Thread: Actual Testing OMG - Alcohol and Razors

9:00 pm - There is black rust forming on the 90% buffed razor



10:00pm - The 90% buffed razor and the 70% buffed razor both have visible black rust forming



11:00pm - All razors except the SS are showing tiny spots of black rust

Whats happening Glen!!!! Your not sleeping are you?

12:00AM - Fumes from Alcohol knocked Glen out.

It wasn't the fumes, it was the double of Chivas sleepy time.. I have to thank the pups for waking me up at 4:45 to go out, so I got the 5:00 am shot


12:00 Midnight 7 hours




5:00 am 12 hours - There are tiny red rust spots forming on the 90% buffed razor above the wet line... The changes under the wet line on 4 of the razors are very subtle.. There is no change I can see to the SS razor..

Hows the head, Glenn? Rusting above the liquid line would indicate to me that water evaporating from the alcohol is condensing on the blades. I think I read that the guy just bought 2 razors and Immersed the whole things. Gee, scales and all? "The effects of celluloid scales and blades totally immersed in alcohol!" No telling what melting scales mixed with alcohol would do!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Hows the head, Glenn? Rusting above the liquid line would indicate to me that water evaporating from the alcohol is condensing on the blades. I think I read that the guy just bought 2 razors and Immersed the whole things. Gee, scales and all? "The effects of celluloid scales and blades totally immersed in alcohol!" No telling what melting scales mixed with alcohol would do!

Plus don't forget all the other "Stuff" on the scales the soap, skin, blood, crud... all that has a chemical make up... I thought about tossing in a whole razor, and trying one in just water during this test...
The spots that are rusting I was thinking a droplet splash when I poured the alcohol, I should have poured it first, and then set the razors in but I didn't...

Thanks Glen for doing the testing! I believe that it does show that Alcohol won't harm a razor when used as a sanitizer.

Great study Glen. I once wiped a carbon steel blade with alcohol, wiped it dry and walked away. The next day black spots had appeared. They polished out fine and I learned a lesson about oiling / re-oiling after disinfecting.

Originally Posted by dmcconnell

Great study Glen. I once wiped a carbon steel blade with alcohol, wiped it dry and walked away. The next day black spots had appeared. They polished out fine and I learned a lesson about oiling / re-oiling after disinfecting.

This is exactly why I wanted to try it out as I have had a razor turn black after an hour or so too...
So with all kinds of different responses/results every time this comes up, I figured we could at least have some testing on real Straight Razors since I had them sitting around and IIRC the Alcohol cost me all of maybe $2

Alcohol (C3H8O) itself obviously won't cause rust. But if you are using a low concentration solution that has WATER in it, then you will run the risk of rusting. I guess Glen's experiment sheds a little light on how low you can safely go. I would assume that the rust spots from the splash occurred because the alcohol there quickly evaporated, leaving behind some water residue. But in the solution itself, there must not be enough free water to cause rusting.

I wonder how long you'd have to let it sit for enough alcohol to evaporate to cause rust under the liquid line.... And how low (in concentration) can you safely go. Those would actually be interesting tests.