Messy razor help.

My 2 week old carbon steel razor is developing surface blemishes on the blade and lines radiating upwards and out from the edge. I thought I treated my razor very well, I rinse it in cold water after use and dry it thoroughly and then pretty much immerse it in camellia oil but as of tonight I have purchased some mineral/paraffin oil. I leave a coating of oil on it between each use so I am surprised to see these imperfections. I do not know if this is normal wear and tear and therefore expected or not, but the blade is certainly losing its mirror finish rapidly and even the tang is not looking at it’s best. Under a bright halogen globe at a certain angle the razor is looking a right mess. :(

Perhaps someone could tell me what these blemishes are caused from and how I could eliminate them and how can I protect the gold wash from disappearing if I am continually rubbing it to try and get rid of theses unwanted markings?

Thank you.

Your problem just might be the cold water rinse is not washing away all the gunk. It might look clean, but I would bet it isn"t. Try polishing it lightly with a gentle polish, and the next time you shave use hot water (steaming) to wash it off. Towell dry and then let stay open while you get dressed. At that point, you should lightly oil, not totally wet with oil. A light film is fine. I think this will stop the staining. Best Regards and Happy Shaving, wildhog

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.

What gentle polish are you referring to, what kind of polish do you recommend?

Thanks.

Here is a photo of my razor under a bright light so it really shows the detail of the staining.

I just used warm soapy water and a soft tooth brush and very hot water rinse but the markings still remain.

Attachment 73645

Quote:

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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.

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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.

Attachment 73647Attachment 73648Attachment 73649

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.

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

Quote:

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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.

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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.