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Razor blade rusting safety razor

I need some advice on how you guys prevent your razor blades from rusting.

Even though I don'g have dense facial hair, I do shave everyday. My razor blades do not wear that fast hence I only replace them twice a week.

However, I notice that my blades are rusting at the edge in the recent months. And the rust transfers itself to the safety razors. I use Gillette Blue blades most of the time. For safety razors, I rotate between feather DS2, Gillette saftey and Muhle R41. All safety razors are behaving this way.



Does anyone have any advice how to prevent the phenomenon?
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
The only thing i can think of is taking your razor apart and drying everything thoroughly after each use.
 
I have the same problem. You either need to loosen and dip the whole head into a little alcohol to displace the water, or simply dismantle and dry the entire razor after each shave.
 
Dry your blade and apply a thin film of mineral oil on it afterward. This is what I do with carbon steel blades which rust pretty much the day after you first use them.
 
Some vintage Gillette instructions for razors supplied with Blue Blades (e.g. 1937 Sheraton) say to remove the blade, rinse and dry the razor, and then put the blade back in for the next use.
Others just say to loosen the razor head and rinse everything. The instructions for the '53 President say "TO CLEAN - Loosen razor, rinse, and shake out moisture. Do not remove the blade."
None say to wipe or dry the blade, as far as I can tell.
Even now, the Gillette Silver Blue stainless blades have "DO NOT WIPE BLADE" printed on the wrapper. I wouldn't be surprised if their lawyers made them do that.
It doesn't stop me from doing it anyway. I always take the razor apart, clean it with a retired toothbrush, wipe it and the blade dry, and then put it all back together. Never tried it with vintage Blue Blades though.

Odd.
The mark on the base plate looks like a well-defined fingerprint.
 
The easiest fix is to use a stainless blade (my favorite is Voskhod, cheap, smooth and sharp) other than that you have to remove the water. So wiping or displacing are your only options.
 
It just takes an extra 60 seconds (or less) to disassemble a 3 piece, rinse and wipe dry. The blade either pat dry or lean it against something (in med cabinet) to air dry. Problem solved.
 
I use stainless steel blades which eliminate the problem. Try a pack of Wilkinson Super Sword Edge blades.....my favorites. I have a stock of Feather, Voskhod, and Wilkinson blades. None of them rust and they are all cheap enough if you buy them in lots of 100. I have not been impressed with the Voskhods.
 
The carbon steel Gillette Blue Blade was introduced in 1932. Not everything shave-related has improved since then, but some things have. Here's an excerpt from the Wiki entry for Safety Razors:

Until the 1960s, razor blades were made of carbon steel. These were prone to rusting unless carefully dried and often left users to change blades frequently. In 1965, the British company Wilkinson Sword began to sell blades made of stainless steel, which did not rust and could be used until blunt. Wilkinson quickly captured U.S., British and European markets. As a result, American Safety Razor, Gillette and Schick were driven to produce stainless steel blades to compete. Today, almost all razor blades are stainless steel although carbon steel blades remain in limited production for lower income markets.
 
I'm curious... The picture appears to be a gold-plated Tech. Are you primarily seeing the rust with gold razors?

If so, I'm wondering if there is some Galvanic Corrosion going on.

Either way, I agree with the advice that dry==better.
 
I use stainless steel blades which eliminate the problem. Try a pack of Wilkinson Super Sword Edge blades.....my favorites. I have a stock of Feather, Voskhod, and Wilkinson blades. None of them rust and they are all cheap enough if you buy them in lots of 100. I have not been impressed with the Voskhods.

It might be a different issue, unfortunately. Some people live with old piping that leaches iron particles into their water. Letting large droplets dry on the blade leaves rust stains (Google iron contamination or stainless steel corrosion), possibly on the razor too if there is direct contact. Also remember: Stainless steel is stain-resistant, not stain-immune!
 
I have made a habit or disassembling my razors after use for 2 reasons. One would be for what is being discussed here right now and the other is I put my razors on a wooden shelf in the medicine cabinet and have found if its wet the day before it will leave a water residue on the shelf and sometime it will stick ever so slightly to the shelf... Its an old cabinet, so the 30-45 seconds it takes to disassemble, dry, and reassemble is minimal at the least...
 
Also remember: Stainless steel is stain-resistant, not stain-immune!
Any steel, even stainless steel, can rust given the right (or wrong) conditions. With S/S this is often called "tea staining". It will wipe off and cause no problems. I too just rinse and shake the razor after each use. Not a good idea to leave a blade in a razor for a very long period of storage though.
 
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