Thread: Disinfecting / Sanitizing

Looks like rust. To clean the scales and the razor without unpinning, spray the whole thing with WD40 especially between the scales and let sit for a few minutes.

Then clip off the end of a wooden coffee stir sick with a pair of dikes and scrape the gunk off the inside of the scales with the straight tip. Spray down again and wrap the stir stick with a paper towel and scrub between the scales. This will remove 90 percent of the soap rust and crud.

Then use pipe cleaners, flattened Qtips and dental floss to get the rest, more WD 40 and paper towel wrapped stir stick stir stick to remove the residue. Wrap the stir stick and spray the towel with Simple Green to remove the oil.

You can never get to the rust in the pivot hole with anything unless you unpin the razor, but you can get them pretty clean if you take your time.

A rotary Dremel Ez473sa Spiral Detail Abrasive Brush will clean the tang between the scales, the maroon ones are good for removing rust, finer grits will polish. You can buy an assortment for about $15.

Back in the early days of the Aids out break we were advised to wash our blood contaminated equipment with a 10% bleach solution. We never had a contamination issue by doing so.

Be careful using Alcohol on plastic and Celluloid scales, it can melt them.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Looks like rust. To clean the scales and the razor without unpinning, spray the whole thing with WD40 especially between the scales and let sit for a few minutes.

Then clip off the end of a wooden coffee stir sick with a pair of dikes and scrape the gunk off the inside of the scales with the straight tip.

Hi, I don't want to sound thick but I am from England and I'm sure we called them something else but what are dikes?

Steve

Okay, he got back to me quicker than I expected. Of course his input comes from a medical standpoint and not from someone who knows things about straight razors or how they are constructed. I'll tell you what he said and I think there's a very important point in here that should be made as a general blanket statement. I'm big enough to admit when I've mispoken and I'll use myself as an example here. One thing I really hate which I see in forums is that people will state things like they are experts when in reality they don't know what they are talking about. Apparently it is easier than it appears because I have done it, not just making it up like Cliff the mailman from Cheers but pulling from memory about a conversation which was either a miscommunication or I don't remember correctly. Perhaps I have gotten it mixed up with another conversation or something I read. Whatever the case I have spoken incorrecty on the matter.

I also took this time to ask him more directly because I have a family member who had hep C and has been treated and cured. His doctor told him get rid of your toothbrushes and razors but I believe that that is likely thinking about cartridge razors which are constructed a little differently from straight razors. I'll quote his replies
"Sterilize 'em. Boil em. Then apply alcohol." "Use new toothbrush" then adds "what does his Dr. say?" "Do what he was told." That's what I would expect a doctor to say. Since he hasn't seen him and can't speak to specifics it's only right to follow what his doctor said. He also asked how much they cost and I told them that razors can be $200 or more for a new one. Since it is clear now that I am not recalling our conversation correctly I told him that I buy used ones that have likely not been used for a very long time. I said I don't know how long things can live on a surface like this and that I dip them in alcohol and let it dry on the blade. This is my recollection of what he told me but I didn't say that.
"I would think that boil it, then applying Clorox soak then alcohol would sterilize old blades. May be corrosive. You may want to Google sterilizing straight razors to confirm best technique." I replied that, as I stated just previously that there are a lot of opinions and sometimes people speak like their experts when they don't really know what they're talking about.
"Gotcha. Hospitals have to sterilize instruments daily. Chemical cleaning is considered inferior to steam pressure sterilization. Would boil at least once. I don't think that exact survivability data exists for hep C. But the boil, Clorox, alcohol procedure at least once would likely work." "When sterilizing surgical instruments, they have to be cleaned first with no crud or scale on them first. No rust." "Exact survivability data over time does not exist. Hope that helps."
My sincerest apologies for anything I have said that has been inaccurate. As I stated earlier that is a sore spot for me which is why I am so quick to throw myself under the bus. Let's all continue to do this for each other because accuracy is important and I would expect nothing less for myself.
Edit: let me add my thanks to schwabenchris for calling me on that. Rest assured I will be more careful in future.

I have been considering this:

PREempt Cs20 Sterilant and High-Level Disinfectant for Medical Devices and instruments.

https://www.amazon.ca/PREempt-Steril...ct_top?ie=UTF8

It's not the cheapest and you need to wear gloves because apparently it is corrosive to skin so don't know what it would do to scales but it is harmless to metal it says.

I am guessing that it might be good for sterilizing a blade during restoration before the scales are added.

Steve

Originally Posted by STF

Hi, I don't want to sound thick but I am from England and I'm sure we called them something else but what are dikes?

Steve

Diagonal cutters. Used primarily for cutting wire. The shape allows close cutting.

Well I know what I'm having for lunch

Originally Posted by bluesman7

Diagonal cutters.

Oh, side cutters, thank you.

I still get tripped up after 16 years in Canada.

Car Boot = Trunk
Car Bonnet = Hood
Spanner = Wrench
Molegrips = Vice Wrench

Don't know why you had to change the names of everything here, was it just to annoy me and why can't I get a decent beer, everything has to go in the fridge here. And don't get me started on the fish and chips

I used to go into the dollar store to get a birthday card and give them a Dollar, I always forgot that tax got added. In England the tax (VAT) was added to the sticker price.


Steve

(I am only joking, I love it here and I think all North Americans are lovely people)

Maybe they do that in England also but here in America at least another oddity in speech is using the brand name for an item as the generic name like Band-Aid, Jello, Coke. Specifically related to this conversation Kleins is used as the generic for lineman's pliers similar to the way vice grip is used as the generic for locking pliers.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Maybe they do that in England also but here in America at least another oddity in speech is using the brand name for an item as the generic name like Band-Aid, Jello, Coke. Specifically related to this conversation Kleins is used as the generic for lineman's pliers similar to the way vice grip is used as the generic for locking pliers.

England has Plasters, Jelly, Coke and Hoover but I don't know what a line man is.

Steve

Originally Posted by STF

England has Plasters, Jelly, Coke and Hoover but I don't know what a line man is.

Steve

People who work on electrical or telephone poles