Thread: Barbicide & Razors

I just purchased a new Goldbug razor (per Lyn's recommendation in his video) that is in pretty good shape on eBay ($42.08--is that a good deal?) with just a tiny bit of rust on the metal inside the scales. The scales are gold in color and I believe plastic. My questions are:

1. Is there usually any problem submerging an entire razor in barbicide, scales and all? I want to sanitize this and other razors I've bought off of eBay with a variety of scales and want to minimize any probability of issues with discoloration or hardening, etc. of scales, spacers, etc..

2. Is there any problem with rubbing and maybe lightly buffing Maas on the blade and scales to shine razor blades and scales? Is there a possibility of Maas discoloring or hardening the scales or spacers?

Thanks,
Mike F.

If you are sure the scales are plastic then it should not be a problem however if they are celluloid I wouldn't do it. No problem with metal polish on the blade and you can do light rubbing to shine up the scales but there again if they are celluloid the rubbing needs to be very light and I'm not sure I would use metal polish which contains heavy duty chemicals. Some jewelers rouge or cape cod cloths might be better in that case.

Thanks BigSpendur. Now for what may seem like a silly question...is there an easy way to tell for sure if scales are plastic versus celluloid? Is plastic normally harder than celluloid, or less see-through-able (if that's a word)?

I think celluloid will be a bit stinky when you rub it. You should find out when the razor was made to help.

If they are original they are celluliod...

Just rub them with a cloth vigorously and sniff...
Celluloid gives a slightly mothball (camphor) like smell
Plastic smells like??? , well like warm plastic

You really can't tell by looking but like Glen said by their age if they are original scales assume they are celluloid.