Thread: Rust on my new razor!

The wife got this for me for my 40th bday last month. Up to this point I've only been shaving with antiques. I'm careful to dry and clean my razors after use, but until now I've kept them in the bathroom (which gets a lot of use...5 kids). The humidity has attacked my new razor and I've got a bit of rust on my Bismark.

What can I do to clean this off without destroying the gold wash on the blade?

The sad answer is not much.
If the rust is red ie active, you can convert it to black rust chemically & then keep that baby oiled & stored somewhere dryer..

Beautiful razor!!! If it were a problem for me, and I have had the exact issue, I would get a q-tip, put some toothpaste on it and very gently remove the blemish. Be very careful and easy doing this. Then I would get a tall olive jar, fill it with alcohol (90% if available) and add to it an eye dropper (or so) full of mineral oil. Shake this mix and the next day, when it settles out and after I finish my shave, I would run very hot water over the blade, dry it, strop it on linen 10 to 15 times and then dip it into the alcohol mineral oil mix. I live in Florida, and this works well for me. Good luck!!!

It might be that the rust isn't actually coming through the gold, but bleeding over the top of it. Gentle rubbing with a Q-tip might remove it. But for the actual lettering which we know to be rusted, a Q-tip is too big and too gentle. I don't think you can count on even toothpaste not wearing through the gold. I would sharpen a piece of paperclip wire to a chisel tip, and use a jeweller's loupe (available cheaply on eBay) to scratch the rust away from the letter itself. It won't scratch razor steel, unless Bismarck have some fast talking to do. Then I would use a large needle for leathercraft or knitwear (i.e. with a round, polished point) to burnish it.

Banjotom's idea sounds like an excellent one for extreme conditions. An electric heat gun or hairdrier (don't mix them up, if you live in a mixed household) would raise the temperature of the steel long enough to eliminate moisture from pores and crannies. I recently saw a highway service area fitted out with Dyson Airblade hand driers, which project an extremely powerful but narrow blade of hot air. This seems interesting. The people who instal those things know a bit about the economics of electricity versus laundry.

First stop it from progressing. Start with something like WD-40
or a rust penetrating oil. Eventually you want to get protection
from something like Renaissance Wax on the surface. Heat
helps as long as it is not too hot. As long as you can hold
the steel in your hand you should be OK in the context of a drying oven.

You may find that wiping with clean tissue paper is abrasive
enough.

Get in the habit of wiping the blade with mineral oil or Camellia Oil
especially the pivot.

Note that WD-40 is best used to displace water. After four days or
so a "better" surface protective oil or wax is in order. If you use it
every day then you never get past four days. Mineral oil from the
pharmacy is nice because it is about as non-toxic as such things are.

I use an Japanese applicator on all my razors when I put them away. I had exactly the same experience as you when I got my first razor and it too was a Bismark. I put a mixture of Camellia Oil and Billistol in the applicator and it works great. I have not had a problem in three years. I oil my guns why not my razors and if you have an applicator it takes almost no time. Here is what the applicator looks like and I got it at Japan Woodworkers. Applicator for Camellia Oil - The Japan Woodworker Catalog

Later,
Richard

renaissance wax and all of my rust problems have went away

Thanks guys! I think I've gotten rid of the rust. I haven't picked at the steel yet and there is some slight staining on the gold wash but the blade looks much better than it did. I've removed all my razors from the bathroom. I've got Renaissance wax and will apply it to all of them.