Thread: Tarnish on the tang - removal and prevention? Advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hey all - I've done a few searches, and all basically say use some Maas to remove tarnish and baby oil to prevent future tarnish. It's decent advice, and I plan to go out once I finish this post to get some Maas to see if that will clean it up. That said, I still have a few questions, and hope you guys can help.

First off - Will tarnish actually harm the steel over time if I leave it there? Honestly, it doesn't bother me a ton (though I'd rather prevent it if I can) - and if it'll clean off easily should I ever choose to sell, then great. If it's easily preventable however, and I'm missing something, so much the better.

I never get the tang / pivot wet, and rarely the blade. When shaving, I wipe soap on a towel and don't rinse with water between passes. At the end I may use a damp piece of tissue to clean up the blade before drying. Razors are not stored in the bathroom. I've had no issues with stains / tarnish on the my blades (and haven't been oiling them), only the tang where I'm gripping. So I'm thinking it's natural oils from my skin causing the tarnish, is this possible? As well, when I strop, I grip the flat sides of the tang, for me it's a more comfortable grip, so I'm thinking if the cause is oils from my skin, that's when it's happening (placement of the tarnish seems to agree).


Will Maas harm either color inlays on the tang, or the manufacturers engravings themselves (just Maas on a q-tip or rag, obviously any kind of grinding will remove metal)? If I'm forced to periodically polish up the tangs, I don't want to slowly wipe away the markings (or damage / remove color inlays within those markings).

Has anyone had luck with oils outside baby oil? I have both Rem Oil and Break Free clp for guns - would either of these work better? Will any of these oils harms scales?

Thanks for reading - so many of you keep such clean looking razors, and I'm trying to do the same - any help would be great!