The Stanford 5 Second Sharpener

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by PLANofMAN, Jul 26, 2012.

  1. awake2shave

    awake2shave Crazy Sharp Melon Baller

    I dunno about anyone else but am glad to have you here Arley your my kind of crazy ;)
     
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  2. Azarius

    Azarius Must have had his WHEATies

    Thanks man much appreciated.

    I am really more disillusioned more than anything else. I see young people who are narcissist before they are teens. People idolize the likes of the Kardashians, Real Houswives, and thugs who pretend to be artist.

    I think one of the reasons that drew me into this hobby was the amount of random acts of kindness. So many people here truly want to help others, from something as simple as offering useful advice, to sending blades, creams, soaps and blades to complete strangers, to offering donations to helping those in need.
     
  3. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    I really think that is what makes this forum better than any other that I'm a member of. It's like belonging to Santa Claus's personal forum and every day is Christmas for someone.
    :santa
    This is a very special place, made more so by the mods who selflessly donate their time and money, the members who donate their wisdom and knowledge, and everyone who mails out PIF's time after time. Gentle encouragement, optimism and hope is seen in thread after thread.

    Not to mention how much this hobby supports amateur photographers.;)
     
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  4. ella

    ella Member

    I just got started on DE shaving, and learned that the Shavepocalypse was coming! So not fair ;) The difference of DE is amazing, and I can absolutely see stocking up once I find a favorite.
     
  5. awake2shave

    awake2shave Crazy Sharp Melon Baller

    Hey Ryan I put together a vintage blade sampler for you to play around with you sharpener should hit the mail tomorrow as it's a holiday here in Canada so no mail today I hope you enjoy :)
     
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  6. gregindallas

    gregindallas Rolls Razor Revivalist


    Class D (metal) fires are tricky to extinguish especially in the bathroom, in your skivvies. :D
     
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  7. richgem

    richgem suffering from chronic clicker hand cramps

    We do not want to know how you know that. :bath:
     
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  8. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    Wow, what an unexpected and unasked for gift...Thank you very much, Phil.

    Shave 5 with a carbon Gillette Thin blade.

    Apparently my minimalistic sharpening of the day before was not enough. The first pass was rough enough that I will strop my blades before use and not after as I have been doing. Before I started the second pass I did the five swipes in the machine with the blade. Second pass was butter smooth.

    !!!

    Forget to remove razor and blade from barbacide bath!...Lengthy immersion seems to have had no ill effects on razor or blade. Four hours is much longer than the recommended time. I'll give this blade another go in the morning, but I really want to try the thicker Rexall Concave (hollow ground) blade from Gorgo, so I'll probably squeeze that in on a nighttime shave tomorrow night.
     
  9. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    Shave 6 with a carbon Gillette Thin blade.

    I decided not to shave yesterday, which is why there was no update. Changed up the routine a bit, did the five swipes in the machine before I did my first pass. The shave was extremely rough, almost like using a vintage carbon straight out of the package. before I started the second pass, I put the blade back in the machine and ran it though three more swipes. Once again the second pass was extremely smooth. I'm disappointed that I haven't gotten a handle on getting the blade at the right sharpness without some trial and error. I wonder if letting the blade sit for over 24 hours without being used contributed to it's incredible dullness this morning? I thought the experiment on this blade had reached it's end, but the second pass proved otherwise. This blade still has plenty of life left in it.

    I have officially taken a blade further than I have ever gone before. Five shaves was my previous maximum number of shaves with one blade. First milestone reached. After some quick calculations, I figured out that with the 1,200 carbons I have coming in the mail, If I shaved every day, and if I used each blade for only 6 shaves, I only have enough blades to last me for just over 138 years.:signs002: So when I turn 160, I'll need to buy some more blades. (That figure does not include the 200+ modern stainless blades I own. Or take into consideration the fact that I can and will most likely be able to get several weeks worth of uses from each blade.)
    Edit: Wrong calculations, see below. I was obviously looking at the calculator upside down.

