The Good, The Bad, and The Rusty

So in my past two shaves I've had the best shave of my life, and the worst shave that I've had since switching to a DE.

First, The Good: Saturday I did a 4 pass shave with my new Fatboy and my first shave with a Voskhod that Maher kindly sent with the Fatboy. This was the best shave I've ever had, my first BBS everywhere but on the neck where I wasn't quite daring enough to go ATG.

Second, The Bad: Today I tried the same Fatboy with a Lord Super Stainless. I only made it through 2 passes as I had 4 nicks from my WTG, XTG.

The Rusty: I switched out the Voskhod after only 1 shave because it was turning the razor rusty. It all came off with a toothbrush, but after only 2 days it was pretty ugly. I think I did my alcohol rinse, but perhaps not. The Voskhod says that it is Teflon coated, could this be something to do with that and not rust? Is it a carbon steel blade?

Interesting. I leave my Voskhods in the razor between shaves, wet, for three shaves and have never seen a rust issue. Granted I've only used about 6 Voskhod blades so far. They're the best blades I've found in my short DE life.

I'll give it another shot and make sure I do an alcohol rinse.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/248577-Voshkod-blades?p=3469945#post3469945

I try to like them.

Really surprising how much rust can bloom out of one blade in such short time. Really surprising. There must be something in some water supplies that makes these explode with rust. I know because I've seen it. I think I've tried enough blades to know what a used blade should normally look like after a shave or two. No one should have to come up with a rinse routine to salvage a $0.12 blade. The scary part, is that the rust that blooms off these blades envelops your razor too. GROSS.

bakerbarber said:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/248577-Voshkod-blades?p=3469945#post3469945

I try to like them.

Really surprising how much rust can bloom out of one blade in such short time. Really surprising. There must be something in some water supplies that makes these explode with rust. I know because I've seen it. I think I've tried enough blades to know what a used blade should normally look like after a shave or two. No one should have to come up with a rinse routine to salvage a $0.12 blade. The scary part, is that the rust that blooms off these blades envelops your razor too. GROSS.

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Exactly! I had to use a tooth brush to save my pristine Fatboy after only two days in contact with the blade.

5savages said:

Interesting. I leave my Voskhods in the razor between shaves, wet, for three shaves and have never seen a rust issue.

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+1 Maybe its your water although mine is quite harsh or perhaps LA weather.

stfly said:

+1 Maybe its your water although mine is quite harsh or perhaps LA weather.

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It could very well be. I pulled this out of my blade bank last night. It went through 3 shaves, put away wet each time, then sat in my damp blade bank for at least 6 weeks. I do have a water softener, if that matters.

I got another great shave from a Voskhod this morning, then gave it an alcohol bath. I'll see how it looks tomorrow. I'm wondering if perhaps my proximity to the ocean (5 blocks) is to blame.

I'll try to remember to post a picture of the one that came out of my razor yesterday after only 2 days in razor.

Dlskier said:

I got another great shave from a Voskhod this morning, then gave it an alcohol bath. I'll see how it looks tomorrow. I'm wondering if perhaps my proximity to the ocean (5 blocks) is to blame.

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Look at the big picture. I would gladly accept rusty blades in exchange for living 5 blocks from the ocean.

The Astra SP's I bought look just like this after three days of shaving. I think I do a pretty good job of rinsing and drying, maybe not?

Pardon the blurriness. But you get the point. This was after 1 shave and 2 days without an alcohol rinse. The rinse helped, though I still get a little crusty between the adjustable contact points of the fat boy and the razor where I'm assuming the water doesn't get flushed from by the alcohol.

5savages said:

Look at the big picture. I would gladly accept rusty blades in exchange for living 5 blocks from the ocean.

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Haha, good point. I'm not complaining, I just think if my love affair with this razor continues I might have to use it in less pretty razors or just toss after each shave.

Dlskier said:

Pardon the blurriness. But you get the point. This was after 1 shave and 2 days without an alcohol rinse. The rinse helped, though I still get a little crusty between the adjustable contact points of the fat boy and the razor where I'm assuming the water doesn't get flushed from by the alcohol.

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There must be something horribly wrong with that balde's manufacturing (coating, steel, ...). Blade-grade stainless steel should not just explode into rust like that, seaside or not!

If the blade develops that much rust after 1 shave and 2 days, I would think that the alcohol rinse would be to blame. If there is some type of coating on the blade out of the factory, eg. teflon or oil, the alcohol rinse would remove that coating. There would no longer be any type of "anti-corrosion" coating thus resulting is rust development.

Have you tried a second blade with similar results?

Which part of "Stainless" did I not understand?

This is after four (4) days of usage. The shaver was clean like new before, the blade was always properly rinsed and I tried to keep the blade away from both parts of the shaver head. The bathroom environment is very dry, the water rather hard.

For scientific purpose I did the same with cream instead of soap, result was the same, but I stopped after two days.

Try a drop of simple mineral oil coating blade and razor. It will prevent rusting of the 'stainless' blade to a good extend and whatever develops will be very easy to clean from the surface of the razor head. Some combinations of razor metal and blade are just better in developing rust than others. A certain level of salt water spray in the air will certainly "help" in this regard.

I bet the chromium content of that stainless blade is pretty low. Maybe less than 10%. In my experience with knives, the more chromium in the steel, the harder it is to get bleeding edge sharp. Carbon steels can be sharpened easier and be some of the sharpest blades made. However, there is a real art to balancing the steel formula, grind, and temper in making a great blade.

Maybe that is why this one tends to rust a little easier...

wow i never have had a voshkod rust like that. i have VERY bad water and have a huge softener but still have hard water (we have to keep it set to 65-70grains) i get a very tiny bit but nothing like that. i do remove the blade each time and i have a small hook in my cabinet that the blade goes on after each shave. it only touches in the middle and does not ever touch the edges. never any issues.

Dlskier said:

The Rusty: I switched out the Voskhod after only 1 shave because it was turning the razor rusty.

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Voskhods rust quickly when I use them too.