread: Advice Request: Razors Rusting

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I've pretty much given up on the spot issue. I have a water softener and I still get the spots. Typical metal polish like Simichrome will remove them but it's not easy. Cape Cod Polishing Cloths do a better job.

I once found water spots on one of my razors and used easy to find Nevr Dull wadding and it worked just fine.

As I stayed clear of it, it did not deteriorate the edge and the usual pre-shave stropping ways all that was needed before the next shave.


B.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I had forgotten about NeverDull! Man we used to go through that stuff by the crate in the military! Always shining or polishing something - Today or tomorrow will be the final test. I polished out the spots from a previously used razor and will try a 100% distilled water shave with that one. If no spots then I think I've found the culprit and my solution. I've also got some Renaissance wax coming to try, and I'll see about these cape cod polishing cloths-

I kinda already said this, but the final test involving a razor which previously exhibited spots used in a 100% exclusive distilled water shave has proven my hypothesis correct: water in my area is the culprit! The re-shined razor displayed absolutely no new spots despite every other variable being the same (humidity, post shower, shaving cream, Barbasol, etc.). SO, if anyone in the Albuquerque/central New Mexico area (especially south of the city in the Rio Grande valley) stumbles on this thread and has been experiencing similar issues, take note: our water SUCKS! and it can cause spots which are in no way easy to remove. I've tried almost every "internet" chemical process/formulation/voodoo I could find, and nothing but mild abrasive/metal polishes and quite a bit of elbow grease have succeeded in removing said spots. I haven't yet received the Renaissance Wax to see if that will allow me to use tap water, and I don't have a softener, so I can't speak to whether or not that would work... but the distilled water DOES work just fine, and, honestly, it isn't too bad.

As a reference (if anyone would like some ideas): I heat up some distilled water in a braun water heating/tea appliance (not to boiling), pour it in a cup to soak my brush, and save the rest for forming the lather. Whilst shaving, I "rinse" off my blade using the water I had been soaking the brush in, and I use a touch more of the distilled water if I need "running" water to remove used lather from the blade. All-in-all, I use maybe 1-2 cups max of water per shave. At about a dollar a gallon of Walmart distilled, this isn't bad at all, just slightly inconvenient.

I probably won't post anything further on this thread. Hope it helps someone else having similar issues! And tons of thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I was so fixated on rust that I missed the much more obvious water quality...

If I had seen this thread sooner, I would have piped up right away. As you have found out, water is usually the culprit.

MOST often, its not that the water is hard, but that it has been treated. Municipal water often has chlorine or other bactericides added to it. I have been in places where the concentrations were high enough to cause immediate rusting on exposed steel surfaces. Destroyed a good kitchen knife that way when my water well was given a "shock" treatment and It didn't occur to me until it was too late what was going on. Of course, there may also be issues with a waters ph and acidity levels. I get a water test done on my well every 2 years, just to be sure of what I'm drinking!

Thanks for your reply! That's all good stuff to know, and, honestly, I've been thinking for quite a while now that I need to have my home water tested. Water in NM is generally tasty and of good quality, although being "hard" is pretty ubiquitous throughout the state... that being said, where I live now, the water... doesn't taste right... Add to that the extremely high instances of rare cancers...

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I'm almost afraid to find out what we bathe in on a regular basis. We only drink bottled water, but the everyday cooking and cleaning are with tap water. Still, knowledge is power, so I think I owe it to the family to find out what we've been coating our bodies in for the past several years...

Thanks again for the response!

never, ever store something that can rust in an air tight container. Oil it up and let it sit out or in an open box or drawer

I'm curious what your reasoning is - not meaning in any way to be argumentative, just curious:

Have you had bad experiences with it? Do you mean that something that was wet will increase the humidity and thereby trap moisture, hence increasing the chance of rusting? Something I haven't thought of?

My rationale is this: I live in a dry environment, and I keep the razor in an airtight box mostly so I can bring it into the bathroom while showering without exposing it to high humidity. The box is never left open in high humidity, and I have a silicone pack in there which I change out frequently. I don't put a freshly used razor in there; rather I let it dry on a stand for several hours before putting it away again in its box.

Anyway, just curious about what your rationale is and thoughts are so we all can learn from shared experiences.

Thanks for your input!

Our water was good quality until they started using surface water and routed it through the Rio Grande.

I have a water softener and I still get the spots so it's not the typical hard water offenders.

Maybe it's the Radon Gas-har har.

Radon!!! Now why didn't i think of that??? Ha ha! Or it might be the increase in silvery minnows and spotted owls!

I do remember as a kid hearing my folks talk about some salt or ash present in our water which made all the standard spot removers (CLR and the like) ineffective... Then again, I did grow up in LA so I do glow at night...

(Lots of New Mexico humor here...)