    I'm going to have a den clean out sale later this week. Looks like most of my stainless blades will be moving on. I'll keep a few packs back for PIF's and the occasional shave, of course.:D
     
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  10. DLP

    DLP Well-Known Member

    how did you do your math? I come up 19.72 years. :ashamed001:
     
  11. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    Whoops. I did the math wrong, you were right. The correct formula would be 1,200 blades x 6 shaves per blade=7,200 shaves/365 days= 19.72 years. Now if I get 30 shaves per blade, the number jumps up to 98.63 years. If I get 4 months per blade, which I think is on the high end, but possible; then I would be looking at 394.52 years worth of blades.
     
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  12. richgem

    richgem suffering from chronic clicker hand cramps

    You forgot to carry the left turn at Albuquerque. :D
     
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  13. DLP

    DLP Well-Known Member

    OH, I had the map upside down and took a right.:)
     
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  14. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    According to the instruction sheet, "Blades may be used indefinitely accordingly to the temper of the blades." That really makes me wonder how many years a person could get out of a Personna 74 Tungsten blade. Anybody got a worn out one of those to donate to the cause? EDIT: Nevermind, I figure the tungsten would be harder than the tool steel the sharpener is made from. It would be an exercise in futility.

    I was figuring out weeks and forgot to extrapolate that into years and did the math wrong on that. so I came up with 1,200 blades x 6=7,200. 7,200/52 weeks in a year= 138.46. So yeah, bad math, however you want to look at it.:ashamed001:
     
  15. richgem

    richgem suffering from chronic clicker hand cramps

    It happens to me *all* the time. ;)
     
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  16. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    and that, my friends, is how richgem and DLP ended up in Canada.;)
     
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  17. DLP

    DLP Well-Known Member

    I knew I should have packed my fishing gear. :bounce015:
     
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  18. gregindallas

    gregindallas Rolls Razor Revivalist

    Of course you know, these old blade sharpeners were made to use on carbon steel blades - right?:D
    Carbon Steal - app B62 = workable.
    Stainless Steel - B95+ = "forgetaboutit"
     
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  19. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    Not sure what the B62 and B95 stand for, I'm going to assume hardness. From what I understand, stainless steel is typically softer than carbon steel, and regardless, the sharpener's action is made of high carbon tool steel, which should be harder than either stainless or carbon blades.
    Yes, I am aware that the old blade sharpeners were made to use on carbon steel blades, which is why 95% of them are now considered gimmicks. This design actually works on both carbon and stainless blades.

    Gary (GDCarrington) has brought up a good point in the following statement from his website:
    "In the scheme of shaving, razors, brushes, scuttles, bowls, and mugs are the durable goods. Blades, Lathering products, and Skin Care products are consumables. Yet in kind of a strange way we act as if blades should be a durable product. That is true only if the blade is a straight razor. Some of us want that blade to last until many times beyond its ability to shave well. Others have a day rule for all blades regardless of whether the blade is still good or not." If at some point I decide to shut down this experiment, I will still use the sharpener at least one time per blade (with carbon blades) to prep it before shaving with it.

    The 1,200 blades I'm talking about are vintage NOS carbon blades. I realize that large of a quantity is...a rare find nowadays, but sometimes miracles happen. See pics below. Depending on the manufacture date, these were coated in silicone or a fluorocarbon (PTFE, or a "comfort coating" like you find on Ted Pella Med Prep blades) which should have preserved them rather well through the years.
    [​IMG][​IMG]
     
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  20. gregindallas

    gregindallas Rolls Razor Revivalist

    Honing by itself doesn't leave a blade "shave ready", Stropping does. Honing will give you an incredibly sharp edge but not sharp enough for shaving. It's stropping that brings the edge up to shave sharpness. All the real blade honing machines were really stroppers. Stropping is direction sensitive in that a lot of side-to-side motion is not productive.

    Carbon steel is "softer" (it bends) than the "highly stain resistant" steel alloys (just breaks) used in modern blades and are not meant to be customer stropped. Carbon blades however can be stropped to good effect. The trade-off is the reduced number of shaves you get with a carbon blade pre-strop. The softer edge bends away from the cut line during the shave. Stropping bends it back or realigns it to the edge. You probably can get about a month's (more or less) worth of shaves from a blade by stropping after each second or third shave. After that, you're really going to need to look at honing the blade as parts of the cutting edge that've been bent back and forth by shaving and stropping finally break off. Honing a DE blade for continued use isn't really viable.

    So, with a true stropping machine you've got about 100 yrs of blades there. :D
     
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