I just put two nice razors (three actually) in denatured alcohol that was almost entirely ethanol with a trace of methyl alcohol this weekend (i.e., the stuff you would use to dissolve shellac).

I noticed that the razors discolored easily right off the bat, but then again, they didn't have fatty soap on them and they had drops of water on them from time to time. Autosol quickly (very very quickly) solved the problem, and there were no pits.

I guess everyone can do whatever they want, I'd keep the scales out of alcohol in case they are something that is dissolved or degraded in it, but whatever.

I wonder where one finds barbicide, other than those shops that only let people with a beutician's license in (and not online).

I wonder, too, how many of these razors have anything on them other than whatever's floating around in the air. I just received two, and the sellers honed both of them, which is something I could've done myself, I suppose. I don't know if that means that they were just used prior to that, but I don't think much of anything other than hepatitis B would survive any signficant period of being dry.

I think we're chasing around our fears most of the time, and what applies to a barber who is constantly using a razor on one person after another doesn't necessarily apply to us. At least not until we start hearing about people actually getting something from a straight razor. Surely it would be something we'd have heard about by now.