Thread: clean up old razors

With all the aids and hep-c out there what do you use to clean up thoes old razors bought at second hand shopes? safe for the wood scales?

HIV and hepatitis are viruses. Viruses cannot survive outside the body for very long at all. As soon as the liquid they were in has dried, there is essentially zero risk. From the CDC:

Scientists and medical authorities agree that HIV does not survive well outside the body, making the possibility of environmental transmission remote. HIV is found in varying concentrations or amounts in blood, semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk, saliva, and tears. To obtain data on the survival of HIV, laboratory studies have required the use of artificially high concentrations of laboratory-grown virus. Although these unnatural concentrations of HIV can be kept alive for days or even weeks under precisely controlled and limited laboratory conditions, CDC studies have shown that drying of even these high concentrations of HIV reduces the amount of infectious virus by 90 to 99 percent within several hours. Since the HIV concentrations used in laboratory studies are much higher than those actually found in blood or other specimens, drying of HIV-infected human blood or other body fluids reduces the theoretical risk of environmental transmission to that which has been observed - essentially zero

The reason people sterilise their SRs is to remove bacteria, which can live for long periods of time on surfaces. A decent wipe with an alcohol should kill any bacteria on the blade. Personally I wipe eBay purchases with methylated spirits (denatured alcohol for the USAians) after I receive them, you never know how long they have been sitting in a box somewhere, but that's it.

In the wiki: Sterilization - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Alcohol works well, especially if your on a tight budget. You can also use Barbicide if you like. I've used it on many things for years, and if you have a large enough wash room/bath room etc...It looks kinda cool on the counter. You can get Glass jars and the concentrate here in the States at Sally's Beauty Supply, and it is safe for Razors....

Originally Posted by Hydaral

HIV and hepatitis are viruses. Viruses cannot survive outside the body for very long at all. As soon as the liquid they were in has dried, there is essentially zero risk.

That is true for HIV. Hepatitis is a much hardier virus than HIV.
Also from the CDC:

How long does the Hepatitis B virus survive outside the body?

Hepatitis B virus can survive outside the body at least 7 days. During that time, the virus can still cause infection if it enters the body of a person who is not infected.

CDC DVH - Hepatitis B FAQs for the Public


I have seen infection control videos that say the virus can live for up to six months in dried blood, though I am not sure where they source that information from. (and therefore am not sure how reliable it is, but it does come from a professionally produced video, I'd assume they'd use reliable sources)



The good news is that barbicide or alcohol will kill HAV HBV and HCV.

Nothing harmful is going to be on a 130yo razor. If you bought it from an antique store, ebay, or anywhere where the blade is unrestored, you don't have to worry about it. If you're restoring the blade, you're sanding that gunk off at any rate. If you're still concerned, buy some disinfectant with a tuburculocidal claim like asepticare.

Buy the time i am done sanding/buffing/honing I am usually not too worried.

What I generally do is take a few Q-tips and pound the ends flat so they fit inside the scales. I use scrubbing bubbles and clean any grunge that was built up and maybe some flat dental floss around the pivot.

Wipe the blade with metal polish such as Maas, Semichrome or Flitz and I'm good to go to the hones and then strop and shave. No worries in many many razors so far .... knock on wood.