Thread: severe rust after 3 days

Thanks, Bouschie. Do you think it is worth it for me to invest in a restoration on mine ... or is it better to look at it as lesson learned and buy a new blade?

Originally Posted by bouschie

I had three customers come to me to hone their Theirs Issard. All three were new to straights and had a similar problem. I removed any light rust and water spots with 2500 grit wet dry sand paper. Polished with mothers. Honed and left it on the bathroom counter for five days. No rust. I can only guess that you are not getting the razor fully dry. I also recommend not storing in the leather case. Better to have air circulation.

that could be (the cleaner). who knows what goes on when they clean or what they use. For sure the mineral oil was good. It was a new brand bottle from CVS.

Originally Posted by Firefighter2

Wow, that's unreal. It almost looks like the maid spilled drain cleaner or something on it. I can't see water rusting it that extensively in 3 days.

gr444 that razor is for sure fixable. Send it to a vendor and have them work it out.

Thanks Redcane ... much appreciated

Originally Posted by Redcane

gr444 that razor is for sure fixable. Send it to a vendor and have them work it out.

No worries. I know the horror of seeing something that expensive get messed up. Rest easy, its fixable.

Originally Posted by gr4444

Attachment 227447

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

If I didn't know better it almost looks like celluloid rot. Whatever did that it's a chemical reaction type thing. Something in that oil you used or something came in contact with the blade to do that.

I have to agree with tbs, it does look as if the part of the blade that was above the scales was exposed to some sort of chemical. Bathroom cleaning spray perhaps ?

Is the other side of the blade consistently rusted like the front ?

I notice that the stamping on the tang is deep. In recent years I had heard they began etching the logo on the tang. Is this a NOS vintage razor ? Are scales wood, or some natural material, or are they possibly celluloid ? In a way it does resemble cell rot, but that would be extremely accelerated cell rot, and the scales are probably not celluloid.

I would be concerned to figure out the cause if it was my razor. Getting another, or getting that one fixed and having the same thing happen would be a bummer. If you have a carbon steel knife blade take it and put the mineral oil on it, put it in the case that the razor was in and see if one or the other is the culprit.

Last but not least, if the vendor wants to charge you for the restoration you might be just as well, if not better off, looking at our SRP member services in the classifieds. Unless you have a lot of confidence in the vendor's capabilities. There are some guys in our classifieds that are state of the art restorers.

I feel for your pain. You might want to check the storage box too for chemical fumes. Your rusting almost looks like some of my welding rods when they were too close to the muratic acid jug on my welding/soldering table.

I agree with those that don't think this looks like normal rusting.

I have a "Bona-Fide" John Wigfall & Co., Sheffield razor in dark horn scales that has almost the same areas of rust as yours does. The spine area and parts of the blade that were not in the scales was almost black and lots of small pits. The edge area is fine..... I'll be sanding the heck out of mine to at least remove most of dark areas. I've made a ton of progress. The pits will be there, but I can live with it. I'm hoping mine will be a good shaver.... I think it will be.

On a newer blade like your.....very baffling to say the least. How old is your razor? I'm guessing fairly new.

Oiling a blade before it is really dry will trap moisture and cause rusting too,, that is what it's a good idea to let it air dry before oiling for a few hours with the blade open. Or no oil at all, I don't oil any blade I use daily , only if put away for extended times and I haven't had rust issues, only in the beginning when I oiled every time I used it right after shaving. Here I. Memphis we are a high humidity area also and this works for me. But hey it could be someone sprayed your razor, maybe you should put it up where they can't get to it. Tc