Durham duplex safety razor??

[GAW9576]

I tried stropping one of the Persona pathology blades with the straight razor style Durham today on my paddle strop. The blade seems to make good contact on one side but seems to be held up off the strop on the other. I may need to get a hanging strop which has a bit more flex in it to get good contact on that side. I'll try shaving with the blade tonight and see if there's any difference.

 

[GAW9576]

I stropped the pathology blade again and flipped the blade back and forth a few times to get both sides of one edge the other side I just stropped like normal.
The shave was noticeably better on the side of the blade that I stropped better by flipping it over. Hope my explanation make sense.

 

[rudyt]

The shave was noticeably better on the side of the blade that I stropped better by flipping it over. Hope my explanation make sense.

A traditional strop (strap) is what I use. Cotton on one side, leather on the other. I touch up the blade maybe once every 10 shaves.

 

[GAW9576]

A traditional strop (strap) is what I use. Cotton on one side, leather on the other. I touch up the blade maybe once every 10 shaves.

Every 10 shaves, wow. I don't get 10 shaves out of any blade. Well except a straight razor. But that's stropped every shave.

I need to find a reasonably priced reasonable quality hanging strop. Preferably with leather of course but also cotton or linen for the other part. I did not care for the nylon webbing on the hanging strop I used to have.

 

[GAW9576]

I tried stropping a pathology blade again today. I don't think it helped much. The stropping attachment holds the edge of the blade off the paddle strop kn the one side and makes stropping difficult at best on a paddle. I think a hanging strop would solve this with the slight curve you would get on it. I'll just have to stick to using the blades as they come till I get a hanging strop. I also stropped the single edge blade with the handle from my Gem Jr. Bar which seemed to give a slight improvement. I used the Henkels Rapide for about half the neck shave and all of the back of the neck.

 

[GAW9576]

I picked up some Persona carpet cutter blades to try in the Durham Duplex today. The shave was quite comfortable. These razors are definitely interesting and I look forward to using them more. I did have my Gem curved top squat head loaded with a second use Gem SS. I used it for backup just in case and to handle a few touch ups in spots where the Durham is a little to big to get conveniently.

 

[rudyt]

I picked up some Persona carpet cutter blades to try in the Durham Duplex today. The shave was quite comfortable.

I've always heard the carpet cutter blades were not meant for shaving, and vastly inferior to the pathology blades, but can't confirm first hand. Do you or anyone else have both blades and can compare them?

Maybe Personna has decided to streamline their process to cut costs and only make one type of blade that they package as both Carpet Cutter and Pathology blades.

 

[GAW9576]

I've only used one of each so far but the carpet cutter blade was better than the pathology blade. They look different, the pathology blade is all silver and the carpet cutter blade has the blued center.

 

[rudyt]

They look different, the pathology blade is all silver and the carpet cutter blade has the blued center.

I just checked my pathology blades and they're uniformly colored - no blued center. Must be different batches. I wonder which batch is current.

 

[GAW9576]

I had a fun Daily Double today. I realized I hadn't tried this Durham yet. I used it for the first pass then used the trusty Ever-ready 1914 for the rest of the shave. I enjoyed the Durham but I really think these blades could be improved with a hanging strop. I am going to have to solve the lack of a hanging strop soon. The ER performed very well with a 6th use Meijer blade. I even kept the blade to give it a chance at a 7th use which is unusual for me. The soap I used today was a goats milk soap a friend made. It lathered and performed quite well but I added a bit to much water.

 

[GAW9576]

I had an excellent shave today with an Enders Speed and a shick proline B20. I also used a Dunham duplex a bit. The available blades realy let this razor down. I got creative and put a Feather proguard in one side just to see what this razor would be like with a good blade. The blade exposure was Way to much but I shaved with ot just a little. WOW I wish I could get good blades for this razor. I like the handling. Lather came courtesy of cold water mixed Cella and Mer shavings mysore sandalwood using a Maggard SHD two band badger brush.

 

[MicBP]

The first of my Durham's arrived today. I had a hectic day so I will shave with it tomorrow.

View attachment 1038779View attachment 1038781View attachment 1038782View attachment 1038783View attachment 1038784

wow thats beautiful - i want one...

 

[GAW9576]

wow thats beautiful - i want one...

Thank you. That model seems to be pretty scarce. If you are patient you should be able to find one though.

 

[MicBP]

Thank you. That model seems to be pretty scarce. If you are patient you should be able to find one though.

i have never seen one before, so i doubt it.. but you never know...

 

[jmudrick]

I had an excellent shave today with an Enders Speed and a shick proline B20. I also used a Dunham duplex a bit. The available blades realy let this razor down. I got creative and put a Feather proguard in one side just to see what this razor would be like with a good blade. The blade exposure was Way to much but I shaved with ot just a little. WOW I wish I could get good blades for this razor. I like the handling. Lather came courtesy of cold water mixed Cella and Mer shavings mysore sandalwood using a Maggard SHD two band badger brush.

Agree with all this. Durham is a beautiful design with awful blades. I got a lot of em unfortunately.

Sent from my LG-US998 using Tapatalk

 

[GAW9576]

Agree with all this. Durham is a beautiful design with awful blades. I got a lot of em unfortunately.

Sent from my LG-US998 using Tapatalk

A lot of the blades or a lot of Durhams?

 

[jeffmudrick]

I'm not an AC blade fan but thought this hack was worth a try as I don't have much luck with the Personna pathology blades for the Durhams. '38 patent Durham safety razor, Schick Proline P notched to fit , with SIM card shim. Pretty good shave, I'd set less exposure in the future. Credit Josh aka Subie Shaves for the hack.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

 

[GAW9576]

I'm not an AC blade fan but thought this hack was worth a try as I don't have much luck with the Personna pathology blades for the Durhams. '38 patent Durham safety razor, Schick Proline P notched to fit , with SIM card shim. Pretty good shave, I'd set less exposure in the future. Credit Josh aka Subie Shaves for the hack.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

I will have to try notching an AC blade for one of my Durhams. As stated a few posts above I put a Feather proguard in one before. Although I didn't notch it so it stuck out way to much. It was pretty much a shavette on a safety razor handle.