Thread: How often do others oil the blade to prevent rust?

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Most straights are carbon steel & even stainless can rust tho not as easily.

Thank OZ. you are so right, that's why it is called "stain-less". It is very misleading. Oxidation is a B----. I'm oxidizing as we speak. Oil them blades and they will last a long time.
MIke

the consensus seems to be: "if in doubt, oil".

Originally Posted by shiznix

the consensus seems to be: "if in doubt, oil".

Even though I do not oil, I think that is gread advice! It certainly can't hurt.

I think it would take extreme circumstances for a stainless razor to rust but if I owned one I'd likely still give it a coat of oil. Just paranoid I guess

I might add also, even though I oil my razors every 3 month or so I use Flitz and do a light polishing and it is surprising what I do pick up on the rag in the way of oxidation. It is only surface oxidation but still surprising!


Take Care,
Richard

The razors that I have stored away I oil with mineral oil. The razors that I'm using on daily rotation I don't oil.
When I shave, I wipe the lather off on the back of my hand, like I seen my barber do. When I finish, I wipe the blade with 2 sheets of toilet tissue and store away in the hallway closet. My razors never touch running water.
Never had rust problems. Most of my soaps have some type of oil as an ingredient so any leftover lather on my blade protects it until the next shave.
Ernest

Originally Posted by Big_E

When I finish, I wipe the blade with 2 sheets of toilet tissue and store away in the hallway closet. My razors never touch running water.
Never had rust problems. Most of my soaps have some type of oil as an ingredient so any leftover lather on my blade protects it until the next shave.
Ernest

What an interesting idea! I think I'm going to try it. For years, I've rinsed my razors then dried them well before putting them away and though I've never had a problem with rust, this sounds like a better way.

Originally Posted by Big_E

...leftover lather on my blade protects it until the next shave.
Ernest

Leaving lather on your blade will cause black rust. Been there, done that. Had some lather on the inside of the scales and didn't notice. Now I have a nice black spot in that area. Polish will not get it out either.

I don't have a shave den. My shave pit is in the basement of a 120 year old house and until recently I also kept a rotation of 7 razors in a gym locker for the past 8 years. Because both locations tended toward high humidity, I always use the same procedure after every shave.

I dry my razor with a towel and then dip it in a solution of mineral oil dissolved in isopropyl alcohol. The alcohol quickly evaporates and takes residual water away with it, leaving behind a very thin coating of mineral oil on the blade. I never bother wiping this off because it is so thin. The next time I strop, I do three passes on leather to clear the oil off the bevel, then 20 passes on linen, and then 50 on leather. The small amount of oil transfered to the leather each day simply benefits the strop and it has not caused any harm to my strops after 8 years. I've never had any trouble with corrosion.

High humidity where I live, so oil is used after the shave.