What's new

Why do people like solid brass razors?

There is a difference between patina on a well-used item and corrosion on a neglected item.

Leave a chunk of brass neglected in a damp/humid environment and you’ll get soft, porous, green corrosion.

Simply use it without polishing, and it develops a thin, stable, burnished, possibly multi-color oxide layer that is somewhat protective. In this condition, I don’t notice that wet brass smell anymore.

I never polish my Karve. I rinse it thoroughly after use, leave it open to dry, and occasionally clean soap buildup off the bottom of the plate (but not aggressively). While it isn’t polished, it’s not a lump of green either (though there is a slight green tint on top of the cap). It’s more like an old, but still circulating and pocket-worn, penny.

Of course, the actual colors will vary with the type of alloy, but the principle still holds.

Frankly, I have more patina than polish myself.
 
Why do people like all brass razors that are not coated with chrome or anything? Is it because of the antiseptic properties of brass, or is it something else? Brass tarnishes (patinates if you prefer) and has to be polished to be kept looking nice, unless one likes the look of unpolished and tarnished brass.

I am curious. I like the weight and I know brass can be cast into any shape required and I love the look when polished or at least cleaned up.
Brass is harder than Gold, so you can not have solid Gold Razor Just Plated GOLD. Brass can be polish up real nice to shine like Gold.

When Brass get patina it looks sort of different, said in the Marine Corps we had to use BRASSO, tarnish was not allowed, just BRIGHT SHINY BRASS.

Think most people are gold or silver people, and honestly I do not like the color gold as much ash Silver, the name of Long Ranger Horse.

So the bottom line is most people perfer one color over another, and as I said I am a Silver GUY.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
Ron, I know this is an older thread

Question for you.

Is patina a BAD thing?

How long does it take for brass to patina? Years? Decades?

I only use vintage razors that happen to be brass with nickel plating. I like the look.

Is the nickel use just to make the razor look good or does it somehow protect the brass? a little of both?

Thank you a usual.
Patina takes time to come about, the more you use it it can speed things up with use. It also depends on pre-shave products also like oils, I bought a used Gem Clog Pruf all brass and the fellow who owned it prior must of been using pre shave oils of some sort. It was the hardest razor to clean from my other vintage razors I own. Patina are just oxides forming on the outer surface of the brass mostly. Nothing wrong with Patina because it is naturally occurs over time. Most metals create oxides + it protects the surface, some oxides are very hard also.
Nickel was used to enhance the looks of the razor and some brass can give off metal odour so that is mostly eliminated also with a coating like nickel or chrome.
Some fellows do not like Patina so will scrub a brass razor more often or just sell it, seems strange to myself but that is the way it is.
 
I bought a Karve brass razor once and sold it immediately. While it was a nice shaving razor, it started to patina the minute I let it out of the box. I'm in Florida and humidity here doesn't help with that!
And it has a weird smell that's not very pleasant!
I also collect drums and cymbals and have many brass and bronze pieces. I have to polish everything at least once every 3 months in order to keep it nice! Lots of work!
 
It is possible to get those nice brass razors plated with Rhodium, Gold, Chrome, or whatever. However, that takes away the look of the brass and its antimicrobial properties are covered up. Gold preserves the look of polished brass, sort of. It is different, but similar. Since gold is soft, I think the razor would first be plated in a harder metal and then the gold applied. I had my old Gillette Tech that was formerly gold and had been stripped down to the brass re-plated with gold and it looks amazing.
 
Top Bottom