Thread: Dealing with rust

Small spots like that can be taken off with MAAS and a Q-Tip. Its usually because moisture has got at the blade, making it tarnish slightly like that.

What you're doing now sounds fine to me, but something you can also try is to put a couple of packs of silica gel in with your razors. This stuff takes the moisture out of the air and works really well at preventing rust or tarnish.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Another tip, after you wipe the blade down try not to touch the metal. The salts and oils on your skin may also cause rust. Some people have more of an issue with this than others. I am one that has this issue.

Originally Posted by Joed

Another tip, after you wipe the blade down try not to touch the metal. The salts and oils on your skin may also cause rust. Some people have more of an issue with this than others. I am one that has this issue.

Hmm...perhaps this is what I'm doing wrong. But then again, I don't really touch the areas of my blades that are rusting.
I've tried everything, but one razor I have in particular really really wants to rust. It's my Filarmonica 13. I dry it, oil it, I've tried everything and still, there are occasional tiny rust spots a few days later. Lucky for me, the damn spots are either next to the gold wash or approaching the edge (sarcasm, of course)...

Originally Posted by heirkb

I've tried everything, but one razor I have in particular really really wants to rust. It's my Filarmonica 13. I dry it, oil it, I've tried everything and still, there are occasional tiny rust spots a few days later.

Where do you store your razors? Do you keep them in the bathroom? Some bathrooms remain more humid than others. Humidity (water vapor) contributes to rust also. I keep my razors in the linen closet in the hall outside my bathroom.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

Originally Posted by Morty

Where do you store your razors? Do you keep them in the bathroom? Some bathrooms remain more humid than others. Humidity (water vapor) contributes to rust also. I keep my razors in the linen closet in the hall outside my bathroom.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

I'm in a dorm right now, so I keep them in my room. Could it be that my room is especially humid? The window is usually open and only recently has New York started getting a bit humid.

Some threads I read here on SRP referenced some microscopic studies of razor edges. As I recall, the research was from the 1930s or thereabouts. Could be wrong. What I do remember is the statement that on the microscopic level, rusting - even when not visible to our eye - was as much an enemy of a sharp edge as shaving!

I think I remember that correctly...

If you looked at those tiny, almost insignificant spots under a high-powered microscope, you would see something that resembeld a pock-marked lunar landscape. Any place where rust has formed will present a mico-environment where it will form again. Drying the area is a bit problematical - water gets trapped in these tiny pockets, the pH alters, and the area contributes to its own destruction. The pH level becomes more acidic.

Covering over these pits with something that stops the water evaporating - any type of oil - is a bad idea if all the vapour has not been driven off.

I haven't had that problem thank goodness, but I make sure that my razors are really dry before I even close the blade. When I finish shaving, the blade is held in the sink of hot water to get warm, then dried and left open in a dry area - not the bathroom. Later - sometimes the next day - it is stropped, closed and put back in the rotation.

Perhaps stabilisation before drying is the answer - a strong base solution of sodium carbonate (baking soda) or sodium carbonate - 5% by volume - in a rinse of pure water (rainwater/deionised/distilled) water would work for you, you would only need 5g per 95ml of water.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

If you looked at those tiny, almost insignificant spots under a high-powered microscope, you would see something that resembeld a pock-marked lunar landscape. Any place where rust has formed will present a mico-environment where it will form again. Drying the area is a bit problematical - water gets trapped in these tiny pockets, the pH alters, and the area contributes to its own destruction. The pH level becomes more acidic.

Covering over these pits with something that stops the water evaporating - any type of oil - is a bad idea if all the vapour has not been driven off.

I haven't had that problem thank goodness, but I make sure that my razors are really dry before I even close the blade. When I finish shaving, the blade is held in the sink of hot water to get warm, then dried and left open in a dry area - not the bathroom. Later - sometimes the next day - it is stropped, closed and put back in the rotation.

Perhaps stabilisation before drying is the answer - a strong base solution of sodium carbonate (baking soda) or sodium carbonate - 5% by volume - in a rinse of pure water (rainwater/deionised/distilled) water would work for you, you would only need 5g per 95ml of water.

Regards,
Neil

Hmm... alkali can invite rust as quick as acid can.
any salt can also help rust get into steel.

