I have 3 razors I'm just starting to clean up and restore a bit. They are, I think, in reasonably good shape with a little bit of rust. I dropped all 3, scales and all, in a container with Evapo-Rust for about 24 hours to try to remove the rust. When I removed them from the Evapo-Rust, I rinsed each under running water for a few minutes, used a tooth brush to brush off anything loose, dried off with a towel and dipped in 70% alcohol and let dry. Then I covered the blades with camilla oil to protect them.

I smell the scales on my razors on a regular basis to see if any scales might have cell rot, and I smelled these before dropping in the Evapo-Rust - no smell like camphor on any of the 3. After taking the 3 out of the Evapo-Rust, rinsing and dipping in the alcohol, I could smell a fairly strong camphor odor (kind of like Vicks Vapo-Rub). The scales on one of the razors (George Butler Rapid Razor) had a very strong smell and the other 2 razors (Filarmonica 12 and Otto Busch Worldmaster) had a weak smell. After I applied the oil to the blades, I let them sit for a bit, separated in open air. After about 20 minutes, I smelled them again and could not pick up the scent on the Filamonica or Busch but I could smell the odor on the Butler but it was strongest near the wedge and very faint at the other end.

I have no experience dealing with cell rot. What I've read is, usually, there is a camphor like scent coming from the scales. Maybe it's the wedge on the Butler or maybe its the wedge and scales on the Butler.

Everything I've read about Evapo-Rust is that it's safe for razors and scales. Is it possible that the Evapo-Rust bath can accelerate cell rot on scales? Has anyone heard of any reaction like this following an Evapo-Rust bath?

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