Light razor restoration, Removal of stains and water marks ect

Hi guys

I noticed something today when i was stropping a razor that i thought i would share, seems as i haven't seen anyone else mention it on here.

So today i was stropping a razor which has quite a bit of water staining on it because i live in a area with hard water, the razor is a Muhle rm30 which stains very easily even if i dry it after use and strop it then oil it the next time i use it voila water marks ;(

So this razor hadn't been used in a while so i thought i would strop it on a pasted strop (red dovo paste, block) to get the edge back. after doing so i noticed that the spine that was in contact with the strop was polished and had no staining on it. So this got me thinking as it is basically an abrasive paste maybe it would work on everywhere else. So i put some tension on my strop and polished up the spine nicely rolling it from side to side in a stropping action, so i proceeded on to the hollow ground faces and polished it up nicely too. 45 minutes and a lot of elbow grease later the razor looks basically the same as when i got it. Result!!!

No need for sand paper or anything like that, and providing you don't catch the fin also completely shaveable afterwards too.

All i used was:
A face cloth, a few pieces of tissue, an old single sided leather strop and some dovo paste.

If anyone wants to try this with their razors please let me know how it pans out *WARNING*: an abrasive paste will strip any etching or gold plating so be carefull!

I have a few I will try this with. What micron did you use? .25? .5? Ect.

I believe the red is 2-4 micron and the black is 1-2 micron. I am also using the paste blocks not the tubes as the tubes didnt seem as effective!

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Originally Posted by Danktt

I believe the red is 2-4 micron and the black is 1-2 micron. I am also using the paste blocks not the tubes as the tubes didnt seem as effective!

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You are basically correct about the micron size.........

I would recommend not doing that with your strop, because you don't want excessive metal build up on the strop, but the idea of using the paste is sound.

Various buffing compounds use the same abrasives as various stropping compounds.

Yup. Stropping compound is little more than a high QC buffing compound. The abrasive will polish off light staining. I would suggest doing that on a buffing wheel or rub some compound on a microfiber cloth and use it to polish the blade and not use your strop for that.

I'm not particularly fussed about the strop as it was the one i used when it was learning to strop and its pretty beat up, so its just thrown in a drawer i dont use my daily strop for this process as its far too nice to waste :P

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Originally Posted by holli4pirating

I would recommend not doing that with your strop, because you don't want excessive metal build up on the strop, but the idea of using the paste is sound.

Various buffing compounds use the same abrasives as various stropping compounds.

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Well if anyone else on this forum is like me I'm on kinda a tight budget now, so i don't really have the funds to drop into a buffing wheel :( so i was thinking of a way to get the same results but on a shoe string budget as most of the guys i know who straight shave are in the same boat.

maybe i should have mentioned a strop you no longer plan on using..

What I just did was take a Q-tip and load it with CrOx off my balsa strop and then used the Q-tip to buff away the tarnish and staining near the edge and after about 3 minutes BOOM! Worked like a charm. Very good tip (pun not intended this time). I will be "spot cleaning" my razors like this from time to time. Thanks.

Its so much easier using abrasive paste than sand paper isnt it? i just kick myself for not noticing it sooner! :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steel

What I just did was take a Q-tip and load it with CrOx off my balsa strop and then used the Q-tip to buff away the tarnish and staining near the edge and after about 3 minutes BOOM! Worked like a charm. Very good tip (pun not intended this time). I will be "spot cleaning" my razors like this from time to time. Thanks.

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Try a paper towel and a 4mm foam pad from a craft store. Paper towels are slightly abrasive and hold paste and polish well.

The pressures from your finger and the paper towel will depress the edge into the foam and you can polish right up to the edge, without any danger of cutting yourself or damaging the edge.