I was just wondering if there was any way to hone se blades to extend the usage of them and maybe be able to use utility blades? Now I'm not talking about any kind of stropping, but actual honing. I would like to be able to take advantage of the availability of the utility blades. Of course I realize it's more than likely not possible, but hey I figured it's worth shot.
I'm sure you could do it. You'd probably need some kind of fixture to hold the blade so you hone it at the correct angle. A piece of round bar the correct size (whatever that would be) with a slot cut lengthwise to hold the blade would probably work. I think the general consensus will be that it's probably not worth the time and effort with the low price of quality blades though. And you should also be able to use that fixture for stropping which is worth doing even though you said you weren't really looking for that.
Establishing the correct angle to hone the blade and coming up with a repeatable method for holding it at the correct angle would be needed, this is built into straight razors. Then you'd have to determine how much honing is needed, how many strokes have how much effect. Once all that was accomplished, you could then determine if the results are worth the effort.
From what I've read, utility blades have a totally different edge (2-faceted?) than a shaving blade (3-faceted?), so honing sounds like a waste of time to me. But, it'd be an interesting experiment.
My thinking is that if Product A and Product B are both available, and Product A is specifically designed for what I want to use it for, and since I can't make Product B at home, and Product B is intended for other uses anyway, AND since I have to spend money to get one or the other, I'll go with Product A. But that's me. Obviously I tend to spend a lot of time in my box.
Also think of this: when you buy GEM/Treet blades you are supporting ASR (the only real choice in SE blades) to continue making blades thus doing your part to delay the shavepocalypse.
Ah, I didn't know that. That would make it very difficult to accomplish and since I have a way to rig a set up for that at the moment, the experiment would cost more than the savings and still not produce usable results.