Thread: Camelia oil. Look at the result:

　
I use Camelia oil to store the razors that will not be used for several months and I do it to prevent oxidation.

This razor was honed, cleaned and dried. After that Camelia oil was passed at the surface of the metal with my finger. The razor was stored for about 6 months. Today I gave a look to the razor to see if more oil should be added and I found it in this situation:










　
　
It is full of rust! Even on the edge. And there is minimum trace of the oil itself.
Camelia oil offered no protection at all in this razor. It may even harmed the razor.


Now I am thinking of cleaning this rust out using some metal cleaning solvents and a dremel.

Any advice or comment is welcome.
　



I will not use again Camalia oil for razor protection. Enough! I will switch to Ballistol.

Isolate this razor from all the others NOW!!!

YOU HAVE CELL ROT!

What shooter said

To be honest, I don't oil my razors as it seems to me they rust more readily. I live in a house that is anything but dry and I just store my razors in the open on a shelf where I know that my family wont spill water on them. As for me anyway storing them in the open as seemed to work best.

I store mine in a drawer away from the bathroom with no oil, no Renaissance Wax or anything. I get them out every four months or so, wipe them gently with toilet paper and have never had a hint of rust or any degradation of the edge.

Scales undergoing cell rot decomposition emit highly corrosive acid gas that will rust any nearby steel. No protective coating can be trusted.

I would trust a good gun oil over carmelia oil (Woodcraft) for long term storage, but I use carmelia oil sold for knife and edged tool protection on carbon blades after shaving.

I have not tried Ballistol, but it is often recommended.

HTH

Sorry to see that ,and it is a Herder too.
That being said I have had razors stored with Ballistol for more than a year and are fine.

I have to agree. That looks like cell rot. I would replace the scales.

Cell rot???

What is that?


Please don’t give links to read for the rest of the week






What should I do to treat the razor?


And yes mainaman, it was a beautiful Herder

Best thing now to do is get the blade away from those scales, NOW, so they need de-pinned. The blade may be able to be saved, but you will loose the etching. New scales, a bit of restoration & you can use it again...but it's like a surgery to us, it will have scars most likely. Cell rot can get any of us who have celluloid scaled vintage razors & thankfully/hopefully you found it with a restorable blade still there.

Did I happen to mention getting the blade away from the scales & any other razors?

"Cell rot" is the gaseous decomposition of celluloid scales. The gas given off is very caustic & as you see it will destroy steel rather quickly. There is no "fixing it", it just happens as the scales get older. I've heard that it's not a matter of "if", but "when" celluloid scales decide to start decomposing.