Thread: Rust and Maas

So, I'm a few shaves in and enjoying each day of the process. However, I noticed that I must not have dried my razor thoroughly enough one day (still trying to learn this patience thing) because there were a few little rings from droplets on the metal that looked as if they were rust. I read the forums and went out and bought some Maas. Put the stuff on, wiped it off, buffed it, cleaned it. Now the ringlets have gotten very thin and very difficult to see, but I can still see where they were as there is a light discoloration.

Isn't Maas suppose to get rid of little things rust spots such as these? Are they going to get worse again? I went at em twice with the compound, thinking maybe I just need to put a bit more to it, but they remain the same, a very thin minor ringlet. Any suggestions? Did I ruin my razor? I can upload picture if needed. Thanks

The razor is not ruined.

You may need to use a more aggressive polishing medium to get down to
bare steel. You may have to go as far as 0000 steel wool soaked in oil
and then polish the resulting finish with your Maas.

Your razor is not going to look brand new for the rest of your life. Those water spots can be a booger to get off, but your razor now has some personality. You might use paper towels with your Maas when trying to remove the spots. You can't polish it too much with your hand, just watch that edge! You think it slices whiskers well, even a "dull" straight slices skin well...very well!

I'm sure you now know this, but we try to dry our razors and even strop 20x or more as razor maintenance. Many oil their blades (I do) with a oil of choice, personally I use mineral oil on a small rag to wipe my blade with after I have performed the drying & stropping.

I actually found rust on my Kamisori handle..jewelery polish works well..thick and pink in color in blue container..not liquid...leave it for 30 minutes..went 3 times with it..took it all off

I rinse and towel dry my razor and let it air dry the rest of the day.

With a straight I leave it open and set it across a shaving bowl.

With my Merkur 34C and 37C, I take it apart (remove the key from the center as well as the head assembly).

You may want to try Flitz polish . It's the best stuff I've ever used . Polishes the blade , and works on the scales ,too . If you can't find it in a store near where you live , you can order it from flitzusa.com . It's not cheap , but IMHO it's worth it .

Pretty much any metal polish whether it's Brasso or Simichrome (which is what I favor) takes off surface very easily. Once the rust has established itself you need to be more aggressive. It will take it off but will require much more rubbing and applications. In such cases Cape Cod Cloths are what the doctor ordered. They are more aggressive than plain polish.

After shaving, I strop the razor 20-30 times and then wipe it down with a Remington silicon gun cloth.

I have a 25 or so razor rotation so a fair amount of time passes before I use the same razor again.

In over 2 years of this routine, I haven't had any problems.

Freehand

It works for me, but YMMV.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I tried the steel wool, which with a fair amount of elbow grease nearly removed all the spots. Still a tiny bit left that is very difficult to see, but yeah I can live with it. I will need to start getting use to the razor not looking brand new forever. I think I'm going to switch from stropping before my shave to stropping after so I can be sure the blade is for sure dry (currently using a denim strop that I made).

I wouldn't stop stropping before your shave 'cause the 20 or so laps after is only designed to dry the edge.
Stropping before the shave is for conditioning the edge to get the best shave.
FWIW
Hang on and enjoy the ride