Corking a blade?

[Seraphim]

Let's see what actually happens when you cork a blade, shall we?

Images are taken under ~400x magnification. The width of the bright bevel on the blade is approx 10microns wide on the new blade.

Feather DE blade, brand new in image #1 (it has a PTFE coating which gives it that "lumpy" look.

Second pic is after a single light draw through a natural cork.

 

[Seraphim]

It looks to me as if the actual cutting edge gets folded over. You can see that the bevel width is visibly reduced.

Corked blade=rolled edge

 

[SpyvSpy]

Nice post. Always wondered if my blade corking was for the best or worse.

 

[REB]

I am curious, how does a corked blade compare to an un-corked blade after the first shave? A second shave on a Feather gives me a great shave. Does the effect of corking come close the effects of the first shave?

 

[Seraphim]

I am curious, how does a corked blade compare to an un-corked blade after the first shave? A second shave on a Feather gives me a great shave. Does the effect of corking come close the effects of the first shave?

Not even close.

Here is a before and after shot of a Feather Super Pro (for the AC straight razor). Brand new, and then afetr 4-5 shaves. The only change is that the PTFE coating gets worn off the edge, you can see that the edge itself is still pristine, and quite smooth. The third pic shows the very same blade after ~10+ shaves. Still no rolled edge, etc., although you can begin to see some minor edge degradation.

 

[Cubits]

So how does this corking affect the performance?

 

[nav]

Cool experiment!

A feather yields 10 shaves for me. The first 2 feel "sharp" and not as comfortable but after that, they are heaven all the way up to 10 shaves and then the shave quality begins to drop away.

I wonder how many good shaves ill get if I cork each side just once. If I still get 10 great shaves, ill do it permanently as I really don't enjoy the first 2 shaves from feathers.

 

[michiganlover]

Corked blade=rolled edge

I am confused.

Corking is considered to tame a too sharp blade, but in the straight razor world a rolled edge is bad news indeed.

It means effectively, that your razor is useless, and desperately needs to be re-honed.

So does corking have a detrimental effect then on the edge of the DE blade?

For purposes of comparison, I get two comfortable shaves from a Feather, which seems to be average.

The only blade I have ever corked is a vertical Derby. The corking did seem to help, unless it was all in my head.

 

[rm71]

The only blade I have ever corked is a vertical Derby. The corking did seem to help, unless it was all in my head.

It helped my vertical Derbies as well.

 

[Geeno]

I guess I am confused, too. Hard to imagine cork trumps steel...especially since a rolled edge would imply, to me, that the sharp edge was no longer exposed. How could you shave with that? I see the line that makes it look rolled, can that really be? Wish my eyes were sharper.

 

[raisindot]

I find that if I keep my DE blades pointed north and exposed to the light of the full moon, they seem to perform MUCH better.



Jeff in Boston

 

[TheVez2]

I've read that cork is to rough on a blade and that you should only 'cork' a blade with styrofoam (like a packing peanut). I'm curious to see the same before and after pictures of a blade that has been corked with foam.

 

[Seraphim]

OK, so I took the blade back to the high power $$$$ lab scope here at work to see what I could see...

It seems that what appears to be the edge folded over is actually the PTFE coating thatis getting smeared around.

After stropping the blade on my pant leg (we're talking high science here!) I took another look--the edge seems fine.

I re-took a couple of shots of the edge now, using the same scope as in the original photos, including a HHT hair I cleaved with the blade.

 

[luvmysuper]

I find that if I keep my DE blades pointed north and exposed to the light of the full moon, they seem to perform MUCH better.



Jeff in Boston

But only if a pigeon standing on one leg, cocks his head at your blade first.

 

[MrGuy]

Man, I want to work with you! I'd get thrown out of the building for bringing weapons, I mean blades to work

Thanks for the pics, very cool as always.