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Do you strop your half-DE blade shavette?

I've heard of blade corking a new sharp blade to remove any burrs and smoothen a new DE blade.

I practise palm stropping my DE blade and a Gem blade once i cleaned up the razor and blade. Thankfully I never nicked up my palm like my current SR strop. If I did it would be terrible as I don't have a spare to go with!

Same concept, dries the blade edge and straightens out the edge just like an SR lapped on a strop.

Did it work ? I really don't know but it was a feel good ritual and I presume that a DE or SE blade edge would follow the same edge dynamics and laws of physics when it cuts tough hair as a carbon steel SR blade.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
I don't. With a half DE blade shavette, I just shave. I have a few of them, use them only occasionally, so I can't keep up with how many shaves per blade anymore, but if I go for a shave and feel the slightest reluctance to cut whisker, I set it aside for blade change, and reach for another. I don't strop. I have corked a blade prior to the first shave, but I don't anymore. With proper angle, stretching, and pressure control, and good prep, shaving with a brand new Feather is no more traumatic than one that has a couple of shaves on it. I am sure that stropping prior to the first shave has similar effect to corking, but I don't think stropping it between shaves will help significantly. YMMV. It's not worth my time, for a blade meant to be tossed after X uses. BTW, Feather is the only DE blade I use.
 

Old Hippie

Somewhere between 61 and dead
Do I strop them? Yeah. I face-strop them. :)

With half an Astra SP -- is that an Ata S? -- I get three decent shaves. I find the edge smooths out about twice as fast as the whole blade. Logical when I think that one edge is getting twice the wear.

Seriously, no. I just shave with them. Same with Gem blades, I will admit.

O.H.
 
Nor me.

Shavettes don't have a spine/edge bevel and there's a lot of variation between models in what's going to make contact with the strop. I suppose it's possible if you control the angle (which suggests a solid plane strop rather than hanging) to make sure you're on the edge, but I'm another one of the "if the blade doesn't cut, bin it" school of thought.
 
Never done it on DE blades but years ago as a experiment (there where several others who did that and reported on one of the forums, can't remember what it was). A Feather Pro Artist blade stropped to make it last longer (not to make it less sharp) could easily go over a month of daily shaves.
 
Not certain that a shavette would hold the blade at the correct angle for stropping. Plus, 1/2 blade is about $0.02 in value, and not worth my time in this regard.
I have stropped blades for my Weck Sextoblade; they used to make a special handle for that purpose, along with a two sided strop to complete the set. There is improvement with stropping and those blades can run $1 a pop sometimes. Have not seen improvement for the 1st shave though, only after a couple of uses. I will usually just toss the blade though.
 
I used to palm strop DE blades but never really found it helped. For a shavette, I only use the blade for 1 or 2 shaves tops then move on so I don't think stropping would be of any use.
 
Shavette is for hygienic reasons used by barbers, no reason for stropping. DE blades have very short life of 2-3 uses. Why would a barber used a same blade on the client?
 
I have been thinking (dangerous, I know). Is it advantageous to strop the half-DE blade in a shavette before using it to shave after the first shave?

No, thinking is NOT dangerous. It may be a myth spread by certain politicians…. :thumbup:

But seriously…

While not related to safety razor blades, I have been palm-stropping new Feather AC blades before their first use.
These extremely sharp and long-lasting blades tend to give a somewhat harsh shave on the first 2-3 shaves and palm-stropping tends to make them reach their less harsh peak performance sooner.

When done properly, palm stropping is not dangerous at all and I never drew any blood doing it.


B.
 
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I dont but some do. I think its kind of silly but some people swear that it makes the shave smoother and exends the life of the blade.
 

steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
I have been thinking (dangerous, I know). Is it advantageous to strop the half-DE blade in a shavette before using it to shave after the first shave?
It doesn’t seem worth the effort since the blades are so cheap they are almost free. 500 Derby’s are less than $20 and that is 1,000 half blades that work beautifully in a shavette. I sometimes use a Parker shavette for a full week without changing the blade and the last shave is almost as good as the first. I must admit that I do love that shavette.
 

Dave himself

Wee Words of Wisdom
It doesn’t seem worth the effort since the blades are so cheap they are almost free. 500 Derby’s are less than $20 and that is 1,000 half blades that work beautifully in a shavette. I sometimes use a Parker shavette for a full week without changing the blade and the last shave is almost as good as the first. I must admit that I do love that shavette.

+1
 
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