Thread: Rust.

I've gotten ebay razors with pitting and general "dirty looking" issues and been able to sand them off.

Is rust generally a different order of problem, or is it just as easy as pitting to sand off? I'm debating whether to buy a rusted razor, and trying to sort out whether a rusted razor is likely to have nothering left underneath, or whether it is just as savable as a not overly pitted razor.

i use citric acid powder / granules (available from the pharmacy), to remove rust. a desert spoon full of the stuff in a junk food carton, with warm water. leave it in there for a day or so and then rinse it all off well. the blade is now black, but all the rust is gone. the black residue will polish of easily enough. this process will not remove pitting, but the rust is definately gone. i use it for tools as well. rust is not as bad as pitting.....!!!!!!!!
good luck,

mark........

Rust is always a mystery as to what you will find underneath......
The easiest way of getting rid of it at first, is a small corn razor or a blade like it, and just scrape it off there... Now what lies under the rust is anyones guess....

It's funny that you should mention this... I had the same dilemma 2 hours ago! I bought one of those ebay specials and decided to start sanding it. It was really rusty... but the rust sanded off really nicely and under it I found a minor amount of pitting. Nothing special, really... I was really satisfied. The razor is in good shape and has the potential of a great shaver, I think. But it's always a gamble I suppose: you can have a rusty razor with virtually no pitting under the rust or, in the other hand, a razor with horrid pitting under the rust. But all that is part of the fun... it's a gamble!
Have fun! That's the best part of picking up razors and restoring them to their full potential!

Originally Posted by nurse42312

i use citric acid powder / granules *snip*

I used Coca-Cola once with similar results. I'd probably try it again before I really recommended it, but I don't know how much difference there would be. Coke is very acidic, and turned the blade black as well.
J.

*edit* The rust on that razor cleaned off pretty well, but the pitting underneath was pretty bad. I wouldn't mind the pitting so much, but there's some on and near the edge, and I don't know if that razor will ever be usable.

Originally Posted by jfreaksho

I used Coca-Cola once with similar results. I'd probably try it again before I really recommended it, but I don't know how much difference there would be. Coke is very acidic, and turned the blade black as well.
J.

*edit* The rust on that razor cleaned off pretty well, but the pitting underneath was pretty bad. I wouldn't mind the pitting so much, but there's some on and near the edge, and I don't know if that razor will ever be usable.

Mine has some pitting on the edge too... but it also has some minor nicks that will be honed off when I establish a bevel... I hope! Funny thing is... razors are indeed sharp! This one after some sanding is cutting paper better than my pocket knife!
I know, I know... do not use a razor to cut paper! and I don't... this one is the exception and I did it only to see how sharp it was!

You can also use oxalic acid to remove rust. It basically eats the rust away but you need to use a highly dilute solution.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

You can also use oxalic acid to remove rust. It basically eats the rust away but you need to use a highly dilute solution.

Can you recommend a ratio of acid to water & does it blacken the blade like Phosphoric acid ?

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

You can also use oxalic acid to remove rust. It basically eats the rust away but you need to use a highly dilute solution.

where do you get oxalic acid?

You can get it from some hobby type stores and some hardware stores. Alot of metal fabricators use it to clean the metal. As far as dilution goes if you use too much it won't blacken the metal but will leave a very dull finish. Well maybe if you have a concentrated solution it may darken the metal.It doesn't polish or clean the metal just dissolve the rust. You just want to start out with a small amount and slowly increase until you get the result you want depending on how big a job you have so that will determine the mixture.