Neil has an important point steel is porous and we forget that...

There are three discussions hidden in previous posts by many folk.

• what removes rust spots?
• what prevents rust from returning?
• what day to day care works?

To remove the rust a very fine abrasive is needed.
This abrasive can be common paper or a polishing
agent like MAAS. If I smell MAAS I smell ammonia
or something like it that eventually needs to be cleaned
away.

Once the rust has been cleared prevention begins.

First the steel needs to be cleaned. In part MAAS
will have done this. The rest of the blade also needs
to be cleaned too. A modern detergent can
clean off a variety of nasty greases including fingerprints.

Next the surface needs to be covered with a
layer that excludes oxygen in the air and does
not react with the steel. The surface moisture
needs to be displaced from the micro cracks that
are the locus for corrosion and rust to begin.

In this regard there is an initial battle where
WD-40 and even 99% alcohol can get down
to the metal and dry the surface. WD-40
contains some oil so once the moisture is
displaced a thin oil is left. 99% alcohol needs
to be promptly followed by a barrier substance
like mineral oil, Camilla oil. The same is true
following honing the edge. BTW, I think the
secret oil in WD-40 is a fish oil the same as
Rust-Oleum paint once contained.

Since strops are commonly treated with wax
and or oil so the fine edge gets lightly sealed in
the normal course of sharpening.

The ingredients of WD-40 are secret and
as such it is hard to recommend it where
it will come in contact with skin that has
been "challenged" by a razors nicks. I do
like it for the pivot area of a razor. I wipe
it off the blade promptly and replace it
with mineral oil or camilla oil. Right after
honing a razor I find I have more "stray" water
and as such WD-40 has it's place at the
end of a honing session, especially on the pivot,
shank and associated jimps.

Once the steel surface is clean and protected lesser procedures
will often suffice for maintenance.

After shaving I find that residual soap and
the extra oils in hyper fatted soaps and creams
gets me by in the day to day thing but my water
has almost no dissolved solids.

If I hone, strop then store blades I always
try to end up with a final spray of camilla oil that is
not wiped down. I slop more water on a blade in
the process of honing than shaving...

Vaseline should be a good thing. It is commonly
applied to cuts and it does seal out air. Mineral
oil is also inert in much the same way. The key
is the steel needs to be clean and dry prior to
the application. And later the razor needs to be
cleaned well enough that it is not slippery in
the hand.

Celluloid scale rot is nasty stuff and should not
be discounted on old razors (post 1850). One
hint is to keep the razor in zip locked bag and then
smell the air in the bag a day or two later. Another hint is to
keep a suspect razor in a cup open to the air so
the fumes do not build up.

Just one opinion, sorry for being long winded.

Originally Posted by Stubear

Small spots like that can be taken off with MAAS and a Q-Tip. Its usually because moisture has got at the blade, making it tarnish slightly like that.

What you're doing now sounds fine to me, but something you can also try is to put a couple of packs of silica gel in with your razors. This stuff takes the moisture out of the air and works really well at preventing rust or tarnish.

Good luck and keep us posted!

+1 on the MAAS+qtip and silica gel.

Also pick up a can of WD-40 and some micro fiber shop rags.
Machine shops, bike shops and sporting goods shops have silicon cloths
that are excellent for this purpose. Carpenters have
problems with rust on their saws so woodworking shops
are also a good place to look.

WD-40 may be the best trick for preventing rust.

There is an outside chance that you have a bad apple
set of old celluloid scales that are breaking down and
triggering corrosion so tell us more about the razor
scales. An envelope with bicarbonate of soda in with
the silica gel can help (but not cure) scale rot.

RustFree™ from A.G. Russell for storage
is a good thing. It is a bit too much for overnight
where mineral oil and WD-40 can be best. I mention
RustFree because the instructions are clear that you
must dry the steel first which is so very important.

Although WD-40 is cheap and common, it is full of solvents and far too low-viscosity, IME.

For a few extra bucks, pick up some god quality gun oil (RemOil or Hoppe's, etc.) which is high-viscosity, anti-rust, and very stable. It won't gum up like WD-40, because it is made for gun actions, etc.

YMMV, but I have found this to be the best stuff for oiling razors.