Keep razor blades sharp
Keep razor blades sharp
(OP)
What is the best way to keep razor blades sharp? I read somewhere that most modern razor blades dull from corrosion long before they get dull from cutting beard hair. If that is true, how can I keep them from corroding?





RE: Keep razor blades sharp
If you don't like the oil idea, try putting them in a zip-lock baggie, squeeze out the excess air, and store them in the freezer. The cold will slow any corrosion reactions.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
If so, what liquid would be appropriate?
Alcohol? Baby oil? Soap?
The freezer is far from my bathroom....
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I'd stay away from soaps and oils; many oils do not displace moisture. A good grade of gun oil or sewing machine oil. There may also be some oils that are used for machinery that will provide water displacing benefits. You also have to be careful about removing a coating as not to damage the blade greater than the expected corrosion. Is it possible to 'rig' a small impressed current using a battery to provide some type of cathodic protection?
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I don't use this (really), but WD40 will probably prevent corrosion.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I'm sure submerging the razor in alcohol accelerated the corrosion because of the water in the alcohol. Instead of just atmospheric moisture being in contact with the metal, now a lot of water was in contact. Leaving the blade in the handle could have also promoted corrosion if the dissimilar metals created a battery.
They say WD40 displaces water, but I wouldn't want to get it into any cuts. I think any oil should be washed off before use, but baby oil would be the safest.
Dik,
I like the idea of using a small battery to provide some cathodic protection. I don't imagine it would be too hard to rig up a battery, anode, and a couple of steel alligator clips. Don't use copper clips and if copper wire is used, seal it up well with silicone glue. I'd add an adjustable resistance too because a 1.5 V battery could supply way more current than was needed (depending on the electrolyte.)
IFRs,
Imersion in a liquid is fine, but it would have to be baby oil. The idea is to use a liquid that won't absorb water from the air and will prevent water vapor or liquid from touching the blades. The oil would also seal the blades from oxygen. Oxygen and water together cause corrosion to occur easily. Alcohol or soap would not give this protection. Complete immersion wouldn't be necessary, just an unbroken coating of oil on the blade edge.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
The newer blades come with a number of coatings (some of them are advanced PVD or CVD coatings) providing wear-resistance and corrosion protection.
Check with Gillete's technical people what they say.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
You forgot to include the HDG <G>! It would be interesting to see what sort of wisdom a Gillette tekkie could offer!
I was hoping that sciguyjim was going to elaborate on the cathodic protection... control systems, that sort of ilk.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Wash them in pure ethanol or methylated spirits and then blow dry them. You will then need to store them in a dry location.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I used to work for a chief engineer that ACTUALLY had a self-made plastic pyramid setting on his drafting table and had put corroded razor blades under the pyramid. "Pyramid Power" was supposed to heal the corrosion!
Jesus is THE life,
Leonard
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Wiring up a cathode to stop your razor going dull? Blimey.
Someone please, design an utterly ridiculous over-the-top razor protection system. With a brushed alu finish and at a whole bunch of flashing LEDs, one of which must be blue, with a cool backlit LCD screen.
I'd buy it.
Reminds me of that 'Dilbert' comment: "An Engineer is someone who can't look at his TV remote control without wondering what it would take to turn it into a ray gun."
Excessive accuaracy is a sign of poor breeding. -Socrates.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
When you finish shaving and lay the razor on the sink counter it lands across the tail of a mouse. The mouse scampers off and claws a towel hanging from a rack. The towel falls and hits a hairbrush estended over the edge of the counter and falls to a teeter totter on the floor which projects a ball towards the ceiling where it releases a vacuum chamber with a rubber suction cup which falls over the razor, pulls a hard vacuum and voila.....
Jesus is THE life,
Leonard
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Wax sometimes is used for long term cutlery storage. However, the wax would prevent the blade from slipping smoothly across the skin unless removed first.
Eureka!
How about food grade light mineral Oil. It is usually labled as wooden cutting board dressing.
