Thread: Rusting on Hart Steel Razor

I would avoid oils that contain chemicals in them like 3 in 1. You probably wouldn't want that stuff on your face or on your strop and you have to be really careful about getting it all off before shaving. Personally, I use Sterol and Sentry Solutions is good also. I like AG Russell no rust for long term storage it's silicon based.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I would avoid oils that contain chemicals in them like 3 in 1. You probably wouldn't want that stuff on your face or on your strop and you have to be really careful about getting it all off before shaving. Personally, I use Sterol and Sentry Solutions is good also. I like AG Russell no rust for long term storage it's silicon based.

+1 on the AG Russell no rust.
I wish it was easy to get from our shave vendor folk (hint).

By itself + shipping and handling it is just too expensive
to recommend.... but once in a while AG has some temptations
that making adding the no rust stuff a no brainier.

The finish of he Hart razors is significantly worse than regular factory razors, or even a lot restorations, which means that the blade is more prone to trapping condensation in the deeper groves left over from the grinder. I think the O1 steel is also worse than the typical steels in modern razors (even though these are very proprietary, but that's from my experience honing and using them) in its affinity to corrosion.
So you just have to use more care of keeping the blade dry. Whether you use oil or not depends on your microclimate, you'll have to find out for yourself if it's necessary.

Like I said:

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Will cooking oil work? Personally I wouldn't use it. Use some sort of oil that is designed for steel. Some of us use simple WD-40 or 3-n-1 oil...it's something you have around the house most of the time. Be sure to wipe it off well considering it may irritate the skin.

Carbon steel isn't all that hard to protect from rust as long as you make an effort to protect it with something made for steel.

Hi, I also own a Hart Steel straight razor, purchased from classic shaving, I have shaved with it only like 5 times and today I've noticed that the blade is starting to develop tiny spots of rusting in the spine. Of all the comments I read here I understood that with this particular razor I have to extra careful. Am I right???

Hart Steel's are my favorite razor and I have 4 in my rotation. I use the Remington wipe down cloth with rust inhibitors. I wipe the razor off before stropping with a rag and wipe down the razor with the cloth after use. So far so good. I store my razor is a canvas razor roll.

I own 5 Hart Steel Razors and have had a little rust in the past. The good thing about Hart razors you can take them apart and clean the gunk and mess from under the scales, the newer Razors are coming with a little oil bottle so you an oil with out taking them apart. I make sure that the razor is dry, I don't leave it in the Bath Room, oil it, and lastly I use packs of desiccant. Doing this seem to keep the rust away. I do this with all of my razors not just my Hart Steel.

Cooking oils will go rancid over time. They will gum up and smell foul. In the short term though, they will work just fine. Don't use them for storage.

WD-40, 3 in 1, and various other lubricants can contain irritants, and possibly carcinogens.


Mineral oil never goes rancid. Store bought preparations are mostly food safe, ie you can eat/drink it.

Mineral oil is cheap in the laxative section at the drug store.


Michael

Originally Posted by mjsorkin

Cooking oils will go rancid over time. They will gum up and smell foul. In the short term though, they will work just fine. Don't use them for storage.

WD-40, 3 in 1, and various other lubricants can contain irritants, and possibly carcinogens.


Mineral oil never goes rancid. Store bought preparations are mostly food safe, ie you can eat/drink it.

Mineral oil is cheap in the laxative section at the drug store.


Michael

Mineral Oil I shall get. I was going to ask, does WD-40 harm gold wash or etching in anyway?

I never leave my razors in the bathroom. They go from my bedroom to the bathroom for my shave, then back to the bedroom where they are stored in the top drawer of my dresser.

Before storage, I always strop them 15x on the fabric and 15-20x on my strop to remove any gunk that may have accumulated on the blade. Usually, this is all I ever do.

For longer term storage, however, I apply a light coat of oil on the blade of the razor.