[loueedacat]

My wife got me an old German razor at an antique fair which is in really nice shape. I cleaned it with metal polish and scrub and bubbles, and then thought I'd soak it over night in water (started as boiling water and then cooled obviously). Anyway, in the morning the blade appears to have stained in broad lines that make it look like it's got full camouflage makeup on.

Is this permanet, or shuold I be able to metal polish it out? Or do I need to even sand it out?

Is it unwise to soak blades in water? Or should I do it in alcohol and water?

The blade does feel a lot cleaner and no longer feels like it has 100 year of crud on it.

[icedog]

You've caused the steel to oxidize. Don't let it happen again. Submerging steel in boiling water greatly accelerates the corrosive process. Various manufacturing plants use "boil testing" to force corrosion on steel. Yes, the razor can be cleaned up.

[Mike Blue]

Most of the references to testing with boiling water I could find are related to stainless steels in systems that have corrosive liquid contents, like nuclear reactors or boilers.

Rust will turn black in boiling water. Perhaps there is some microscopic oxidation present that was not readily visible to the eye that converted to black. This form of the process has been well-understood in the gun business. The difference between rust-browning and bluing a gun barrel is boiling water. I agree that some more polishing will remove the oxides.

Pix would help.

[loueedacat]

Thanks. I had a feeling this might have "revealed" an issue that was already present and I just couldn't see. I was particularly curious on that because some of the black ran down to the cutting edge, which otherwise looked immaculate, so I was wondering if I had just found out the edge wasn't as immaculate as it had appeared to the naked eye. It actually looks kind of interesting (Damascus on drugs) but I'd like to get it out. I'm not good with pictures but will figure it out and post.

In the future, what can I soak an old razor in? Is it ok to soak in say rubbing alcohol, or is soaking just not a good idea?

[icedog]

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Most of the references to testing with boiling water I could find are related to stainless steels in systems that have corrosive liquid contents, like nuclear reactors or boilers.

Medical device manufacturers do extensive boil testing of instruments comprised of various stainless steels and other metals to test for proper passivation. Any non-stainless ferrous metal particles left behind during the manufacturing processes will oxidize very rapidly.

Why soak at all?

[loueedacat]

Originally Posted by icedog

Why soak at all?

even after cleaning it with steel polish and then scrub and bubbles, it just felt like it had been cruddy for a while. After soaking it is really felt better [at the cost of the staining of course] - so the idea is if you soak it some of the residual crud comes off cleaner. Not that you can get there eventually by scrubbing and scrubbing but I like the idea of one good scrub to let the solvent (water in this case) do some of the work.

[jwoods]

try to soak it in medical grade barbicide mixed properly of course, follow the instructions to the letter, it should feel clean after that, the next time you get one that feels like that, or anytime you get a razor thats ever been used by someone else

[gssixgun]

I made this mistake once, I left a blade soaking over night in 90% rubbing alcohol and found a black blade.....
I use a small parts cleaning brush now, and the alcohol to clean them up, then some soap and hot water.....
The wife has some high power germicide for tanning beds that requires a 10 minute soak that I use for sterilization, but even that gets an air dry after per instructions...... Followed by an oil wipe down!!!!

[Mike Blue]

Originally Posted by icedog

Medical device manufacturers do extensive boil testing of instruments comprised of various stainless steels and other metals to test for proper passivation. Any non-stainless ferrous metal particles left behind during the manufacturing processes will oxidize very rapidly.

Why soak at all?

Hmm. Speaking now of passivating does sort of change the conditions doesn't it? You could re-passivate a stainless steel razor and improve the corrosion resistance. Passivation does not apply to carbon steels, and I would suspect neither does boil testing for the same reason.

The color of the oxide won't affect the performance of the blade once honed correctly. Oil it after fixing the appearance to where you like it.