Thread: Cleaning the blade

So, I think this happened when I closed the blade when it was slightly wet...looks to be some sort of runoff/smudge from the scales itself...I KNOW this can be cleaned easily enough, any suggestions?

If warm water, soap, and a washcloth won't clean it, then a metal polish like Flitz, Maas, or Mother's Mag Polish should clean it up.
Try not to run your finger down the edge while cleaning.

Pretty much anything that will clean that has a very high likelihood of killing your edge. I like 0000steelwool and WD-40 and then with polish. You might try just the polish to start and step it up until you get what you want and then work it back.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Pretty much anything that will clean that has a very high likelihood of killing your edge. I like 0000steelwool and WD-40 and then with polish. You might try just the polish to start and step it up until you get what you want and then work it back.

I was afraid of that...I tried a bit of steel wool CAREFULLY, but i think that's the issue is if i don't wanna kill the edge, just cleaning the parts that aren't on the edge (the edge parts are gonna wear away with a rehone at some point anyway)..it's REALLY hard and I can't be as forceful as I'd normally be when I'm cleaning stuff like this. I'll try WD and steelwool. I have a can of NevrDull i tried a bit of...

When you say "ruin the edge" how badly would it be ruined? Bunch of laps on a barber hone and a finisher would bring it back up u think? (I suppose it depends on what I did).

It is totally going to depend on how careful you are. Honestly, if you kill the edge for safety, clean it up and then hit the hones you will not likely have to make many laps on a 1K or 3K hone to get the apex back. What takes a lot of effort is restoration honing where you are building an apex on a flat edge.

For future reference most of us leave the blade open overnight or all day. Any moisture in the scales drys so that won’t happen

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

For future reference most of us leave the blade open overnight or all day. Any moisture in the scales drys so that won’t happen

Yea when I was starting out, someone told me to do this and I"ve been doing it ever since (oh, and strop on canvas, the friction helps dry it out more)...I think this one time I closed it accidentally when I had to put the razor away mid shave to answer a call or smthg .