Thread: Devil's Spit

Devil's Spit: Cancer of the razor, or character of the razor.

I'm going on 50 razors thus far, and I have about a dozen with varying degrees of devil's spit. Most of these razors are in the process of restore.

I have yet to work on one of the devil's spit razors that has any pitting under the spit once I get it removed. In fact, my first razor from Larry @ whipped dog had a little bit near the toe, and it seemed to have fared well.

Thoughts on what I should do about them?

I don't have a buffer, and currently I'm not sure that I want to invest the time required to hand sand the spit out of every one of them.

Is it okay to leave them if I'm not worried about the cosmetic impact it has, or is it a real detriment to the longevity of the razor?

50/50 here...

If the spit is away from the edge enough to nat really have any affect on shaving, than I go on with the restoration. If the spit is at the edge... 9 out of 10 times it's toast and I scrap it for parts unless it's an old and rare.

When I remove the surface of the spit I use a steel wire wheel, usually this breaks up the surface of the corrosion and lets you see how far it goes. I don't sand anything down, I like em rustic and spit just adds charicter to the piece. I do however try to remove all the crud to keep the spit from continuing.

Originally Posted by DwarvenChef

50/50 here...

If the spit is away from the edge enough to nat really have any affect on shaving, than I go on with the restoration. If the spit is at the edge... 9 out of 10 times it's toast and I scrap it for parts unless it's an old and rare.

When I remove the surface of the spit I use a steel wire wheel, usually this breaks up the surface of the corrosion and lets you see how far it goes. I don't sand anything down, I like em rustic and spit just adds charicter to the piece. I do however try to remove all the crud to keep the spit from continuing.

I'm familiar with the black crud that's on a ton of blades that almost ALWAYS has pitting under it.

I'm talking about just black staining on a blade. Maybe this isn't "devil's spit" I have a couple old wedges that had some black corrosion on it up near the spine (cell rot) and once the blackness came out there were gnarly and deep pits. I have those set aside for when I get a buffer or belt grinder.

On the other hand, I have a Kinfolks Blue Steel, never been honed, looks like NOS with the exception of black staining all over the blade that appears completely cosmetic. No pitting or surface abnormalities present even at 100x magnification. Smooth as glass, but it's black. Almost like black was the original color of the steel.

Like DC said, if it isn't at the bevel it is a cosmetic issue. Hand sanding is the only way I know of to remove it down to good metal , leaving no trace. On full hollows you can only go so far. The wire wheel mentioned by DC might be your best bet.

Three different types of Black stuff on razors

Water stains = black on the surface only

Black rust = Rough surface sometimes a spiderweb like appearance too, has pits that are visible

Devil's spit = Smooth black surface, no outward signs of pitting or underlaying damage, in fact looks like it should just buff off with MAAS
Then once you start taking it off you find the pits underneath..this is why it is called Devil's spit because it is devious

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Three different types of Black stuff on razors

Water stains = black on the surface only

Black rust = Rough surface sometimes a spiderweb like appearance too, has pits that are visible

Devil's spit = Smooth black surface, no outward signs of pitting or underlaying damage, in fact looks like it should just buff off with MAAS
Then once you start taking it off you find the pits underneath..this is why it is called Devil's spit because it is devious

This stuff is odd. I worked on it with 220 grit for over a half hour on one spot and the black never went away. It's pretty disheartening, but there's still no pitting evident.

Now I did have some that was like that on a wedge. I took off the smooth blackness and it was full of pits underneath. At least the blade is thick enough for me to not hurt it by smoothing it out.