"It's not a question of technique, it's a matter of physics and chemistry."
Sig303, Because you mentioned straight razors earlier I will jump in here. Yes straights do need regular stropping. However the first point is that the metals used to make straights is very different which is why a modern stainless DE blade can't be effectively stropped but old carbon DE blades can.
Second the heat/cold quenching treatment of DE blades is very different compared to Straights.
Third depending on the brand a DE may have a coating, see the quote from a patent:
"The specific disclosure provides for a razor blade comprising at least one cutting edge portion defined by two face portions having a narrow included angle there between. At least a portion of each of the face portions has an RF sputtered coating of a hard metal having a thickness of less than about 600 Angstrom units
Fourth, the bevel edge on straights is a single bevel with usually a slightly con-vexed edge (if the blade is stropped on a soft surface such as pasted leather or balsa). DE blades may have up to 3 bevels. Please note I am not saying that DE blades are sharper because although I have rather primitive honing skills I can get a straight as sharp as a mild DE. More experienced straight users would far exceed my abilities. I am just saying that the final bevel angle on a DE may be exceed that compared to a straight which will lead to longer edge life.
Fith: When I found myself getting an increasing number of good shaves from a single blade I doubted my own objectivity. Therefore I put 2 blades into 2 identical razors, one blade had 2 uses, the other had 12 uses. Without knowing which blade was in each razor I could not tell any difference. Of course blade life depends on the brand of blade. I can't get even one satisfactory shave from a mild blade like a Dorco. With a Derby, maybe one barely tolerable shave followed by another one or two very average shaves. On the other hand, after 3 shaves there's little point throwing away a Polsilver, Gillette Yellow, Astra SP, Nacet etc because these blades will still have many more good shaves left.
Sig303, Because you mentioned straight razors earlier I will jump in here. Yes straights do need regular stropping. However the first point is that the metals used to make straights is very different which is why a modern stainless DE blade can't be effectively stropped but old carbon DE blades can.
Second the heat/cold quenching treatment of DE blades is very different compared to Straights.
Third depending on the brand a DE may have a coating, see the quote from a patent:
"The specific disclosure provides for a razor blade comprising at least one cutting edge portion defined by two face portions having a narrow included angle there between. At least a portion of each of the face portions has an RF sputtered coating of a hard metal having a thickness of less than about 600 Angstrom units
Fourth, the bevel edge on straights is a single bevel with usually a slightly con-vexed edge (if the blade is stropped on a soft surface such as pasted leather or balsa). DE blades may have up to 3 bevels. Please note I am not saying that DE blades are sharper because although I have rather primitive honing skills I can get a straight as sharp as a mild DE. More experienced straight users would far exceed my abilities. I am just saying that the final bevel angle on a DE may be exceed that compared to a straight which will lead to longer edge life.
Fith: When I found myself getting an increasing number of good shaves from a single blade I doubted my own objectivity. Therefore I put 2 blades into 2 identical razors, one blade had 2 uses, the other had 12 uses. Without knowing which blade was in each razor I could not tell any difference. Of course blade life depends on the brand of blade. I can't get even one satisfactory shave from a mild blade like a Dorco. With a Derby, maybe one barely tolerable shave followed by another one or two very average shaves. On the other hand, after 3 shaves there's little point throwing away a Polsilver, Gillette Yellow, Astra SP, Nacet etc because these blades will still have many more good shaves left.