Using an ultrasonic cleaner

[chicken neck]

I had a bit of spare time last night, so decided to clean ALL my razors in an ultrasonic cleaner (the one everyone on TSR has). Most of the razors had been cleaned thorougly weeks before with a toothbrush and Cif and looked pretty clean already. Those in my current rotation though had soap scum and 2 or 3 of the open comb razors had old gunk between the teeth.

I did 3 minutes in warm water with Fairy Liquid, followed by 3 minutes in warm water with liquid hand soap. That's basically what the instructions told me to do.

Honestly, I hardly saw any difference before and after! In particular, most of the soap scum was still there and the open comb teeth still had all the dirt trapped. I went back to the Cif and toothbrush to finish off properly.

So I am doing something wrong with the ultrasonic? More time? Other cleaning fluids? Or is Cif and a toothbrush just better?

Many thanks

 

[hunnymonster]

50 year old soap gunk can take some shifting

I use 50:50 mix of hot tap water and white vinegar - on for the full 480s, give it a light go with the toothbrush and put it back in. You ought to be able to see the difference in the colour of the water against the white basket thing if not on the razor itself.

 

[antdad]

I've given some razors quite a few cycles before some of the ingrained gunk begins to shift.

 

[chicken neck]

50 year old soap gunk can take some shifting

I use 50:50 mix of hot tap water and white vinegar - on for the full 480s, give it a light go with the toothbrush and put it back in. You ought to be able to see the difference in the colour of the water against the white basket thing if not on the razor itself.

Aha .. so I was being far too soft on the thing! Can I just use household white wine vinegar?

Also any risks to: silver / gold platings? Painted numbers / writing? Plastics?

 

[Boab]

I use distilled malt vinegar for cleaning practically everything.

 

[hunnymonster]

Not encountered anything that has been negatively affected so far - apart from the enamelled in numbers on adjustables - but they are easily restored with about a third of a drip of Humbrol (other brands are available) modellers enamel paint.

 

[Rev-O]

Sometimes the numbers on adjustables float off intact like alphabetti spaghetti. I love it when that happens.

 

[Attero]

Ive been using Warm water with fairy in it - The cleaning power of Lemon!
Give it a couple of 8 minute bursts and it gets rid of most caked on stuff tbh.

Anything left i give it a soak in water and white vinegar or spray the crap out of it with Jif (and it will always BE Jif) bathroom mousse.
Then set to with a toothbrush.

Only thing i wouldn't put in there is my Gold razors .. I dont do much more than water and gentle toothbrush on them tbh.
Paranoid Android prolly.. but there ya go.

 

[Pete]

I usually degas the cleaning solution by running the ultrasonic for a minute or so with no items in it.

If you want to test if it is working OK hold a strip of bacofoil in the solution for a few seconds. Small pinholes should appear in the foil.

 

[antdad]

Small pinholes should appear in the foil.

Really....could I start making my own tea bags then?

 

[Audiolab]

Sometimes the numbers on adjustables float off intact like alphabetti spaghetti. I love it when that happens.

I would love to see the world through your eyes for a day Rev, do you live near a mushroom field and like tea? :lol:

 

[Audiolab]

My tuppence worth on Ultrasonic cleaners,

Using the Ultrasonic cleaner at first I was a bit underwhelmed, I found the first few items were not as sparkling as I had hoped.

Over time I have picked up a few tips that help. First degassing as mentioned earlier, run it for a cycle with nothing in it before use. If the item is like some of the razors you find in car boots (encrusted with soap and gunk) then I usually soak them in a degreasing solution overnight, I have some simple green for this but a little fairy liquid or some washing powder will do the job. Next day a quick scrub with a tooth brush to get rid of what has came loose then run the item in the cleaner for two cycles. Finish with some polish if needed and a microfibre cloth to shine them up.

I got a free bottle of jewellery cleaning solution with my cleaner, it was out of stock when I ordered it from a web retailer and they gave this by way of an apology. The jewellery cleaner is not really needed but it is quite good at cleaning silver and gold. However I have my doubts how much good it does for Razors, but I still use it just because I have it. With Razors you are usually cleaning soap scum but Jewellery is more often skin, oils and residue from products including soap but it is often not so built up and dried out. For a solution without any specialist cleaner, I have found a few drops of fairy in the cleaner works well, heat helps a lot, do not use kettle hot water, just as hot as your tap gets will do.

This sounds like quite a palaver and you may be thinking "Why bother". This is my original point, you maybe shouldn’t bother. I find the Ultrasonic cleaner is not for cleaning lumps of crud, it can do that in cleaning razors the only thing it can do that you can’t do easily is get into the knurling of the handle, or the very corner or the underside of a razor head, the nooks and crannies of an item. You can clean this with an assortment of brushes and patience, but if you get too aggressive the force and abrasion can cause plating damage or scratching to the surrounding area.

To me an Ultrasonic cleaner is a finishing tool, which is nice to use if you have one but their benefit is overhyped and I would not recommend you buy one for cleaning razors alone. If all you are doing is cleaning razors up for use or to sell then buy a few different shaped brushes use plenty of water and just be gentle, it will look just as good without an ultrasonic bath. IF you have other uses for it then maybe it is worth it to you.

Here is a before and after shot of an Aristocrat Jnr I picked up and used the above technique on, the second one was before polishing.