Thread: Keeping a straight with gold inlays looking good?

Hello,

I have two straights, a Dovo with a gold inlayed spine and the 'silver steel' logo imprinted on it, and a G-Stahl. Well, I take some Semi-chrome to my Stahl and it looks fantastic... I try to sparing apply some to the non-decorated parts of the dovo but with mixed results. Does anyone have any recommendations on something that can keep the metal looking good w/o stripping off gold/letter?

Thanks,

-Mike

Good question, I hope someone has a better answer than mine. All I can tell you is that I learned that cleaning gold plated Gillette DEs with Windex won't harm the plating or the lacquer covering it. Of course any metal polish that I know of would probably begin to remove the plating.

On straights with gold washed areas I just clean vintage pieces with soap and water and then do as you did. Carefully clean around the gold wash with semichrome or whatever and put on a rust preventative.

When you say "gold inlay" do you mean that or is it actually plated or what is known as gold wash? I doubt it is inlayed but if somehow it is, you have nothing to worry about. Inlay would be protected by the substrate, which in this case is steel. However, if the gold on your Dovo's spine is gold wash, being a very light plate, it is relatively delicate. As gold is quite soft, any abrasive will rub it off. But the good news is that gold doesn't tarnish (that's one of the properties that makes the yellow metal so desirable). The best thing you can do for your razors is the be sure to dry them thoroughly after use. If you are meticulous about putting them away dry, and storing them properly, they should never rust or spot.

It's goldwash. Gold inlay is a whole different animal - much nicer and much more expensive and you don't find it on production razors.

I just said inlay because I have no idea what I'm talking about! But any ideas for keeping a gold wash clean are welcome.

Originally Posted by PapaBull

It's goldwash. Gold inlay is a whole different animal - much nicer and much more expensive and you don't find it on production razors.

The semantics confuse the issue, so I commiserate with you! Gold inlay is just that - a channel or groove is formed, bellied-out at the bottom, and a strip of gold is hammered (inlaid) into it. Very durable and rarely found on razors - I think Bill Ellis has used the technique. The other gold coatings involve etching the metal with an acid and then plating the metal with gold (a pre-plate of nickel or copper is required first, as gold will not adhere to carbon steel). The plating is only microns thick in most cases, and the higher the carat of the gold plate the softer it is and more likely to be "cleaned" of with any sort of abrasive, however mild, like metal polish.

The best option as far as I know is to clean it up as much as possible (or as much as you dare) and then to coat it with something - maybe some of the high-tec coatings formulated for the army, some of the militech offerings, or an oil of some sort. The object is to stop any oxidation before it starts.

The trouble is not with the gold - it is a noble metal, free from tarnish - but the surrounding steel which will oxidise and require cleaning. Like the advice above, if you dont give this a chance to happen, you will not have a problem.

Regrds,
Neil

Keep your razor(s) clean and dry. Use a rubbing alcohol to disinfect and remove soap scum after every use and you should never have a problem as long as they are correctly stored; and never use abrasives..ever!

When I was a kid I was scared to death that I would become bald in my old age. Now I'm in my old age and there isn't as much on top as there used to be and it seems to less and less every year. Now I don't really care. Same with the gold wash. It lasts as long as it lasts and I shed no tears as it starts to fade away.

My usual routine is to rinse with water, wipe down with TP, then wipe down with TP with camilla oil. When I used to own a nice sword, I used RemOil, but its quite expensive given the amount of re-oiling a razor would need.

OK try this...

Borrow your girlfriends (or wife) clear nail-polish (sometimes called “nail hardener”), then paint the face of the blade covering the gold-wash and surrounding steel (avoid the edge), then allow it to thoroughly dry.

Once dry the nail-polish will protect the gold-wash and surrounding steel with a hard transparent, waterproof barrier and the steel it covers will never tarnish. And since the polish is on the belly (concave) it will not get in the way of honing or stropping and is not likely to be “rubbed off”.

And if for some reason you want to remove the polish without damaging the gold-wash underneath, simply dip only the blade (not the scales) in nail-polish-remover (Acetone) for a few minutes to dissolve the coat and wipe with soft tissue.

Note: This is not recommended for those rare decorated blades that have colored faces (enamel) as the solvent in the nail-polish may dissolve the coloring.