Thread: Nickle Content???

Hi,

A while ag a friend asked me to help restore a razor passed down to him from his Grandfather. I was unable to identify the manufacturer of the razor, which will probably make my question a little vague. My friend has now been diagnosed with a skin condition and has been advised to stay away from any products containing nickle. Is it likely that a vintage razor would have contained nickle (sorry I know it's vague without age or manufacturer) Any advice would be appreciated, also if anyone can point me to a brand that definitely wouldn't have contained nickle I would be interested to know.

Many thanks....

If it helps i have a skin reaction to nickle and have never had any kind of reaction to razors, either vintage or new. For me at least it takes a longer contact time to really see anything.

Exactly as UAcowboy suggests.

Nickel hypersensitivity is generally most associated with long term skin contact. Think of cheaper nickel pot metal jewelry or a belt buckle or a watch band or most common in my surgery: the button on the inside of some jeans. It can be a nasty looking erosive lesion and even a widespread rash in some cases.

Those alloys contain a lot of nickel. The alloy content of even a vintage razor is likely to be less than 10% and more like 2% if a modern alloy but that would not be common and likely a custom blade. You are correct, more information would be helpful.

As long as you stay away from stainless you should be OK. In steel razors the Nickel should be too low to cause problems.

In things like jewelry, watches, eye glasses, and buttons, the nickel is usually in a surface plating to help with corrosion. It is easy for the plating to rub off onto the skin. In steels, including stainless steel, the nickel is bound with the others metals. Very little nickel, if any, is going to get on the skin from using a razor or any other steel object that does not have a nickel plating on it.

Most chrome is Nickel and it is what makes stainless, well stainless, as noted above

Originally Posted by Substance

Most chrome is Nickel and it is what makes stainless, well stainless, as noted above

Huh? Chrome and Nickel are two entirely different minerals. Usually the ratio of chrome to nickel is adjusted depending on the qualities you want. if I remember correctly chromium will make a harder alloy.

In most jewelry where nickel is used there is no binding. It's not like a new material is formed. If you have enough magnification you can see the individual metals and that's what interacts with folks skin who have sensitivities. If you are so sensitive it doesn't take much at all to cause a reaction. A watch with a stainless case would be unwearable for many. On the other hand there are nickel minerals where the nickel is chemically bound to another material which changes the properties and the nickel doesn't react with your skin. Usually someone like that would go for a titanium watch or ceramic or some other material. There are stainless alloys with no nickel.

I think what he means is, it looks like chrome but is nickle. I collect old center draft lamps and heaters. They are shiny like chrome but it is a nickle plating.