Flip The Blade Over

[Brien Hopkins]

Your blade gets dull, so you unscrew your razor, flip the blade over, and start fresh.

Does it work?

I've been trying it lately, and I can't really tell. It feels like it does, but it might be in my head. Any concrete evidence whether it makes makes difference?

 

[mdunn]

Nope.

It will make it rougher because as the edge of the blade degrades through use it will make little spikey bits on the non-skin-contact side.

(or so my understanding of it goes)

 

[Luc]

Have a look at this thread, it should give you an idea...

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=90941

 

[TimmyBoston]

Your blade gets dull, so you unscrew your razor, flip the blade over, and start fresh.

Does it work?

Nope.

 

[Stubblefield]

Your blade gets dull, so you unscrew your razor, flip the blade over, and start fresh.

Does it work?

You could just use your razor upside-down and get the same effect. No blade flippin' required.

 

[PhoR]

I can't see how Flipping the blade would do anything.

However, there IS evidence to suggest that you can slow the degradation of the blade edge by hand stropping after every shave before you put your razor away.

Here is an answer I posted to another topic similar to yours a while back:

Leave it to Popular Science (1931) to give us the answer:
Wonder Photos Reveal unsuspected facts about razor blades and shaving.
(some of the pictures are quite revealing about the stropping process)

Here is an exerpt:
WHAT does stropping actually do to a dull razor blade? This investigation proves that its first action is to bend back into place the fibers of steel that constitute the actual cutting edge. It removes the rust formed on the edge and thus restores the blade to shaving usefulness provided the rusting has not gone too far.

The fact that the bottoms of slight nicks are made as sharp as the edge and that the nicks are actually reduced in size proves that stropping has at least a small abrasive action and therefore sharpening effect. This does not mean, however, that prolonged stropping will put an edge on a really dull (Continued on page 139) razor. Only honing will do that for a blade.

So looking at their conclusions, I would say it is quite important to strop both the top and bottom of the blade equally. Stropping only the top or the bottom would likely bend the cutting edge out of alignment, therefore defeating any advantage in uniformity gained from the stopping.

I would also conclude that since we're talking about bending microscopic steel threads, a few passes on each side should suffice. An excessive amount shouldn't hurt the blade (especially with hand stropping), but it also won't make the blade any sharper.

And thirdly, I would conclude that it is best to strop your blade immediately after use instead of before use as one of the key advantages to stropping is removing material that may cause the edge to rust as it sits awaiting your next shave.​

And here's an instructional video on hand stropping:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogq4wfpT7hc

 

[mdunn]

im pretty certain that hand stropping only works on older, thicker blades - rather than modern thin coated ones.

 

[_JP_]

Your blade gets dull, so you unscrew your razor, flip the blade over, and start fresh.

Does it work?

Nope. It's still the same bleeding edge of the blade, no matter how you turn it. The same is true with a bent straight pin.

 

[SavantStrike]

I can't see how Flipping the blade would do anything.

However, there IS evidence to suggest that you can slow the degradation of the blade edge by hand stropping after every shave before you put your razor away.

Here is an answer I posted to another topic similar to yours a while back:

Leave it to Popular Science (1931) to give us the answer:
Wonder Photos Reveal unsuspected facts about razor blades and shaving.
(some of the pictures are quite revealing about the stropping process)

Here is an exerpt:
WHAT does stropping actually do to a dull razor blade? This investigation proves that its first action is to bend back into place the fibers of steel that constitute the actual cutting edge. It removes the rust formed on the edge and thus restores the blade to shaving usefulness provided the rusting has not gone too far.

The fact that the bottoms of slight nicks are made as sharp as the edge and that the nicks are actually reduced in size proves that stropping has at least a small abrasive action and therefore sharpening effect. This does not mean, however, that prolonged stropping will put an edge on a really dull (Continued on page 139) razor. Only honing will do that for a blade.

So looking at their conclusions, I would say it is quite important to strop both the top and bottom of the blade equally. Stropping only the top or the bottom would likely bend the cutting edge out of alignment, therefore defeating any advantage in uniformity gained from the stopping.

I would also conclude that since we're talking about bending microscopic steel threads, a few passes on each side should suffice. An excessive amount shouldn't hurt the blade (especially with hand stropping), but it also won't make the blade any sharper.

And thirdly, I would conclude that it is best to strop your blade immediately after use instead of before use as one of the key advantages to stropping is removing material that may cause the edge to rust as it sits awaiting your next shave.​

And here's an instructional video on hand stropping:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogq4wfpT7hc

I think I want to become a railway postal clerk now...