Did I ruin my new to me antique razor?

[smorgana]

I got in an Ontario Cutlery razor... It's my second new to me old razor, and part of the process to make me feel comfortable it is sanitized is I subjected it to 5 minutes of UV C... Immediately after that the scales started smelling -- something like burnt rubber but not exactly, though there is no real heating involved in the UV exposure.

I don't know what the material is for the scales , but now I'm sure it's no form of wood.

Up until now I thought it was normal to put all kinds of things into the uv box.

Looking for comments from anyone with experience cleaning up razors.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

I went back and looked at the photo in the acquisition thread. The scales are almost certainly hard rubber. I'm not a chemist so I can't speak to what the UV would do to rubber. But worst case, you get to learn how to make scales. Has the physical integrity of the scales changed at all? It may not be a big deal at all.

 

[smorgana]

I went back and looked at the photo in the acquisition thread. The scales are almost certainly hard rubber. I'm not a chemist so I can't speak to what the UV would do to rubber. But worst case, you get to learn how to make scales. Has the physical integrity of the scales changed at all? It may not be a big deal at all.

the scales look and feel great.. but smell pretty unpleasant from. a distance. to the point it wont be fun shaving with it unless it dissipates

my philosophy has been if i ruin an old razor cleaning it, then i’d learn something from it

 

[smorgana]

i did a quick check, yes, rubber doesn’t like uv. i guess uv cleaning is out for this razor, because over time it will break it down

 

[Legion]

Try sanding them. UV can’t penetrate too deep. You might just need to remove the surface layer.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Yea, probably Gutta Percha, hard rubber. Sand with 600, then 1k wet and dry. Polish with any good metal polish and 0000 steel wool, then buff with a paper towel.

Probably be ok. Gutta Percha does smell when sanded and polished, but it goes away. Gutta Percha will polish up smooth and shine like black glass.

A 10% bleach solution will kill anything on a straight razor, but I have never heard of anyone contracting anything from a freshly honed and clean straight razor. I have seen guys shave with much nastier disposable razors and still no issue..

 

[HazMat Shaver]

Yep, the old rubber scales were a big thing. I've sanded and saved a lot of them. They can get wrapped too. Then a heat lamp works nicely to soften them up for straightening. I think with some sanding and polishing you will be fine. Or, make some new scales. You have the old one to trace to get the right shape. More Fun!

 

[smorgana]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm going to sand and polish them.
After letting it sit over night, the odor was much less.
I guess I was just surprised, since I've put all sorts of plastics under uv light without a problem and I had assumed the scales were either wood or plastic.

I have 3 other razors -- 2 wood, and one seems like a type of plastic.. they all do well under UV.

I also subject my "new" razors to ultrasonic cleaning -- you'd be surprised what's left in the tank after cleaning a used razor...

 

[DrStrange]

Also, a lot of old razor scales are celluloid.

"Another form of deterioration,
photochemical deterioration,
is severe in celluloid because it absorbs ultraviolet light well."

Celluloid - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[cotedupy]

Try sanding them. UV can’t penetrate too deep. You might just need to remove the surface layer.

It can be a bit more complicated than that, because materials can absorb (and indeed then radiate) electromagnetic radiation. And UV in particular does a lot of weird things.

 

[Legion]

It can be a bit more complicated than that, because materials can absorb (and indeed then radiate) electromagnetic radiation. And UV in particular does a lot of weird things.

You might be right, but I was basing my comment on how it effects catalin, specifically butterscotch shaving brushes. The butterscotch colour is caused buy a chemical reaction triggered by UV, and you can sand through the effected layer quite quickly, it’s very thin.

Hard rubber may react differently.

 

[Gamma]

I have a few UV-C lamps, been there, done that. It's not the same reaction but the effects of uv on rubber and catalin can both be just superficial. Well with Catalin it's almost always super superficial, a mm or 2 maybe. Catalin develops a yellow tint from a layer of phenyl alcohol. Rubber, under uv, literally breaks down, discolors, smells, etc - short term exposure will yield a layer of ugly and some smell. If the scales were just lightly 'scorched' they'll probably stop smelling on their own pretty soon. It's usually easy to buff through minor discoloration with Simichrome polish pretty easily. Or red rouge...lotsa stuff works. A lot depends on exposure, longer times can literally cook the material into being quite brittle. It would take a powerful UV source, close proximity, and some time. Put rubber scales on the windowsill or near certain lights and they'll do the same thing after a while.

 

[cotedupy]

You might be right, but I was basing my comment on how it effects catalin, specifically butterscotch shaving brushes. The butterscotch colour is caused buy a chemical reaction triggered by UV, and you can sand through the effected layer quite quickly, it’s very thin.

Hard rubber may react differently.

Oh I don't think I knew that about UV causing the butterscotch, had never really thought about it. Interesting.

I don't know for sure about rubber / Gutta Percha, but from what Keith said above it sounds like one of those things that breaks down or disintegrates under UV. The effect can be surprisingly powerful in certain substances... UV is peculiar!

I do though have a gutta percha scaled razor that's clearly been left in the sun at some point and one of the scales is now a light caramel brown colour, the other black (I think I've shown you pics before?). The difference is more marked than I'd expect just from normal 'bleaching', and a bit of light sanding didn't really change it.

 

[cotedupy]

Here FWIW are two sides of the same set of GP scales. TBH I kinda like the brown 'patinated' look, maybe I'll chuck the other side out in the sun to see if I can get it matching...

 

[Rob72]

No need to sanitize or sterilize. I dunk my DEs and SEs in Barbicide after shaving, but that's for the surfactant cleaning action. You can use pipe stem oil on the hard rubber scales to good effect, or Meguiar's Ultimate Black to keep them up. If you allow the oxidation to continue, they do become more fragile.

 

[duke762]

Man I hate smelly rubber scales. I will only put up with them if razor is extra cool.

 

[aussie]

A 10% bleach solution will kill anything on a straight razor, but I have never heard of anyone contracting anything from a freshly honed and clean straight razor. I have seen guys shave with much nastier disposable razors and still no issue..

I wouldn't put any kind of bleach near any razor. I did just this with my Gillette Slim (my very first DE) and it attacked the plating.

There's so many other alternatives.