Thread: Messy razor help.

Originally Posted by planetocean

Thanks for your reply.

The reason I used cold water as I thought hot water and in particular steaming hot water would cause the razor to lose some hardening?

But that was only my theory.

Thanks.

you do not have water that hot as to damage the temper of the steel.
Also Camelia oils will work just fine for preservation of the blade, it is used a lot in Japan for coating carbon steel blades. I do think your problem is the storage of the blade.

What kind of razor do you have and what kind of condition was it in when received?

It was brand new Wacker 5/8 in sliver steel. Really not sure how I managed to get these stains with all the Camilla oil and caring for and so on.

So can they be polished carefully away?

Thanks.

If it's a good blade, is the towel you use to dry it clean? Might there be something on the towel, either from use, or from detergent, or fabric softener, that would be left on the blade after drying and therefore under the coating of oil you use for protection?

It's a pitty that a mirror blade would end up looking like that when you appear to be taking every precaution to preserve it.

Best of Luck,
Jim

it's hard to tell from those pictures what are the blemishes. if they're deposits from hard water should be pretty easy to get rid of. if they're oxidation (what i'd put my money on) that means you're leaving moisture on the blade. common mistake is to leave water trapped in between the scales.
air drying the razor before it's closed it essential, just wiping it on a towel isn't enough.

For the polish, I use Mothers but Maas and Turtle Polish (not wax) work fine also. I do use wax on the blade after it dries, but won"t use the wax but every month or so. The wax I use is Renaissance. This is for razors in use. Razors that aren"t being used, but stored, don"t need waxing very often. Just a light film of oil, I use mineral oil. Best, wildhog

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.