Soak it in cider!

[jebib3]

Ok, cheap trick, I should have said apple cider vinegar, actually just vinegar. No, this is not crazy. I was speaking to a friend of mine who restores radiators and quite familiar with corrosives etc for getting “stuff” off metal. I relayed to him how I wanted to clean an old razor for possible replating in as non-invasive yet effective way as possible. Here is what he suggested to me: bring a pot of water to a boil and drop the razor in keeping it there till sometime after the water again breaks boil. At this time with tongs remove the razor and immediately drop into a cup of vinegar and let it set there for several hours. He says the heated razor when in contact with the vinegar has a special chemical cleaning action that is hard to duplicate. He said it was a lot safer than muric acid, but that if it didn’t work with a scrubbing afterwards that we could try something harsher. I thought it was interesting, and something anyone could try without risk to their razor.

So………………………….. if it hasn’t been mentioned before I thought it would be worth sharing.

 

[Sami_Sdata]

A very quick way to ruin anything with thin plating. I found this out the hard way early on trying to clean a SS. It went from minor brassing to major very quickly.

 

[shipr]

i've used vinegar to clean rusty tools before, but i think would be too strong for cleaning razors.
i wouldn't try it.

 

[buddydog]

Don't use muriatic acid either.

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

White vinegar--dilluted 50/50 with water might be worth a try. There are all kinds of household uses for white vinegar.

 

[Hank21]

Negative

Don't say no one told you.

It'll be like the pit and the pendulum.

If you do it you'll be able to use it as a halloween prop.

If you want to experiment take something else that's chrome plated and disposable and toss it in there and see what happens. Bleach, vinegar, ammonia - negative. Don't use any strong chemicals or anything alkaline or acid. It will damage the finish.

 

[cernel_joson]

Apple cider vinegar can cure your dandruff, can make your scalp smell better, can remove body odor from your nether regions, can ease heart burn, but I don't recommend using it to clean metal, unless it's copper.

Just buy a can of scrubbing bubbles, that stuff cuts through grime.

 

[jebib3]

I planned to do this prior to having it sent out to be replated in silver. For those who have said it will change minor brassing to major I'm assuming that you are speaking from experience. So my question is from this experience in your opinion if I am planning to have the razor replated wouldn't this be a non-issue? thanks!

 

[Hank21]

Let the replater do the prep. They'll have the necessary chemicals to do it.

 

[DirtyDave]

Still going to stick to a long Simple Green soak followed by a vigorous scrub with a toothbrush.

 

[Monkeydad]

Don't use muriatic acid either.

Did that really need to be said?

 

[galopede]

I was at a folk festival in Devon a couple of years ago and they were selling some really rough scrumpy cider in the beer tent. A friend of mine had his silver (plated) tuba with him and was drinking the stuff. The tuba was rather tarnished so out of curiosity, I dipped a tissue in his scrumpy and wiped it on a part of the tuba. Well, it took the tarnish off a treat!

Wonder what it did to his guts?

Gareth