Coats the blade, and excludes moisture and oxygen.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I use an electric rotary shaver, I've never used any straight blade. Now and then, I get little nicks, usually on my neck, which almost bleed a tiny bit. These are not from the whiskers getting snagged and being forcably pulled out, that's a very different feel and they do not bleed. I think it happens more when the whiskers are short. I can see how a straight blade can possibly nick the skin, but I don't see how the rotary, with such tiny gaps in the screen, can possibly grab any skin. Anybody have any guesses how this happens.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I can find and then give it a rugged shake to
rid the water. Lasts more than a month. I
know guys who dispose of ss blades everyday.
I do use the 3 blade type imbedded in a plastic
cartridge. I do store the razor in its original
holder with the blade down rather than up.
Up does make more sense, but 30 days is not bad.
Anyone here ever strop a straight edge razor?
Almost that old!
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I use individual razor blades for several weeks with no special care. So why the concern with corrosion? I've never seen corrosion on razor blades. Maybe your water has low pH.
IRFs: It is not only oxygen that you need to keep from the blades, but also moisture (electrolyte).
If anyone has used rubbing alcohol to keep moisture away, remember rubbing alcohol has about 3% water.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Three guys are driving down the road in this new car. One of them says " What do they put on your driver's license for hair color if you are completely bald?"
The APIGUY....
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Can't do that. Would be like visiting the ladie's room.
Better grow beard and cut with a pair of scissors - or with an axe and a log. But be careful! Head is also easily chopped off!
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Anyway, how about putting the blades under parafine-oil. This way Na is kept, isn't it?
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
You will read the results right here in about 2 weeks-the normal time it takes for my razors to start pulling out hairs (ouch) instead of cutting them.
So lets line up the bets on what will happen.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
We are - of course - very grateful that you undertake this scientific investigation. But, while you are at it, couldn't you also throw in cathodic protection as well? There are many questions that remain to be answered and your research will certainly add valuable knowledge to the engineering community. Thanks for the initiative!
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
But I am accelerating the test by wetting/drying the razor several times a day, so we'll get the results soon--and I assume I'll be receiving MANY red stars!
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I really admire your sacrifice for science and mankind!
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Any results on your cryo blade test yet?
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Tom
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
How 'bout SNAKE OIL?
Jesus is THE life,
Leonard
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I guess were back to pyramid power.
Jesus is THE life,
Leonard
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
'Course here in Italy one can still buy real "red lead" paint-so loaded with lead a liter of it weighs a lot.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Interesting experiment. One more variable to consider though - does crevice corrosion/underdeposit corrosion contribute to failure? It seems that no matter how long I rinse the blades or how hard I shake them I still end up with whiskers trapped between the blades (I use Atra blades, a new one every Monday). I'll try to remember to bring my old blades in on Monday and look at them under the microscope to see if there's pitting or wear.
Knobhead,
I like the idea of the razor blade protection gizmo. You could sell it in one of those gadget catalogs right beside the cathodic protection systems for cars and the clip-on magnetic water softeners!
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Or, plan B, just feeling silly about the holiday.
Have a good weekend.
tom
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Is that a philosophical or religious question? Either way I guess my hands are tied since this is a TECHNICAL forum.
tom,
psycotronics eh? Maybe that's the ticket. If we all put on our AFDB's and place our razors under pyramids, we can delude ourselves into believing the red stars on our cheeks are from an attempt at mind control via the forum that got deflected off our brain and fell on our cheeks.
Jesus is THE life,
Leonard
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
kind regards
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I suspect that you are correct-corr. isn't involved at all.
Another interesting--a sharp razor makes a different sound than a dull one while being dragged across your face.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
There are some comments and questions to that:
1 The Egyptian government does not allow anyone to dig under the pyramids anymore. It was in the 19th century that such excavations could be undertaken without legal penalties.
2 IF you are permitted to dig a tunnel under a pyramid and put your razor blades there, you should think about the humidty level in such a location. It is true that the desert often is an extremely dry place, but keep in mind that there is a vertical RH gradient, which means that humidity goes up as you go down.
