Hand Stropping DE Blades

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by Rocket Scientist, Oct 27, 2010.

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  1. skyfox12

    skyfox12 Active Member

    I started out palm stropping but then thought it didn't do a whole lot. Then I read about stropping a blade on your arm and tried that. In my opinion, it helped out considerably in smoothing it out for a more comfortable shave. I lay my arm out and very slowly and gently strop my DE blade for 3-4 passes, then look at the edge, or the edge before the edge, and if its shiny then I know it will be a smooth shave. However, the most I have ever used any DE blade was 5 times even with stropping and I found that to be pushing it.
     
    skyfox12, Jul 19, 2012
    #41
  2. soulska

    soulska New Member

    blades cost cents... throw them away!
     
    soulska, Jul 24, 2012
    #42
  3. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    Ya know, if we just shorten that to, "blades cost"...

    When I get rich like you, maybe I'll start tossing my blades before they're dead.

    But, hey, it's your shave. Enjoy it your way.
     
    swarden43, Jul 24, 2012
    #43
    Queen of Blades, xCarbonSteelx and gorgo2 like this.
  4. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

    Anything not done to possibly extend the life of even a simple razor blade - even if one can afford not to - is waste, imofwiwymmv.
     
    gorgo2, Jul 24, 2012
    #44
    swarden43 likes this.
  5. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    As I've already said, I'm of the use and toss crowd. So what I say on this subject is my own opinion.

    Hand/Arm stropping works. That is a fact. Is it necessary, no. It works as well as "corking" does, where you run the edge of the blade through cork or styrofoam. Does it sharpen the blade? No. What it does do is remove burrs and may realign the edge, leading to more smoother shaves.

    In order to understand why 90% of the DE razor sharpeners out there are now considered gimmicks, you need to understand that they used to work on all DE blades. In the past, Carbon steel blades were the only blades made. They were sharpened with a single bevel (i.e. wedge) shaped edge. It is this blade that those machines and tools were made for.

    Modern blades. 99% of modern blades are made of stainless steel and are sharpened with a double ground edge. Some are coated or plated. Think of a chisel. A long tapering grind with a thin edge grind. In order to truly sharpen a modern blade, you have to regrind it to a single bevel. 10% of the old DE razor sharpeners can do this. You can figure out which ones do by watching the prices for them on eBay.

    Then you have the special blades. Feathers and Medi prep. Feathers are actually triple ground. That is why they are so sharp, and why they dull slightly faster than most other blades. Medi prep blades fall into two categories. Blades that are actually sharper than normal and normal blades that have been specially sterilized.

    Blades that are sharper than normal. These are made by ASR in the U.S.A. The QC on these blades is higher than normal and they are held to higher tolerances than most other blades. They also get a "comfort" coating. Are they actually sharper? I really don't know.

    I gave my buddy a sharpener I picked up for $3.00. It made my blades duller IMO. He claims to be able to get four months out of feathers by using it daily. Does it work? For him it does. Is he a crackpot? no. Is he lying, no. Is he getting me to waste my money trying to get another one of those stupid sharpeners to repeat the experiment. Yes. I'll post pictures of it once I win the auction on the stupid thing. I don't want to get in a bidding war with fellow Denners. Just wait a day or two.;)
    His technique for using it varied from mine, which is why I'm willing to look into this again.
     
    PLANofMAN, Jul 24, 2012
    #45
    gorgo2 likes this.
  6. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

    I want to amend the comment I made a few posts back. When I said that, I was reverting to my admittedly peculiar type and was thinking of carbon blades, which to pitch after one or two shaves is truly not only unnecessary but indeed wasteful, as they can at bare minimum be stropped and somewhat restored, if not rehoned indefinitely.

    On the other hand - and forgive my repetitiveness as I've said this very recently - I am not one who attempts to strop stainless blades as I'm personally unconvinced of its effectiveness apart from deburring virgin blades of a few certain brands. I say that knowing some guys swear they can get extra shaves out of stainless blades by any number of methods. I do not dispute them, I simply don't bother trying because the few times I did try, nada.

    Point is, I ask please that no one take my comment above as an attack on anyone who decides to pitch stainless blades after however many, or few, shaves. Ain't my bidness.

    But if you are pitching carbon blades after a shave or two, by Jove cut it out and send 'em to me! :)
     
    gorgo2, Jul 24, 2012
    #46
  7. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    I'm surprised no one has linked to this yet: Roll's-Stropping your DE blades

    Rolls was a pioneer and leading authority on the subject of stropping DE and SE blades. His sticky on the subject is required reading. If he hadn't passed away, he would have been the first to post to this thread...

    After telling me to...
    :)
     
    PLANofMAN, Jul 25, 2012
    #47
  8. samc

    samc New Member

    My 81 year old grandfather told me about using a glass a few weeks ago. He didn't know people were still using DE razors anymore. So I gave him a Gillette super speed and some blades.
     
    samc, Jul 25, 2012
    #48
    PLANofMAN likes this.
  9. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    Nice!
     
    swarden43, Jul 25, 2012
    #49
  10. johnus

    johnus Well-Known Member

    With the mass production of blades you may find one batch or another that slips through with a few burrs on the edges. To be on the safe side, and it only takes a second, palm strop the new blade before you use it. You have nothing to lose and it may save the shave.
    Cool too. "ya, sure I palm strop, don't you?"
     
    johnus, Jul 25, 2012
    #50
    PLANofMAN likes this.
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