I'm gonna post this on both the safety razor and the straight razor forums because the Durham's is a hybrid.
I have 4 different Durham's Duplex razors, 2 by themselves and 2 in sets. I could never get an acceptable shave from them with those blue stainless carpet blades. Well, I was wondering how these things sold so well for so long if they didn't perform well. I think I figured out the secret to a perfect shave with this safety/straight hybrid.
In the 2 sets that I have I noticed that there were several original blades still in their waxed paper wrappers, I just didn't want to use these vintage hard to find blades when there are new ones at the hardware stores. The secret is in the original blades, those blades I believe are made of carbon steel just like a straight razor and the originals were meant to be stropped and or sharpened.
I also found a dull blade that wasn't in the wrapper but it was still in good shape with no rust. I chose this to experiment on, not wanting to waste a good vintage blade. I have 2 different stropping attachments, one old style and a newer one that replaces the comb, you can also shave with this just like a pure straight w/no guard.
Well I grabbed this attachment and the old blade and a barber hone plus my Coticule hone. Now the stropping attachment actually holds the blade at a different angle than what it was originally honed at thus giving it a secondary micro-bevel which is really what we're looking for. I gave it about 50 laps on the Belgian Coticule and 50 on the barber hone, then I gave it 50 laps on a chrom. oxide strop and 50 on a horsehide strop. I actually did this to both edges of the DE blade.
This gave me the sharpest blade, sharper than what I get with my straights, and the closest shave so far from any straight. You see, the newer blue carpet blades that you have to use now are alot like regular DE blades, they don't take well to honing or stropping. Although I'm going to try this with one of them, just to see. I have several older carbon blades, antique malls are a good place to find these usually with a duplex set.
The really tricky part is getting a hold of the stropping attachment, I had to buy one on Ebay last year. I probably have a dozen or more original Durham's blades and that should last forever if I keep them stropped and sharpened. Here is a photo of the attachment that you'll need. The lower picture is of a stropping attachment that came with a much older Duplex boxed set, I don't know much about using that one.
I have 4 different Durham's Duplex razors, 2 by themselves and 2 in sets. I could never get an acceptable shave from them with those blue stainless carpet blades. Well, I was wondering how these things sold so well for so long if they didn't perform well. I think I figured out the secret to a perfect shave with this safety/straight hybrid.
In the 2 sets that I have I noticed that there were several original blades still in their waxed paper wrappers, I just didn't want to use these vintage hard to find blades when there are new ones at the hardware stores. The secret is in the original blades, those blades I believe are made of carbon steel just like a straight razor and the originals were meant to be stropped and or sharpened.
I also found a dull blade that wasn't in the wrapper but it was still in good shape with no rust. I chose this to experiment on, not wanting to waste a good vintage blade. I have 2 different stropping attachments, one old style and a newer one that replaces the comb, you can also shave with this just like a pure straight w/no guard.
Well I grabbed this attachment and the old blade and a barber hone plus my Coticule hone. Now the stropping attachment actually holds the blade at a different angle than what it was originally honed at thus giving it a secondary micro-bevel which is really what we're looking for. I gave it about 50 laps on the Belgian Coticule and 50 on the barber hone, then I gave it 50 laps on a chrom. oxide strop and 50 on a horsehide strop. I actually did this to both edges of the DE blade.
This gave me the sharpest blade, sharper than what I get with my straights, and the closest shave so far from any straight. You see, the newer blue carpet blades that you have to use now are alot like regular DE blades, they don't take well to honing or stropping. Although I'm going to try this with one of them, just to see. I have several older carbon blades, antique malls are a good place to find these usually with a duplex set.
The really tricky part is getting a hold of the stropping attachment, I had to buy one on Ebay last year. I probably have a dozen or more original Durham's blades and that should last forever if I keep them stropped and sharpened. Here is a photo of the attachment that you'll need. The lower picture is of a stropping attachment that came with a much older Duplex boxed set, I don't know much about using that one.
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