3 Is it really worth the trouble?
4 Should this posting be red-flagged?
5 Or, perhaps, red-stared?
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I suspect some of the sound is transmitted right thru the skin.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Actually, I saw a gizmo in one of the gadget catalogues a few years ago that was a stand for safety razors that immersed the head in a special oil ($7.95/bottle). It showed some pretty dramatic microscopy shots in the copy- (as one would expect!).
So I started storing my razor immersed head-down in baby oil. It did seem to improve longevity and performance marginally, probably by keeping shaving detritus (especially hard water deposits) from drying and adhering to the blades. You have to use a razor without the 'lubricating strips' because the oil will start to dissolve the low HLB surfactants they're made of, and the resulting rough leading-edge will plow your face pretty effectively.
BTW, nothing sets up your whiskers for a shave like a genuine boar's hair brush (available for about $7 on the bottom shelf at most drug stores, and will last 5-10 years). These are still popular in Europe- where Men take their toilet more seriously than most convenience-minded Americans.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Possibly the only option would be to corrode the blade and then sputter coat a very thin layer corrosion resisnt metal over it like chromium or gold.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
My bet says it will shave just like new.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Or lay down a layer of non-stick Teflon- readily accessible technology, comparatively economical, and brand-differentiating marketing potential. Who says Gillette has a monopoly on new ideas?
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Last one to leave this thread please turn out the lights!
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
The test razor. Is it the one that that you cycled wet/dry/wet etc? And you tell us that nothing happened to it? No corrosion? No rough edges? No build-ups?
I start to think that there should have been another test run parallel to the wdw cycling. One where a razor were just taken out of the protective packaging and left like that. So, if you don't mind; please run that test once again. I leave the light on for you.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I think I will try shaving every other day with a standard blade and with a treated blade. That way, the conditions will be identical or nearly so.
Unfortulatly, I'm going on holiday next week (and I don't shave on holiday!!) so I can't start my testing until the week after. It will take a couple of weeks after that, maybe more to get one result.
Good results will only come after repeating this test several times.
Any volunteers?
Also, I seem to find variations between blades. Some brand new ones nick right away and I pitch them while other new ones shave really nicely and I keep them as long as possible. So, I will make sure that I get similar initial shaves from my two test razors before continuing with a test.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I get about a month from a razor.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Mineral Oil works great for both short and extended (3+ months) time periods and is easily removed with a light dabbing of isopropyl alcohol right before the shave.
You also might want to check out greatrazors.com, which sells cryogenically tempered packs of the most common blades sold today. I have personally found that these last about twice as long as a regular, untempered blade from Target. The only problem is, with the extended lifetime the lube strip tends to wear out after about a week (on a Mach3 turbo), and the blade is still useful for a reasonably good shave for another few days. This isn't a total loss, however, as the blades are the same price as in a store and the 7 days of shaves I do get before the lube strips jumps ship are far better anyway since the blade is sharper for longer.
By the way, I think eng-tips.com is the only place on the internet where you'll find a serious conversation about using a cathode charging technique to preserve the lifetime of a razor blade! Yup. This site is awesome.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Read Bush's lips.
It's
Jesus Saves
Not
Jesus Shaves
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Current Gillette blades are coated. They have a layer of platinum for corrosion protection and a layer of diamond-like-carbon (DLC) for friction reduction. They are not on the blades to increase blade life, only to improve performance in the near term.
Panasonic deposits TiN on the foils for their wet-dry electric razors. There is no reason this very hard coating can't be put on razor blades for extended life as well -- we put a related coating on scalpel blades, and ours are the sharpest and longest-lasting on the market by far.
Jim Treglio
Molecular Metallurgy, Inc.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
The commercial blades that are used for chopping fibers used in reinforced plasitcs are made from 440C. They are shaped, heat treated, honed and then TiC ion implanted. They are slightly dulled durring the TiC process. In the long run it is very helpful. The harder surface resista abrasion better and they are less effected by the residual acid on the fibers.
