MrGuy
Gem Jr.
My mom says I'm cool!
Posts: 254
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Post by MrGuy on Mar 5, 2012 1:28:38 GMT -6
A while back, I saw an episode of Dirty Jobs where our hero, Mike Rowe, was washing change at a hotel. It looked to me like all they did was load a big ol' tumbler with the change, some BB's, water, and borax. The coins came out incredibly shiny. That got me wondering what a borax soak and scrub on a cruddy razor would do. I finally remembered to pick up a box of borax today, but it seems I'm fresh out of crudded up razors. Looks like I'll have to make the antique shop rounds tomorrow and see if I can get lucky and find a dirty razor or two. The good news is, I'm about due to find a razor again, the bad news is, it will likely be one of those "modern" DE things
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blobby
SE Super Freak
Posts: 83
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Post by blobby on Mar 5, 2012 2:13:09 GMT -6
And if you're way outa luck it'll be oneathem three piece thingemejiggles too. Darn complicated.
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Post by wchnu on Mar 5, 2012 4:27:09 GMT -6
Seems to be I have heard of using borax to clean a brush or two. Do not quote me on that though.... just one of those threads of memory I think are floating around in me head. Let is know how it goes.. Even if cleaning one of them dang two sided things. ;D
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RocketMan
Gem Star
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Post by RocketMan on Mar 5, 2012 9:54:25 GMT -6
I have never used Borax really to clean anything. Used to use it on anthills and it worked great to slow those critters down, but never cleaned anything with it!
Looking forward to how this works for you.
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MrGuy
Gem Jr.
My mom says I'm cool!
Posts: 254
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Post by MrGuy on Mar 5, 2012 11:25:36 GMT -6
Borax on brushes is one of those things where some guys say it's the best, some guys say it damages the brush. I haven't used it for brushes, but I used to live in a house with crazy hard well water and I would add it to the washing machine to help the detergent work a little better. It was pretty good in that field. You can also mix it with Elmer's glue for some nifty home made Silly-Putty type of stuff, so if it's a bust on the razors I can still put it to use ;D
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Post by johna2231 on Mar 5, 2012 11:48:10 GMT -6
Mr. Guy,
I haven't used borax for anything except to preserve hides. It makes 'em stiff as a 2X4 but it keeps the hair from slippin' if you wanna display a badger or fox hide.
This other idea might be old news to many of you but I thought I'd throw it out there:
I handload my own ammo and part of the process is to clean your brass. The most popular easy way to do this is to use a vibratory brass polisher. It holds various forms of "media" usually made from crushed corn cobs or walnut hulls that are "loaded" with a cleaning or polishing agent. Anyway, you put the media in the polisher and throw in your brass, turn that bad boy on and forget it.
Besides its intended purpose I also use my brass polisher for refurbishing razors. With straights it can work the occasional miracle but won't get the real bad stuff off. I've thrown various DEs and SEs in there and had some good results.
I bought my brass polisher probably 15 years ago and it's still running strong. I think they are around $50 or so now. If you're interested you can get one from Midway.com.
Hope this wasn't a thread high jack -- just trying to help.
John
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ShadowsDad
Gem Star
None boring shaver!!
"It's not the bow, it's the Indian"
Posts: 4,534
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Post by ShadowsDad on Mar 5, 2012 12:34:09 GMT -6
John, I reload and use a vibartory case cleaner with corncob and walnut also. I think one would need to be very careful on using that with some razors that have internal moving parts. The MM line comes to my mind. Those walnut hulls can be very fine, and I could see it getting in the mechanism, and if theres a way to open it up, I never found it.
Now an ultrasonic cleaner would work fine as long as it was just liquid cleaner in it. But I don't know if it would pay for itself. A water pic might also work if one had one.
I use an industrial detergent (Planisol-M) and a toothbrush and it works fine. So does dish detergent. If I have a really cruddy razor and no plastic parts I grab a flat bottomed SE dog dish and bring the mix, razor include to a boil, then just let it cool before hitting it with the old toothbrush.
I never used borax, but I bet it would work. Used dry or as a paste I bet it also work as a low abrasion scrubber. But so does Bartenders Friend or Bon-Ami. Used with a toothbrush and applied gently. So might baking soda.
