Thread: Don asks "Where do you keep your blade?"

I have in the past kept de blades in a small tin filled with talc. Place the blade give a little shake to coat then seal it up. Rinse before next use. Now a days I so rarely use a de that when I do I just toss the blade or use it a couple days in a row.

I've never done anything other than leave blades in my DEs and my Feather SS. I've never had any issues and seem to get lots of shaves out of them.

I have a few DEs I use maybe 1x a month or less and leave blades in them and have never seen any rust on the blades. For most of us with stainless blades and the coatings they have and the number of shaves you get from each I wouldn't worry about any rust.

Originally Posted by Morty

It seems to me that one of the purposes of the slick coatings added to DE blades at the factory after they are honed is to keep moisture and oxygen away from that very fine edge to minimize the corrosion that will damage the edge separately from using it. (But I could be wrong.) ;-)

You could very well be right Morty, but another reason they coat DE blades is to fill in the scratches left by machine honing. It's why they feel so "sharp & smooth", but as soon as the coating wears down the edge goes south soon afterward.

Good night all

I remember in University that on some catalitic microreactors, of a friend of mine in his Master degree, his adviser (the guy with the PhD who helped him to obtain the degree) recommend him to polish the catalyst. In this case the catalyst was a plate of steel. I did not remember which kind, but looked like 304L.

The explanation was that on a polished surface (microscopically this is a microabrasion and microscratches), the atoms can interact better than the regular surface of the grain. So the reason to coat the blades are both valid to avoid oxidation according to my knowledge, to fill the scratches (which slows the interaction=oxidation), and provide a barrier to prevent contact with the atmosphere (which contains oxygen).

From this also we can infere that the sharpest the razor the quicker it will interact with the atmosphere and oxidize.

And I believe, that the coat of alcohol works because is alkaline (the opposite to acid) they have an excess of electrons in solution (OH-). Since oxidation is by definition the element who lose electrons. It is not probable that the metal give his electrons in an already saturated solution with electrons. Therefore it will not oxidaze or the rate of oxidation will be slower.

I hope this information is useful to everyone, take care.

I only use mine twice. I gently dry with a bath towel (dabbing) then wrap back in the waxy wrapper, then turn the outside printed wrapper inside out and wrap the blade in that. I then put it back in its box in the drawer where the rest of them live, in my bedroom. Turning the outside wrapper inside out allows me to know it's been used once. I then throw it away after the next shave. I generally use a DE only once a week at the most (straights the other days), so the blade remains there for maybe two or three weeks (if I rotate brands for interest)...

I usually get 4-5 shaves out of my feathers, over the course of 3 weeks. The other days I use my straights.

My routine is to rinse with hot tap water and blow off most of the moisture. Then I lay the razor on it side (so the edges face east west), resting on the wooden box my feather SS came in.

I've never had a problem with rust or quickly dulling blades and I have very hard water. I've thought of the alcohol thing before but I've already taken over much of the bathroom with my gear, SWMBO would probably have a hard time with a little jar of DE's bobbling around also

I once came across some old original user instructions somewhere, and they said to never touch the blade until it's time to change it, so I've always left it in & never had any isuues with it.