Don't Clean Your SR With Hot Water?

[rbscebu]

After a few weeks of shaving with my Revisor 6-0035, I decided to read their instructions on its use and maintenance. One instruction raised my eyebrows, "Do not clean with hot water" and "in no case dry with hairdryer."

I started asking myself why. The blade is of high carbon steel. The steel's temper should not be changed unless the temperature gets to about 200°C or more. This is not possible with hot water at atmospheric pressure.

I stopped using hot water/air on my SR's once I started protecting them with Renaissance wax. This was done to protect the wax coating.

What could Revisor's reasoning be?

 

[ScottChapin]

I’ve been using hot water and hot air for over 2 years. I don’t use hot air unless I get water I’m the scales. There has been absolutely no adverse affect.

I shave with hot water and I don’t see myself changing. I keep my hair dryer moving, so it’s not hot enough to burn my scalp, so I doubt it changed the temper of metal.


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[Legion]

It could damage the scales or the finish used on them.

The water coming out of the tap in some countries is pretty hot. Hot enough that even if you didn't get the water directly on the scales, the amount of heat the blade might pick up would be enough to warp plastic or horn.

 

[Gamma]

I would suggest sending Revisior your question/s.

 

[Mitzie]

Perhaps the scales are attached by glue??

 

[Tomo]

This is not possible with hot water at atmospheric pressure.

Love this comment. Only a fellow engineer would say something like this.

 

[Tomo]

You get crazy advise from manufacturers sometimes. Simpson saying don’t swirl your brush. Of course you will.

I recently bought an iron and it said that under no circumstances should you iron clothes while wearing them. Come on guys. How else are you going to do it?

 

[RenoRichard]

You get crazy advise from manufacturers sometimes. Simpson saying don’t swirl your brush. Of course you will.

I recently bought an iron and it said that under no circumstances should you iron clothes while wearing them. Come on guys. How else are you going to do it?

Gosh, I always thought that you should iron clothes with someone else wearing them so you can best see the wrinkles; live and learn.

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

I think you guys are on the right track with the scales being sensitive to heat. The only other reason I can think of is that corrosion happens faster at raised temperatures.

When I started honing High Carbon knives, it was recommended to use an additive in the water you use on a whetstone to prevent corrosion during honing.

I hear some shouting "rubbish!", but I have seen some blades showing corrosion discolouration, exposed to water just for the 10-20 minutes it took to hone.

Hair dryers on the other hand, can't be trusted on our precious babies. The air temperature coming out is hot enough to set fire to fine steel wool. Try it if you don't believe me

 

[ScottChapin]

I’ll take exception to the hair dryers not bring trusted. I’ve seen water destroy scales. I don’t usually get water in my scales often. When I do, I blow the water out with my hair dryer. It takes less than 3 seconds and doesn’t get the scales hot. So far, I’ve never seen any detrimental affects.

It doesn’t make sense, or is it necessary to keep the hair dryer on the scales so long that they get noticeably get warm.


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[Biltong & Boerewors]

I’ll take exception to the hair dryers not bring trusted. I’ve seen water destroy scales. I don’t usually get water in my scales often. When I do, I blow the water out with my hair dryer. It takes less than 3 seconds and doesn’t get the scales hot. So far, I’ve never seen any detrimental affects.

It doesn’t make sense, or is it necessary to keep the hair dryer on the scales so long that they get noticeably get warm.


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Sorry Scott, no offence intended.

I know several people that do it, gentle drying will do fine, but there is always one that will melt the scales of the razor before realising that something that's intended for drying hair can be so harsh

Agree with water being the enemy, I leave my razors open on the TV decoder to dry for at least a day. Just warm to the touch. Worked fine for me, except for a rams-horn TI that warped. Had to give it a good coating of neatsfoot oil, close it and leave it again on the decoder for a day to straighten it out.

 

[Jnatcat]

I have rinsed my blades with hot water for years and have seen no ill effects, not sure of their reasoning but I would say possible scale damage.

 

[ScottChapin]

Sorry Scott, no offence intended.

I know several people that do it, gentle drying will do fine, but there is always one that will melt the scales of the razor before realising that something that's intended for drying hair can be so harsh

Agree with water being the enemy, I leave my razors open on the TV decoder to dry for at least a day. Just warm to the touch. Worked fine for me, except for a rams-horn TI that warped. Had to give it a good coating of neatsfoot oil, close it and leave it again on the decoder for a day to straighten it out.

No offense taken!

I had to re-soak my son’s Dovo Olive Wood to straighten his scales and treated them with mineral oil to prevent them from cracking. They’ll never be the same, as the color obviously darkened.

