Thread: Help Please

I have been using a straight for about a month now, and I love it, I have tried to be careful and keep it dry, drying with a towel after every use. today I noticed when I was opening it, it felt tight and looked at the area near the pivot and saw rust around the pivot and the back of the tang. I hadn't noticed this before.

1. How do I remove the rust?
2. Should I remove the pins in the pivot and clean the blade ? I have a feeling it is rusted in between where the handle and the blade meet.
3 How do I stop this from happening? is it possible not to get the razor wet while shaving?

Thanks

1. Get some metal polish like MAAS, Flitz, or Simichrome and rub some of it on a length of dental floss. Then floss the area that is rusted.

2. That would be the ideal if you know how to do it, but it is not entirely necessary if you do the above properly.

3. Seriously, just keep it dry. The easiest way to accomplish that is to always keeping the hand that is hold the razor completely dry. You do not need to get a razor wet while shaving. Keep the holding hand dry and wipe the lather with either your other hand, a towel, a wash cloth, or a sponge. You do not need to rinse the blade during the shave. You will need to rinse the blade well after the shave, but that should be immediately followed with drying the blade so there should be no harm or risk from that.

After cleaning off what rust you can, and trying to keep the pivot dry:

. . . keep the pivot oiled.

Just a tiny drop of mineral oil, every shave or two. The oil will get into places you can't reach with floss, and protect the steel. It will really slow down the rust.

From the old razors I've seen, there are three preferred areas for rust:

1. At and around the pivot, where it's hard to dry the blade;

2. Where the blade touches the scales when the razor is closed;

3. On the cutting edge.

Not that they don't rust everywhere else . . . <g>

Charles

PS -- a question for Utopian (who uses oil dissolved in alcohol):

. . . Do you dip the pivot end into the mixture, or just the steel blade?

Thanks -- Charles

Something else that often works is to put a drop or two of mineral oil at the pivot. Over time, the opening and closing of the razor, assisted by the oil, will remove the rust for you.

To prevent water from getting in the pivot, make sure your hands are alwayd dry. Also, only rinse off the blade (only the blade, no water on the tang or above) when cleaning the razor. There is no reason you should ever get water on the scales, pivot, tail, or tang of the razor.

Easiest way to keep it from rusting is not getting water in it. Watch the oil. If you have bone/ivory/horn or other porous material scales the oil will wick into the scales and stain them. I also rinse the blade with straight hot tap water. Rinse it, wipe it, rinse it again, wipe it again then leave it open to make sure it is dry. A hot blade will evaporate any residual water left on the steel. I have a pile or two of razors and never had had one rust. Just watch the water. As Holli points out, just rinse the blade, don’t dunk the blade in water.