Thread: How to sterilize vintage straights?

Originally Posted by ferroburak

Hi,
How can I sterilize vintage straights? Should I try barbicide? Thanks.

Is this a bright shining vintage or a rusty old classic blade?

Anything that will seriously sterilize a blade will cause corrosion.
That corrosion must be managed and eliminated.

Barbicide will sanitize a blade quite well.
It like all other chemicals needs to be rinsed off
and the blade oiled. Read the directions.

When sanding a blade that is pitted and rusty
all crud needs to be cleaned off. Sanding with
soapy water and relentless rinsing is a good thing.
Fine sanding with bleach and peroxide is sterilizing
and rust promoting. Once you get down to bright steel the surface is
gosh durn clean. A rinse in alcohol or barbicide followed by a
light oiling to prevent rust is always the last step.

One of the saving graces with old blades is shelf time.
Viruses and bacteria do not stay viable on surfaces
for weeks/ years (except down in the crud). Some
razor found in a dung pile out back of a farm house
needs to be cleaned if only of tetanus. No eBay auction
will tell you a history like that...

Because steel is not a terribly porous media and because of
abrasion when stropping and honing combined with
the soap and water of a good shave prep
razors are cleaner than one might think.

I am of the opinion that hepatitis alone is too big a risk
to not fully sanitize a new to me blade.

Do not share kit.

The only way to sterilize a blade is to use an autoclave - sterilization is an exact process that uses controlled temperatures way above the boiling point of water and will do scales made of anything but stainless steel no good at all.

To DISINFECT a blade, as said, use Barbicide. Milton is OK for what it'sintended for but it is basically a weak bleach containing Sodium Hypochlorite - the same stuff you put down the loo. Honest! Trouble with bleach is that although it is an A1++ bug killer - it'll kill just about anything - it is also corrosive in strong solution and cause oxidization i.e. it rots things.

Don't forget dwell time with any disinfectant - that is, the time it's actually in contact with the blade. Barbicide recommend a ten-minute immersion in a full-strength dilution, which is 60ml. product to one litre of water - and don't forget to use fresh dilutions.

The best thing to do (IMO) is to take it apart. You dont need to "restore" the razor or scales. But I would reccomend cleaning everything. after you are done use a little bleach and then be sure to rinse with hot water, and wipe down. Im not a chemist but I would assume bleach is bad for metal, but a quick sanitising exposure will not hurt. If you are not comfortable with dis/reassembly then use a q-tip to clean. this way your razor will feel and look good. as stated a metal polish will also remove gunk & junk. you always want to try and clean it up though. aint no tellin what kind of stuff is in there and better safe than sorry these days. the last razor I picked up sitll had hair on the blade! yuk!

Ok.........we know that disinfectants won't hurt a blade especially if it's rinsed and wiped off. What about scales? Does anyone know if soaking scales in disinfectant has harmful effects? While I'm sure some scales will have no problems, there's too many types of scales to actually test. I'm willing to test my stainless steel scales for obvious reasons......but my Otto Deutsches are out of the question! The inlays would survive, but I'd shoot myself if those hard to find transparent green scales started to deteriorate because they spent 15 minutes in hydrogen peroxide or alcohol.

Thoughts?

I would only worry about the blade, not the scales, and only if you are getting a razor that has been used by someone else or has been somehow else exposed to blood.

Hepatitis B and C are your major concerns, as they are easily transmitted by sharing razors. HIV transmission is possible, but unlike HEP B/C, HIV does not last long when exposed to open air. Hospital grade alcohol will kill Hep and any lesser pathogens. I'm sure barbercide will do a good job too.

Originally Posted by markevens

Hepatitis B and C are your major concerns, as they are easily transmitted by sharing razors. HIV transmission is possible, but unlike HEP B/C, HIV does not last long when exposed to open air. Hospital grade alcohol will kill Hep and any lesser pathogens. I'm sure barbercide will do a good job too.

HIV dies within minutes of being outside the body. HBV only lives for seven days. Barbicide isn't necessary unless you want a disinfectant with a tuburulocidal claim. If you want to kill only HIV, HBV, and HCV, you need an isopropyl alcohol containing at least an 80% concentration...

This is all you need to get of nasty bugs:
Buy CVS 91% Isopropyl Alcohol online at CVS.com

All the various "cides" in Barbicide makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and clean. Can't go wrong with it - and many laws around the country mandate Barbicide use for commerical hygiene. I'm sure in many cases it IS more than necessary, but so what?

I bought one bottle of barbicide at last. I will put my razors(2 shave ready vintage straights, 1 kampfe, 1 gillette gold tech razors) into glass filled with barbicide. Then I will put them into boiling water for 10 minutes. That process will not harm vintage razors, I hope.

you should *definitely* not put the straight razors in boiling water. it can ruin the temper of the steel and make it unable to hold an edge.

Barbicide Wipes are available and I find them quite convenient. Opinions might vary as to whether your should sanitize, and nobody doubts that the autoclave is the ultimate. But for most purposes, if you want to sanitize, Barbicide wipes are tailor-made exactly for razors, scissors, etc.--our stuff.