Thread: Messy razor help.

For my oil I use mineral oil that I have melted a small piece of bees wax in. This information was offered here on SRP because mineral oil will pool on the metal leaving areas uncovered.
Have you considered eliminating the need for rinsing your blade entirely? When I shave I will wipe the lather off my razor in a stropping motion onto a towel. When finished I use one square of bathroom tissue (folded) to wipe my razor lengthwise just short of the edge. I then strop on denim to clean the residue from the edge entirely.
Following this I have never had any mineral build up or signs of oxidation.

It also eliminates any chances of nicking the razor on the spout.

I would suspect some residue of soap providing a place for moisture to lurk or atmospheric moisture to be absorbed. First, I would try to keep some oil or grease in the part always covered by the scales, and in the pin-hole. Water-pump grease or the kind sold for outboard motors, in squeezy tubes, would be best.

I would also wash it in the hottest water your scale material can stand. The boiling-point of water is less than half the number of degrees that can affect the hardening of a razor, and nobody can make water any hotter than that in an open vessel.

Remember that a substance is only guaranteed for its intended purpose. The Japanese do indeed preserve some extremely valuable sword-blades with camelia or clove oil, and it works. But if it is sold on (or has passed through) the market for aromatherapy, dental analgesia or whatever, it may contain substances that are harmful to steel. My own preference for preserving steel is car gear oil. It is thicker than some, and so has less tendency to bead under surface tension, and it comes without the detergents and other additives present in engine oils.

I'd also be wary of mixing oils etc., and especially animal or vegetable with mineral. Obviously the case deighaingeal mentions, beeswax with mineral oil, is one that works. But others mightn't.

Thank you to all those that have replied, very much appreciated.

I thought I dried the blade very well even rubbing paper towels through the scales, stropping the blade to clean up the edge and coating in a considerable amount of oil before wiping away the excess and closing it up and storing it in a moisture wicking sleeve.

But perhaps of course I may have not have dried it completely before coating it in oil and I never thought of moisture may be trapped between the oil and the steel but maybe there was some moisture there. I thought I was very meticulous in drying the razor so perhaps it was moisture seeping out like steam from the wooden scales when in storage?

I might try and store the blade open from the scales and between some soft cloth to make sure there is no moisture trapping between the wooden scales and the blade that is evaporating out between uses.

Also I may be over rinsing the blade after use and I guess there is no need to holding it under a full velocity waterfall for a great length of time and just give it a mild rinse before drying and stropping.

I may give the razor a very mild anti wax polish today to see if I can clean it up a little.

If I am coating the blade in thicker oil as some of you have suggested how do I remove the oil from the steel before shaving? I can see the tang sliding around between my fingers and taking skin off in the process.

Thanks again.

I use rice bran oil and just run the blade under the hot tap (which is pretty bloody hot!) prior to stropping.
Of course, I dry the blade and scales on a microfibre cloth as well, both before stropping and after shaving, prior to oiling it.
I think that the blade being hot alo helps to dry it off. I don't have wooden scales though.
Cheers,
Geoff

Originally Posted by planetocean

Thank you to all those that have replied, very much appreciated.

I thought I dried the blade very well even rubbing paper towels through the scales, stropping the blade to clean up the edge and coating in a considerable amount of oil before wiping away the excess and closing it up and storing it in a moisture wicking sleeve.

But perhaps of course I may have not have dried it completely before coating it in oil and I never thought of moisture may be trapped between the oil and the steel but maybe there was some moisture there. I thought I was very meticulous in drying the razor so perhaps it was moisture seeping out like steam from the wooden scales when in storage?

I might try and store the blade open from the scales and between some soft cloth to make sure there is no moisture trapping between the wooden scales and the blade that is evaporating out between uses.

Also I may be over rinsing the blade after use and I guess there is no need to holding it under a full velocity waterfall for a great length of time and just give it a mild rinse before drying and stropping.

I may give the razor a very mild anti wax polish today to see if I can clean it up a little.

If I am coating the blade in thicker oil as some of you have suggested how do I remove the oil from the steel before shaving? I can see the tang sliding around between my fingers and taking skin off in the process.

Thanks again.

It sounds like you're doing a pretty good job of making sure everything is dry. I find it hard to believe that there would be enough moisture evaporating from the scales to cause this kind of oxidation. But, two thoughts come to mind as I read your routine...

You wipe off excess oil...how? I don't put on excess oil when I use a q-tip to apply mine there's just a thin coat on the blade that I leave alone until it's time to strop. It may be possible that you're removing too much oil, or depositing an oil breaking chemical on the blade as you wipe off the excess (any soap residue on the rag you use could be responsible for this).

Second, WHERE do you store your razors? My house has central air and stays fairly dry year round, but I keep my razors on my dresser in my room, not in the bathroom where kids bathing and showers, etc. keep the room fairly humid. You may have a "moisture wicking" sleeve, but a dry box with or w/o a silica pack may work better for you.

Peace,
Jim

P.S.>>>I'd try a light metal polish like Mothers' on the back side of the blade to see if it would remove the spots, before moving on to see if it would work on the front side with the gold wash. BOL!

Hi, Thanks for the reply,

I remove the excess oil from the blade just with some paper tissues, there has been so much oil dripping off the blade I just give it a bit of a wipe down leaving a thinner coat and store the razor in top of one of my cupboards were it is dry and away from moisture such as the bathroom.

I recoated and polished my razor with clear mineral oil today and left it on some paper tissues opened out and on a windowsill in the sun (not a hot day this side of the hemisphere this time of year, just in the sunlight) with a good layer of oil and when I checked it in several hours after sunset it looked so much better. I rubbed the clear oil away and continued rubbing to polish it up and so I could clearly see in what condition it was and it looked good and I thought the sunlight must have broken down any foreign matter. I shaved with it and dried it well on paper tissues and I thought it looked really good as it was so shinny and reflective with all my buffing.

However as soon as I held it under a bright light it is in exactly the same condition as per my photos.

Hmmm maybe the trick is not to hold it under a bright light source and I can kid myself it looks fantastic.