Thread: Did I ruin two eBay razors today?

I think i'm the man in the middle here, for I don't believe the antiseptic effect of alcohol is confined to evaporative situations, and yet I'd go nowhere near dismissing it as an important part of this effect. Alcohol as a bactericide is of sufficient interest to justify its part in this thread. But the main reason for considering it here, is that the quest for hygiene has so regularly led people to do things with it which didn't produce the rapid rusting described here.

There is a difference between evaporative separation of alcohol and water at room temperature, and at the boiling-point of alcohol. Again, I wouldn't contest the suggestion that some weakening of the mixture may take place. But enough to prevent the rust-inhibiting action of alcol seems unlikely in the extreme.

It may be something nobody here has suspected, but I think an electrolytic connection between different metals has to be considered. Aluminium and brass boat components, if they are adjacent or touching in seawater, can sometimes be seen fizzing.

The link I posted, from a reputatble source, clearly identifies the mechanism of antisepsis involving alcohol and it has nothing to do with evaporation.

Caledonian, your last point I would agree has not yet been considered and we should have. Electrolytic corrosion is something that hasn't been mentioned yet and if there were enough ions in the solution could well be why it could affect an item.