I am still convinced that corrosion is a factor in the dulling of blades. Most soaps contain chorides, some as much as 4%. It may be the soap residue that is the source of the corrosion.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Corrosion never sleeps, but it can be managed.
http://www.trenttube.com/Trent/tech_form.htm
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
My father kept his blades sharp, corrosion free, by using a light coat of lanolin/lanolin oil or during WWII after careful cleaning stored his razors in a sodium bicarbonate solution.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
I shave (weekly) with an electric razor and I clean up with a DRY dual-blade disposable razor- that helps catch the few long hairs that take forever for the electric razor to completely catch. The primary difference in effectiveness between brands of these disposable two-blade razors haz ZERO to do with edge sharpness or metallurgy and everything to do whether or not the razor has a mechanism for cleaning out the detritus (whiskers, skin and skin oils, shaving cream etc.) which gets stuck between the two blades and renders them BOTH effectively as dull as a garden hoe. No amount of washing with ordinary tapwater will remove this junk sufficiently and eventually you get frustrated and throw them out. If the cutting tool has no edge exposed, it won't cut no matter HOW sharp it is. One or two brands, names of which escape me, have a little plastic device connected to a button at the back of the shaving head which permits you to eject this trapped detritus after every use. These shavers last maybe 10x longer for me than the others, and they work even longer (i.e. 6 months to a year each) if you shave dry.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
He said the way to avoid it was to rinse the blade in COLD water only, dunking it in alcohol immediately after rinsing for the last time and placing it to dry with the edges facing up. He said that the old "razor strop" was just a way of clearing the crystals off the edge of a straight razor.
I've been using his technique for many years. It worked with the older stainless blades, but works even better with the newer ones. I routinely get fifteen to twenty really good shaves out of one blade, and in one case on a job in Central America I managed to push one somewhere over thirty. (That one actually did get dull.)
Corrosion engineering is well and good, but it pays to color outside the lines sometimes. ;)
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Other than that I would like to add that if you shave with a relatively new razor and are getting razor burn then reduce your pressure. Else, figure out which way your hair grows and cut with the grain.
I used to cut against the grain my entire life and normally had cuts or burns. Now I cut with the grain with reduced pressure and get a visually clean shave without nicks or burns. The smoothness quality is reduced tho.
_______________________________________
Feeling frisky.........
www.tailofthedragon.com
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
After using these new,fancy puppies for some weeks, I noticed a dramatic difference in the life of one head vs another. I thought maybe because when I skip a day of shaving that the heavier beard was causing the blades to wear out in two shavngs. Some mornings when I am running late, I don't bother to warm my face with a hot washcloth.
One morning I had a two-day beard but before lathering, I did the warm up procedure: place a wash cloth in the sink (basin) and soak it in hot water. Hold the hot cloth against the cheeks as hot as you can stand it. Smooth shave and the blade lasted several days more. Now I take the time every morning to warm my beard before shaveing and the head has lasted over a week and the shaves are still smooth.
So now we have two more variables to add to the matrix; frequency of use (or vairable beard length)vs life and temperature of face vs life. Maybe I should just get a life !
diamondjim: Yes I have used a straight razor and strop but as a sort of macho experiment. I got lazy and reverted to my safety razor until later swithcing to disposables. Hey -- it's the American way!
tomwaltz: I had a neighbor who had Aluminum foil on his car windows to keep out the beta rays.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
If one side ofthe blade were plated with TiC or diamond
(diamon-like carbon ??) you could actually sharpen it by corroding the metal away.
<nbucska@pcperipherals DOT com> subj: eng-tips
read FAQ240-1032
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
Still using the same 3-blade razor head and warming my face with a hot washcloth like the old-timey babers.
Appears to me that if corrosion is an issue, it is a long-term issue. I wore out a 3-blade head in two shavings by cutting a two day old beard without heating my face. Monday I shaved a three day old beard and have been continuosly using the same 3-blade head for more than ten days. Usually a 3-blade head will last 3-4 days or shavings.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
What is the best way to keep razor blades sharp?
Answer: Heat your face with a hot wash cloth before applying lather.
My triple blade head lasted more than four times as long as when I do not preheat my face.
RE: Keep razor blades sharp
a good rinse
a dunk in water-free alcohol
and submerse in baby oil to cover the blade(s)
trip. blade will stay sharp for over 30 uses.
an indestructable toy is great for breaking other toys..