Thread: Steel Wool for cleaning old blades?

Can anyone comment on using steel wool to clean old straight razor blades (spine, tang, side of blade)?

I have an old Wester Bros (German) 5/8 that belonged to my grandfather. I am not sure of its age. Given that he died (young) in 1917, I suspect it to be on the order of 90 years, plus or minus a few. The razor is in the original box.

The blade looks in surprisingly good condition IMHO (I have not tried to shave with it). There is some rust on the spine and the tang and what I think are rust spots on the sides of the blade although I am not sure whether it is rust or stain spots.

I am wondering if a fine grade of steel wool would be a good way to get the blade cleaned up?

The edge, BTW, does not appear to be pitted and there are no nicks visible at 60X magnification with a Radio Shack microscope. Given the age of this razor, I am surprised it is in as good a condition, overall, as it appears to be.

Comments and recommendations would be appreciated.

Steel wool in theory would work, but in practice it gets caught on every thing it possible can on the razor.....

Most of us use either wet-r dry sandpaper in grits ranging from 120-2500, or buffing compounds, some of us use both....

I use Flitz metal polish . You might be surprized at how well it works . What the Flitz doesn't take care of , the Scotch Brite will .

Before using any steel wool I would first try any of the liquid polishing creams.
Also the turtle wax green bottle rubbing compounds can do wonders with a dremel and felt wheel. If you want to use steel wool I would start with the 0000 superfine or 000 ultra fine myself.

Yeah.. flitz or MAAS could probably help out quite a bit... any pictures of this razor in question?

I've actually used some super-fine steel wool to help polish up a razor, but it's not the most convenient. I favour using sandpaper, but most recently have really taken a liking to using a dremel for restoration and polishing.

A little ball from aluminium foil would work something off as well.

Originally Posted by dave5225

I use Flitz metal polish . You might be surprized at how well it works . What the Flitz doesn't take care of , the Scotch Brite will .

I was wondering if any one used scotch brite.

Thanks for the input and suggestions!

I bought some MAAS paste in a 2 oz. tube today at Ace Hardware. It worked well to clean and brighten up the blades on my two straight razors.

I am going to try using the Wester Bros. tonight and see how it perfoms atfter an unknown number of years. I am not expecting it to do well, but the blade still has an edge with some degree of sharpness and a clear bevel.