Stainless Steel vs. Rust

Getting into we shaving has a learning curve–you’re taking a step back in history to before the world went mad and decided everything had to be disposable as an infinite marketing maneuver! Let’s assume you started out as I did with your first DE (double edge) razor and you got your first great shave. It’s a good bet you had whats called a POT metal razor that was cast and then coated for durability. Pot metal—also known as monkey metal, white-metal, or die-cast zinc—is a colloquial term that refers to alloys of low-melting point metals that manufacturers use to make fast, inexpensive castings. I discovered this the hard way when my Parker 26C screw/stem simply broke off, rendering my razor useless until it was replaced, as you can’t repair or re-coat POT/cast metal. The upside is these razors are cheap and its what you get for around the US$20 mark and up.

All Stainless Steel Is Not The Same!

So then I eyed my first Stainless Steel (SS) ‘grail’ DE razor and it came as a shock to me when (after i forgot to remove a DE blade and it started to get some surface rust on the blade) the razor got ‘tea stains’ or light surface rust (as i caught it early enough). Then I noticed some of my razors were more prone to this than others and I wondered why; all were branded and sold as Stainless Steel after all, was there a difference?  So I checked the website, emailed for spec’s or discreetly asked what grade of Stainless they were using to make these razors from and was surprised at the answer to discover that for my big purchase i bought the lowest grade stainless steel!

The invention STEEL is very old, its been use since the dawn of the Iron Age in about 1300BC and its been used to make everything, from tools to armour to knives and that’s where I started my education on ‘what is steel’?  In about 250AD in Japan, sword makers began to experiment with steel and produce ever better versions for weapons. They added other refined materials and used heating and cooling as well as folding to eventual make the pinnacle of Japanese swords, the samurai sword!

Wikipedia defines Stainless Steel as, “In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French inoxydable, is a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5% chromium content by mass.” It comes in grades, the basic grades are 303, 304, 316/316L and the addition of highly refined chromium and other metals for a stronger, more rust resistant metal. It was envisioned in 1911 into a standard after much debate over its earliest experiments in the late 1880’s (where it was a trade secret as a military advantage by French, German and Polish claimants on its ‘discovery’).  So, let’s just say by the mid 1938-45 it was refined to the basic substance we all rely on in daily life today!

• ISO 303 SS Austenitic stainless steel offers the best machinability for stainless steel. It is mainly used when production involves extensive machining.
• ISO 304 SS Is the most versatile, and the most widely austenitic, commonly known as 18/8 Stainless Steel.
• ISO 316 SS Is dual certificated (316/316L) Austenitic chromium nickel molybdenum steel.

Aluminum does not rust, but rather because of its makeup easily corrodes and so for longevity (for the purposes of shaving razors) is coated and if it wasn’t for these coatings it would corrode even faster than even base SS 303 would rust! But properly coated they will outlive most un-coated stainless steel!

The Problem

So back to my problem, why were some of my growing razor collection more prone to rust than others? Well it turns out when H2O and dissolved salts (anything for the ocean to tap water) come in contact with stainless steel a chemical/electrical reaction takes place that results in what we see as rust. The biggest culprit is sulfur content and the content goes down in higher grade stainless steel and are hence, more and rust resistant. Now lets be clear, all metals will rust if not coated or kept from this chemical/electrical reaction, its JUST A QUESTION OF SPEED OVER TIME.

Now even the cheapest of watches are machined from 316L SS and I’ve never had a problem swimming with any of my watches in the ocean (the springs at either end of a watch that holds the watch band is another story though, I replace mine in my dive watch every few months because I swim a lot as I live on the great barrier reef, in Australia).  Rolex use 904SS and its ever so slightly even better than 316L but it way more expensive to work with than 316L. And here is the problem. Some manufactures to save money and lower costs are making razors from the cheaper 303 steel and its more prone to rust faster, than 304 or 316L. 303 is cheaper, easier to machine and not so hard on equipment, but its also the lowest grade of what is ISO certified as stainless steel too!

One other thing we have down under is an abundance of Iron Ore, we have mountain ranges of it in Western Australia and they glow dark ochre red in the afternoon sun as they rust naturally over 1000’s of kilometers. We mine it and export it and we can alone supply the world with the highest grade ores in existence for a millennia or more. Japan and China take it and refine it into both raw materials and products that I bet you have around your home today and its also cheap! That’s a two edge sword, as they say.  Import tariffs, quota limits and the desire to use the ‘local product’ means that compromises are made if prices and margins are to maintained.

Alas the razor that first alerted me to the problem, my beloved Above The Tie is 303 stainless steel and as I got replies back I discovered that the new single edge razors, some were also 303 SS and if its un-coated your fancy new razor might well get its self a dose of rust if you mistakenly rust the razor blade in one by mistake.

Razors that use the higher quality 316L stainless are the Rockwell razor, the Rocnel razor and the OneBlade. iKon use DLC coated stainless steel or aluminum &  the Standard razor is made of coated aluminum too and I’ve had no problems with any of these.

What To Do?

So to be clear, its the blades that usually cause the rust in the first instance as they are usually made from the cheapest stainless steel and some are more prone than others (DE or SE) to rust, depending themselves on the quality of coatings applied. Why’s that?  They were just used in a shave & so are wet with the dissolved salts from the water, starting the inevitable reaction that will be transmitted to the stainless steel razor over time. So it’s advisable to remove used blades, dry blades (yes, lots of warnings on every razor box saying not to, so do at your own risk) and your razor after use. Also fish oil, the main ingredient in WD40 is a great way to protect and stop rust in its tracks or prevent it entirely!

If you discover rust, relax, all’s not lost as basic surface rust is often easily removed with just a non-scratch scratchy and some white vinegar and a gently rub with a cloth, then finished up with some oil coating over it to protect it. But if its allowed to grow too much, you may need to sand back to base metal and coat with oil or even get it plated with a permanent coating like Rhodium plated or Ceracoating (Cerakote) ceramic coating as affordable options.  We already do this when we restore 100 year old razors already but it is an extra expense that I didn’t think I would have to consider buying a new, expensive razor!

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