Care and feeding of vintage gillette

[David6Eagle]

An ebay seller (Nanwei) of a slim adjustable described in detail how he cleans, polishes, sanitizes and packages for shipping his offerings. In a Q&A section he recommends removing the blade after shaving, saying rust may form and affect the nickle plating.
Do today's stainless steel, coated blades pose a rust risk? I've never seen any rust on Feathers, Wilkinson, Merkur, Derby, or Crystals I've used. I should disclose that in response to a recommendation posted to B&B, I place my razor in rubbing alcohol for a few minutes after shaving. The alcohol seems to displace the water and evaporates quickly.
So is removing the blade an ounce of prevention or unnecessary? And where would one safely store a blade?
Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[ssilcox]

I've never removed a blade from mine, and I've never had rust. I think the new blades dont have the same rusting problem that the vintage blades new. I've bought plenty of old razors with rusty blades in them.

 

[Koss]

They are just passing along old vintage information with their vintage razors

 

[Chevyguy]

I remove the blade and leave the silo doors open and lay everything on tissue paper on the counter so that it can dry out after rinsing.

Clayton

 

[ctakim]

I don't store a razor long term with a blade, but I don't take it out every night.

 

[82R100]

There is a concern regarding micro rust on the cutting edges that you're addressing with the alcohol dip. As the others have said, these blades don't rust in a way to affect the razor's finish. What's more, many of us buy old razors in which the blade has rusted and it's not generally a big problem to remove that rust after the fact.

- Chris

 

[Oldguy]

I remove the blade and leave the silo doors open and lay everything on tissue paper on the counter so that it can dry out after rinsing.

Clayton

+1. I follow this procedure exactly except I go a little further where I wipe out the razor with a tissue and Q-Tips. I do this because I never use the same razor two days in a row but I usually get 5 shaves out of a blade. So the next time I use the razor it's clean and not just dry.

Len

 

[ozzy_scl]

I just got a really nice looking president, sadly the was a Shick blade on it, which rusted a bit of the head, and the edge of one of the doors.
I wish whoever owned that razor had taken the blade out. What could've been a mint razor is now a really nice looking one.

 

[Oldguy]

An ebay seller (Nanwei) of a slim adjustable described in detail how he cleans, polishes, sanitizes and packages for shipping his offerings. In a Q&A section he recommends removing the blade after shaving, saying rust may form and affect the nickle plating.
/QUOTE]

Actually Nanwei is a woman whose husband also sells razors on ebay. I had an email conversation with him one time where he told me how concerned he was with razor cleanliness, not only when selling them but also when he works on and handles them. So his comment (or his wife's) about leaving a blade in a razor is not a surprise to me.

Len