I don’t “blow dry” my scales unless I accidentally get water in the pin area inside the scales. Then I blow just long enough to physically blow the water out and get it just warm enough to evaporate the water. The scales aren’t warm to the touch at that point.

Like anything, be judicious.


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[*stefan*]

Drying the shaving part of the blade with a hair dryer works just fine. Just use it as when you dry your hair, keep some distance between blade and dryer and do some wobbling with the dryer. The potential risk here is bumping the blade into something when handling two items at the same time.

I have used a hair dryer to deform plastic and hardened rubber scales. Keep the scale very close to the blade for some time and then it will be possible to deform if applying pressure. However it’s difficult to get the result you want and often the deformation will be most elastic and go back in 3 days or sometimes one month.

I have also put down plastic and hardened rubber scales in hot water. My experience, it will be possible to deform them depending on the scale in between 70-100 degrees, which varies a lot between materials. But then one should do a quick cooling. But water in pivot is no god and scale often gets very discolored by this. So I’m not using it.

Cleaning the part of the blade that shaves with hot tap water is just fine if you can keep your fingers in the water while cleaning. Otherwise the material selection has been really lousy.

The point with glue in scale and outer finish on scale can be sensitive is perhaps valid for not cleaning scale in hot tap water. But if it takes harm by cleaning the part of the blade with bevel in hot tap water it is a really bad design. Or extremely hot tap water.

 

[12stones]

The main reason some manufacturers recommend this is because hot water can affect the blade edge at the microscopic/molecular level and cause it to dull faster. With a straight razor this might not be as noticeable, because the stropping somewhat helps keep the edge. It can dull DE edges faster.

According to sharpologist.com on using cold water to shave:

This method has several benefits, not just for you, but for your gear as well. Take your razor. Nice, shiny, sturdy piece of metal. Feels nice when it’s warm. So does the blade. But get this. The hot water used to rinse the blade causes the tiny metal molecules in the blade to expand, making the razor dull after only five shaves. Cold water, on the other hand, causes the molecules to contract, giving the blade a better edge and longer life. Just by using cold water, my current Wilkinson Sword blade is on it’s (sic) eighth shave.

 

[SteelSchaben]

You get crazy advise from manufacturers sometimes. Simpson saying don’t swirl your brush. Of course you will.

I recently bought an iron and it said that under no circumstances should you iron clothes while wearing them. Come on guys. How else are you going to do it?

Sad world of tort law, when you have to place a disclaimer like that on a product...

"How else are you going to do it?" Why without that disclaimer I would have never known any other way. I gotta try this now !

 

[SteelSchaben]

Love this comment. Only a fellow engineer would say something like this.

@Tomo , @rbscebu Here is one for ya'll

A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He spots a man down below and lowers the balloon to shout: “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised my friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”


The man below says: “Yes. You are in a hot air balloon, hovering approximately 30 feet above this field. You are between 41 and 42 degrees N. latitude, and between 59 and 60 degrees W. longitude.”


“You must be an engineer” says the balloonist.


“I am” replies the man. “How did you know.”


“Well” says the balloonist, “everything you have told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost.”


The man below says “You must be a Lawyer.”


“I am” replies the balloonist, “but how did you know?”


“Well”, says the man, “you don’t know where you are, or where you are going. You have made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problems. The fact is you are in the exact same position you were in before we met, but now it is somehow my fault.”

 

[*stefan*]

The main reason some manufacturers recommend this is because hot water can affect the blade edge at the microscopic/molecular level and cause it to dull faster. With a straight razor this might not be as noticeable, because the stropping somewhat helps keep the edge. It can dull DE edges faster.

According to sharpologist.com on using cold water to shave:

Interesting, never heard about that before.

Some need to perform a shave comparison regarding edge longevity rinsing blade in hot vs. cold tap water.

I really hope it not down performing any or much with hot tap water, much easier to rinse the soap and skin particles of the blade with hot tap water.

 

[12stones]

A man is flying in a hot air balloon

That's my second favorite engineer joke, but when I hear it it's usually got "Manager" instead of "Lawyer." And as a manager, every time an engineer finished telling it to me, I would chuckle and tell them to get back to work.

 

[SteelSchaben]

That's my second favorite engineer joke, but when I hear it it's usually got "Manager" instead of "Lawyer." And as a manager, every time an engineer finished telling it to me, I would chuckle and tell them to get back to work.

I edited it to Lawyer cause it sounds better than Manager... After all, a single Lawyer on the bottom of the ocean is a good start .

Seeing @Tomo 's disclaimer, Lawyer just fit the thread.