Thread: Brass rod, stainless steel washers, and oxidation

I have been using brass rods and washers, and stainless steel thrust washers. I know mixing metals is not the best idea due to oxidation, but I was curious how bad it is. I don't have brass thrust washers though I suppose I could get some. Do I risk doing damage to the razor or wood scales by mixing both brass and steel in the process? If this has been addressed before I apologize. I searched a bit and didn't come up with anything. Thanks for the comments.

Cheers

Honestly I only use Brass Internal Thrust/Bearing washers, on the outside I use either..

Brass and stainless are close in the galvanic series, so they are pretty friendly. With 400 stainless, you will see no corrosion. With 300 stainless, you might see some greening on the brass but the stainless will be unaffected. Combine either of these with magnesium, aluminum or zinc (from the other end of the galvanic series) and they will start oxidizing almost before your eyes.

You need an electrolyte to be present for these reactions to happen - eg, water/moisture. If completely dry there is no electron flow, and no degradation of either metal.

Our brass rods go through steel tangs, anyway, quite often with brass friction washers. That doesn't seem to be a problem.

I have seen plenty of very old razors with brass bullseye washers that have been pinned using quite thick iron pins - they still hold together pretty well after a couple of hundred years.

Regards,
Neil

Great gents, thanks so much for the responses. I have some buckeye burl scales setting up and I want to make sure they stay pretty. Looks like I won't have to worry too much.

is a non issue, proceed without worry.