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MrGuy
Gem Jr.
My mom says I'm cool!
Posts: 254
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Post by MrGuy on Mar 5, 2012 18:31:00 GMT -6
Well, there were several razors to choose from today, but none I was too interested in, or very dirty. I did grab a 1912 model with a travel size handle just for the sake of testing to borax. A long soak in about 1 TBS borax and one cup or so of hot water, followed with a scrub with a tooth brush did a decent job getting the surface stuff off. My next test, as Brian mentioned, is to mix a paste and treat it like a polish to see what happens. I also picked up a decent Rubberset brush and gave it the borax soak. It did a really good job of cleaning the bristles, no idea what will happen to the hair if it's used long term.
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RocketMan
Gem Star
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Post by RocketMan on Mar 5, 2012 19:08:42 GMT -6
Well, there were several razors to choose from today, but none I was too interested in, or very dirty. I did grab a 1912 model with a travel size handle just for the sake of testing to borax. A long soak in about 1 TBS borax and one cup or so of hot water, followed with a scrub with a tooth brush did a decent job getting the surface stuff off. My next test, as Brian mentioned, is to mix a paste and treat it like a polish to see what happens. I also picked up a decent Rubberset brush and gave it the borax soak. It did a really good job of cleaning the bristles, no idea what will happen to the hair if it's used long term. I don't recall where I read it, but borax is considered a good cleaner for brushes - especially for folks who don't like the wet dog smell of the new ones. It was an older item I was reading.....I just can't for the life of me recall. But, it definately indicated using a borax solution for cleaning shaving brushes.
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MrGuy
Gem Jr.
My mom says I'm cool!
Posts: 254
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Post by MrGuy on Mar 6, 2012 1:53:27 GMT -6
Borax comes up a bit for brush cleaning. I don't know what would cause any problems, but Thater specifically writes in their insert never to use it. They also to list all kinds of things that void their warranty or prematurely wear out a brush, like water over 104 degrees and face lathering I don't know, seems safe to me, I guess.
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Post by Alan on Mar 6, 2012 4:42:17 GMT -6
Growing up as a kid I remember a product called "Boraxo". It was a white powder that came in a box. You used it to clean dirty greasy hands. Many years ago Borax was a very big produt. They even sponsored a TV show about the old west. It was hosted by a guy called "The Old Ranger". When he passed on the show was hosted by someone else. Anyone know who?
Alan
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blobby
SE Super Freak
Posts: 83
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Post by blobby on Mar 6, 2012 4:42:39 GMT -6
........They also to list all kinds of things that void their warranty or prematurely wear out a brush, like water over 104 degrees and face lathering....... So, smashing it in to a ceramic bowl's OK but face lathering's not? How does that make sense. Even a puck of soap is harder than your average face.
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Post by wchnu on Mar 6, 2012 5:42:17 GMT -6
Growing up as a kid I remember a product called "Boraxo". It was a white powder that came in a box. You used it to clean dirty greasy hands. Many years ago Borax was a very big produt. They even sponsored a TV show about the old west. It was hosted by a guy called "The Old Ranger". When he passed on the show was hosted by someone else. Anyone know who? Alan I cheated and used google. Interesting
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RocketMan
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Post by RocketMan on Mar 6, 2012 9:17:43 GMT -6
Growing up as a kid I remember a product called "Boraxo". It was a white powder that came in a box. You used it to clean dirty greasy hands. Many years ago Borax was a very big produt. They even sponsored a TV show about the old west. It was hosted by a guy called "The Old Ranger". When he passed on the show was hosted by someone else. Anyone know who? Alan I cheated and used google. Interesting I knew about the 20 mule teams that rode out the mined borax from Death Valley. Didn't know about this TV thing and that jelly bean eating dood..... I cheated too!
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Post by johna2231 on Mar 6, 2012 9:26:10 GMT -6
Brian,
Good advice as always. I just picked up a Gem OCMM from another board so I'm glad you warned me about the possibility of problems from Walnut media.
Good old 20 mule team Borax! snicker
John
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