Thread: Storing the razors....

Originally Posted by DZEC

I frequently buy stuff that comes with those "DO NOT EAT THIS PACKET" moisture inhibitor thingies. I discovered you can reuse them if you heat them in a 200° F oven for 20 minutes or so. I put metal items into a plastic container with a few of these and they seem to keep well for several months. In the case of razors, I also either coat them with a light coating of paraffin oil or renaissance wax (for longer storage).

Silica gel (the 'do no eat this packet' things) and the inhibitors/emitters have the same goal for our purposes - preventing rust - but go about them in different ways. The silica gel will absorb moisture in the air, while those other products deposit a fine layer of rust inhibitor on the surface of the thing(s) being protected. No reason they couldn't be used together IMHO.

BTW, I bought a number of reusable silica gel things similar to this:

Reusable Silica Gel

They work well. It is easy to see when they need refreshing and that's just a matter of a minute or so in the microwave, after which they're ready to go again.

EDIT: I forgot to add that these have the advantage over the packs that come with stuff in that the colour indicator makes it very easy to see when they are getting saturated.

I keep my SR in a cloth rolled bag I got from Straight Razor Designs. Keeps them clean and dry. I also put a thin film of machine oil on them after I shave, and dry the razor. My place is heated in winter but can be hot and humid in summer (I don't run the AC if I'm not home, and I am frequently gone for 2-3 days at a time due to work). So, the machine oil and rolled cloth storage bag keep them clean and dry and rust free. I've been storing them this way for several years and have had no rust or other problems. My razors are a variety and all different sizes so the rolled cloth storage bag was the best solution I found that accommodates the size variety and does the job. This also does a great job of protecting the scales.

A cheap and edible alternative to silica gel packets is dry rice. Just tie some up in a paper towel and use it as you would a silica packet. Once or twice a year replace it with fresh dry rice and throw the old stuff into a pot of soup.

I have heard of this before. Rice works to keep Salt dry. That's why you find it in Salt shakers sometimes. It's too big to come out the holes and it keeps salt dry. Not a bad Idea. I don't think I'd cook it after it sucked up whatever for 6 months. Ha.

Rice also works well as a polishing media in brass cartridge polishers when you chuck in an old blade for cleaning.

Bob

Originally Posted by Gasman

I have heard of this before. Rice works to keep Salt dry. That's why you find it in Salt shakers sometimes. It's too big to come out the holes and it keeps salt dry. Not a bad Idea. I don't think I'd cook it after it sucked up whatever for 6 months. Ha.

Absolutely. While at school I spent my summers working at an outdoors restaurant in Greece, by the sea. Salt shakers were loaded with rice It worked.

The sheaths from TSS work really well. I live in South Florida so it’s humid outside and even inside my house constantly. None of my razors have showed any signs of harm since I’ve been using these so I highly recommend them. Now if you live somewhere dry like Colorado I don’t think you need them.

It turns out that the OP had no interest in moisture protection, only scratch protection. For that purpose paper towels would be sufficient.

Also raw parboiled rice is an alternative to clean a coffee grinder in place of the expensive stuff.

I'm supposed to CLEAN my coffee grinder? I've used a hand crank Hario burr grinder for about 10 years and never have considered cleaning it.