Gents,
I don't want to be the devils advocate and I'll be the first to jump at the chance to get the brass General, but maybe someone with a chemistry background can assure us that tarnished brass is not hazardous to health, especially on a razor that cutting oneself is a potential risk.
Hi All ,
Have been in touch with Andrew ( Hone 15 ) re the perceived issue with brass as a material for razors and possible contamination. No problems as I can see : - His reply,
"Thank you for getting in touch and for sharing your experiences with your Type 15 with others.
This is a subject that I have had a few questions about. The darkening and changing of brass when used shouldn't cause a problem. Its no different to brass keys or brass door knobs. But I can understand the questions around the more advanced oxidation on the surface of brass when it turns green/blue (often called verdigris).
Verdigris when ingested in reasonable quantities can be toxic. But I think under normal operation this is a very low risk for a razor. To form a sufficiently large enough oxidation of verdigris on the razor it would have to sit untouched in a wet and possibly acidic environment for some time (months or years) and then it would have to be used in that state, as well as the verdigris being ingested somehow. Obviously handling the razor if it had quite a coating of Verdigris might also raise questions, but I think it would have to be handled for an inordinate amount of time for there to be enough transfer through the skin to even be close to a problem. I think the average person has much more contact with far higher toxicity chemicals in day to day life. I might be more concerned finding and cutting myself with a rusty blade in the razor if I found one quite so oxidised.
Under normal use and in my experience with my own Type 15 (as well as a lot of abuse, and chemical testing with the Type 15) I have only created very small spots of verdigris type oxidation, and they have been quite straight forward to clean off. This leads me to believe when handled regularly, exposed to soap, etc I think it is unlikely that verdigris would form. If it were to form I think it is extremely low risk, and easily removed. And ultimately I think that would add to, and is part of, the ownership and looking after a valuable tool.
Sorry for the slightly long answer, but it is an interesting topic and I hope my answer is informative? Please let me know if you have any other questions?"
I also asked Andrew's permission to share this and his further reply was this: -
"Yes please feel free to share. As the razors do go everywhere and get used with the countless soaps oils etc. its not unbelievable that someone's razors might well be more susceptible to oxidation than someone else's but I will stand behind my statement.
One other thought specifically for the TSR, the Type 15 passaround on the TSR lasted a few months and that razor didn't show any verdigris with all the different use cases and then spending a few days in transit between participants, but I thought it looked pretty cool when it was done"
So there we have it, perhaps any members who shared in the pass around may care to add.
In the meantime I am happy ... YMMV haha.
Best Wishes to All ... Jim.
................ Been looking on the web and it seems you would have to ingest a fair bit of brass be it dust, fumes or otherwise to be poisoned , water fittings are made from brass and copper for the pipe work so I would not be too concerned about brass poisoning, you however should be worried about the fillings in your teeth, because of the amount of mercury in the amalgam!!
