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Thread: How did my blade rust?

  1. #21
    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    Quote Originally Posted by nun2sharp View Post
    Nope, not ever.

    Simply wipe the soap and whiskers off on a dry cloth.
    Just a thought but,may be enough animal fat content in tallow soaps to act as a rust enhibitor,Interesting.

  2. #22
    what Dad calls me nun2sharp's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pixelfixed View Post
    Just a thought but,may be enough animal fat content in tallow soaps to act as a rust enhibitor,Interesting.
    There may be some truth to that, but my point is that if the blade does not get wet you dont have to worry so much. Keep it away from the faucet and you will also avoid the dings that inevitably happen.
    cpcohen1945 likes this.
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  3. #23
    Senior Member blabbermouth niftyshaving's Avatar
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    Watch out for alcohol.
    Alcohol will remove oil and expose the
    steel to oxygen.

    When the shave is done, rinse in hot
    water and wipe with clean tissue or
    a clean towel. Watch out for water
    that gets caught between the scales.
    If there is any use a fold of tissue to
    get it out from between.

    Many old razors have a bad spot
    of corrosion where the razor touches
    the scales near the toe. This is because
    water gets caught there and over time
    corrosion develops.

    Lightly oil with special attention
    to the pivot.

    Alcohol pulls water out of the air,
    it cleans oil from steel and other than
    the disinfectant component has
    little value and needs to be wiped
    off before oil is applied. Adding oil
    before the alcohol is 100% gone might
    trap alcohol and moisture under the
    oil.

    I am a big fan of letting a light patina develop.
    I will wipe and dry my blades with common
    tissue after shaving. I will use a water displacement
    spray and then light oil after honing and before
    storage. Should the patina get too thick I use
    MAAS or Simichrome to brighten up my steel
    should it get too dull.

  4. #24
    The Great & Powerful Oz onimaru55's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by EucrisBoy View Post
    Eventually, I would apply alcohol before then dry off, then apply the mineral oil. I found that when I did that once, a few days later I saw a huge brown streak on the razor like someone had smeared chocolate/rust colored stuff, but I couldn't get it to come off so I got rid of the razor and am now getting a new one. What happened and how can I prevent it from happening again?
    As has been mentioned alcohol contains & attracts water. A bottle of 90% alcohol contains approx. 10% water. That razor was simply not as dry as you thought.
    Also, some carbon steels rust quicker than others. Limiting water contact during the shave as Nun2 suggested may also help.
    “The white gleam of swords, not the black ink of books, clears doubts and uncertainties and bleak outlooks.”

  5. #25
    Senior Member TURNMASTER's Avatar
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    Can I have your next rusty razor??

    Reread what Ray said. Both fingerprints and alcohol are corrosive. Mineral oil is not, but may trap water next to the steel.

    Jeff

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  7. #26
    Senior Member RayCover's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TURNMASTER View Post
    Can I have your next rusty razor??

    Reread what Ray said. Both fingerprints and alcohol are corrosive. Mineral oil is not, but may trap water next to the steel.

    Jeff
    Thanks Jeff,

    Some oils are water displacing. That is what the WD in WD-40 stands for. These oils will get between the water and the steel displacing the water. Most simple oils like mineral oil or 3in1 float on top of water and water base liquids trapping them against the steel. That's why it is so important to make sure the steel is completely dry before you oil it. If it is not dry and you oil it whatever moisture is there will be trapped.

    Most WD oils I know if are pretty funky compounds and need a solvent to completely remove them. There probably not the kind of stuff you would want to use on a razor.

    JMHO,

    Ray

  8. #27
    Senior Member sheajohnw's Avatar
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    Default Rusting Prevention

    I thought I was being careful but had a water stain start on one of my razors between the scales and shank at the pivot. Fortunately, it polished off with a green 3M pad and Flitz. Since that experience, I have been very careful to never let water get onto the razor pivot and shank area and to keep the lather off my fingers holding the razor.

    I rinse lather off my blades using hot running water with the blade point always facing downward followed by wiping off water drops and any residue with a towel. When done shaving, I hold the blade under the hot water longer to get it heated and then wipe dry. I carefully inspect the area between the scales and pivot for any possible water drops before leaving the bathroom.

    Immediately after leaving the bathroom, I strop my edge on leather about 20 - 30 times and wipe the blade and scales, including between the scales, with a cloth oily with camellia oil. I also keep my pivot oiled with camellia oil. Mineral oil should work fine. I also periodically wax my blades and scales using Renaissance Wax.

    So far, no further rust or spotting issues.

    Before shaving, I wipe the oily blade with a dry cloth and strop on latigo another 30 passes.

    Keeping water out of the pivot and between the scales, and keeping the blade and pivot covered with a protective anti rust coating are the critical factors. Having an effective means of drying the pivot area is important but keeping water out of this area is best. Just like with fine knives and firearms, always wipe off finger prints after handling your razors as skin salts and oils promote rusting.

    I store my razors in my bedroom between uses to keep them safe from moist air condensation and children.

    Highly rated rust preventative gun oils could give added protection from rust.

    HTH
    Last edited by sheajohnw; 12-11-2011 at 04:48 PM.

  9. #28
    Senior Member xMackx's Avatar
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    I did an experiment for school (8th grade) with iron nails in differnet liquids. The jars sat for 6 weeks. I thought the tap water, which is our well water run through a Culligan water softener and a cholination set up, would rust the iron nail more than the isopropyl alcohol, but I was wrong.

    Why would the alcohol create more rust than tap water?

    Answer
    Water is what I would describe as a stable compound in terms of its physical properties. Over a pretty wide temperature range (0-100C) there really isn't a lot going on and it stays almost exclusiviely in the liquid phase. Isopropyl alcohol on the other hand is a lot less stable. Even at temperature in the range of the liquid phase, you have quite a bit of evaporation, as I'm sure you could smell. Both compound contain oxygen, so both will cause the nails to rust (oxidize). But due to increased kinetic energy in the alcohol (what is causing this evaporation to happen), chemical reactions are going to happen at an increased rate. Therefore, the alcohol will increase the rate of oxidation, leading to more rust.

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  11. #29
    Senior Member blabbermouth niftyshaving's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xMackx View Post
    I did an experiment for school (8th grade) with iron nails in differnet liquids. The jars sat for 6 weeks. I thought the tap water, which is our well water run through a Culligan water softener and a cholination set up, would rust the iron nail more than the isopropyl alcohol, but I was wrong.

    Why would the alcohol create more rust than tap water?


    ....
    Thanks for the experiment!

    An additional conclusion is that the alcohol cleans the lubrication that
    is necessary to pull the steel wire and form the nails.

    If you handle a lot of nails you will feel the grease (at least I have).

    I have sanded razors with water, alcohol and WD-40.
    The alcohol rusts the fastest, the water next and WD-40
    keeps the steel bright for a week.

    In the case of alcohol I have seen rust form in 10 min.
    It is thin and rubs off with MAAS or even oiled tissue.
    I never let it stay rusty overnight.

    Why alcohol... I wanted the disinfectant property
    on a very old nasty crusty blade. I also sanded with
    bleach on this crustified blade... talk about rust... OH my.
    Last edited by niftyshaving; 12-12-2011 at 06:51 AM.

  12. #30
    The Knight who says NI! mcgyver74's Avatar
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    Well i've started lightly spraying the pivots of the razor's with WD 40 after use now (IN addition to drying and stropping etc)...Hopefully that helps

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