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Is it ok to hone and strop double edged razor blades?

I wouldn't bother to strop de blades since they are cheap.
However, if the zombie apocalypse happens I would try to stretch the life of the blades by stropping them.
The most important thing when the zombies walks round the corner is to stay clean shaved.

This may be the funniest post I've ever seen. Bravo.
 
I've stropped blades using a made in the USA Twinplex strop machine and a made in Germany BeBe Stop machine. I got very good results and thoroughly enjoyed the process. A few turns of the crank and a dull blade becomes a sharp one. Stroppers don't hone blades like glass hones do, but they work well for what they're designed to do.

The BeBe Strop is the one the Albert Einstein used. He was so happy with his that he wrote to the president of the company complimenting him on this great product.

For me it's not a question of saving money on blades. It's a question of the enjoyment.
 
I wanted to strop and hone double edge razor blades for fun. But, it seems that doing so is more trouble than it is worth.
 
+1, mine did too.
When I last saw him do this, was in my late teens or early twenties. Was using an Atra at the time and my grandfather seemed terriby old fashioned. The stropping seemed a part of it but his old razor seemed no less silly. Now I really wish someone had saved the razor for me.

Our grandfathers were men of the Great Depression. They were conditioned to do whatever they could to save money. I doubt there was much analysis regarding cost/benefit. How well it worked I don't know.

What I most remember was how this man, who had almost nothing, was always giving me money. Just a few dollars here and there starting maybe when I was 7 and continuing until I left high school, but it was a lot to a kid. I remember him as very kind and loving.
 
When I last saw him do this, was in my late teens or early twenties. Was using an Atra at the time and my grandfather seemed terriby old fashioned. The stropping seemed a part of it but his old razor seemed no less silly. Now I really wish someone had saved the razor for me.

Our grandfathers were men of the Great Depression. They were conditioned to do whatever they could to save money. I doubt there was much analysis regarding cost/benefit. How well it worked I don't know.

What I most remember was how this man, who had almost nothing, was always giving me money. Just a few dollars here and there starting maybe when I was 7 and continuing until I left high school, but it was a lot to a kid. I remember him as very kind and loving.

You were lucky enough to see them in real life. One of my grandfathers died before I became old enough to remember anything. The other died when I was young. I never spent much time with them.
 
I palm strop my DE blade after every few shaves using the below method


Not sure how much it helps with the blade sharpness itself but it definitely cleans up any fine residue on the blade edge that a towel might have missed. I'm on my 24th use of an Astra SP and it is still performing well.
 
I palm strop my DE blade after every few shaves using the below method


Not sure how much it helps with the blade sharpness itself but it definitely cleans up any fine residue on the blade edge that a towel might have missed. I'm on my 24th use of an Astra SP and it is still performing well.
24th use and it's still performing well? Unless your face is a peach, yes I think it's safe to say it's working!
 
You were lucky enough to see them in real life. One of my grandfathers died before I became old enough to remember anything. The other died when I was young. I never spent much time with them.
Indeed. I even knew one of my great grandfathers -- who died when I was 16.

Now the downside is I had very young and immature parents. Hopefully you were luckier on that score.
 
R

romsitsa

Hello,

this is a pack of 11 resharpened Gillette thins, most likely done during the 50-ies here in Hungary by a small shop. Resharpening blades or collecting used blades and reselling them after resharpening was a viable busiess here even in the 60ies, as quality (useable) razor blades were scarce.
There was a flyer tucked next to the blades:
"If you are satisfied with honing, please tell about it to your familiars. Only good quality and rust free blades can be quality honed."

IMG_4652.JPG

Adam
 
Hello,

this is a pack of 11 resharpened Gillette thins, most likely done during the 50-ies here in Hungary by a small shop. Resharpening blades or collecting used blades and reselling them after resharpening was a viable busiess here even in the 60ies, as quality (useable) razor blades were scarce.
There was a flyer tucked next to the blades:
"If you are satisfied with honing, please tell about it to your familiars. Only good quality and rust free blades can be quality honed."

View attachment 929234

Adam


Thanks for sharing this! I had no idea.
 
I palm strop my DE blade after every few shaves using the below method


Not sure how much it helps with the blade sharpness itself but it definitely cleans up any fine residue on the blade edge that a towel might have missed. I'm on my 24th use of an Astra SP and it is still performing well.

The way it helps is that it straightens out the edge of the blade. When a blade is used, a knife or a razor, it doesn't just start to get dull by the edge getting round. What happens is that the edge curls over into a sort of "hook" type shape. When you strop a blade, or use a steel on a knife, what you're doing is straightening out that hook and evening out any waviness. When you hone you're taking off steel.

So yes, hand stropping works and on a Feather blade for example, I find it works wonders. Stropping with a machine like a Be Be Strop also works well and is fund to boot.
 
When I last saw him do this, was in my late teens or early twenties. Was using an Atra at the time and my grandfather seemed terriby old fashioned. The stropping seemed a part of it but his old razor seemed no less silly. Now I really wish someone had saved the razor for me.

Our grandfathers were men of the Great Depression. They were conditioned to do whatever they could to save money. I doubt there was much analysis regarding cost/benefit. How well it worked I don't know.

What I most remember was how this man, who had almost nothing, was always giving me money. Just a few dollars here and there starting maybe when I was 7 and continuing until I left high school, but it was a lot to a kid. I remember him as very kind and loving.


Beautiful story. Thanks for sharing it.
 
The way it helps is that it straightens out the edge of the blade. When a blade is used, a knife or a razor, it doesn't just start to get dull by the edge getting round. What happens is that the edge curls over into a sort of "hook" type shape. When you strop a blade, or use a steel on a knife, what you're doing is straightening out that hook and evening out any waviness. When you hone you're taking off steel.

So yes, hand stropping works and on a Feather blade for example, I find it works wonders. Stropping with a machine like a Be Be Strop also works well and is fund to boot.

I am familiar with the stropping process in the context of knives and tools, using compounds/ high grit stropping pastes...I'm just surprised that it also works on razor blades, and using the skin on my hands no less:001_302:
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
In theory you should be able to strop a blade and even hone a blade. My experiences were mediocre for results. I bought one of those glass hones from a Antique store and thought I would try using it and a small tumbler drinking glass to do most of the experiments. It was a different experience and some what enjoyable but in the end it is not worth it because blades are so cheap. Here is some enjoyable history into honing and lapping if interested into DE blades.
Shaving Oddities!
 

Toothpick

Needs milk and a bidet!
Staff member
Why do I not hone and strop my own double edged razor blades?
Because they are roughy 10 cents each? Just doesn’t seem like it would be worth the time to me. If you try a few blades and find one that is really sharp and shaves you well, you may be able to get 2-4 shaves out of one blade. I guess you could strop it and get maybe 1 or 2 more shaves? For me my time is more valuable. I’m not going to invest the time to save a few pennies. I’m going to swap the blade and move on.

But as others have said...do what you do.
 
When I last saw him do this, was in my late teens or early twenties. Was using an Atra at the time and my grandfather seemed terriby old fashioned. The stropping seemed a part of it but his old razor seemed no less silly. Now I really wish someone had saved the razor for me.

Our grandfathers were men of the Great Depression. They were conditioned to do whatever they could to save money. I doubt there was much analysis regarding cost/benefit. How well it worked I don't know.

What I most remember was how this man, who had almost nothing, was always giving me money. Just a few dollars here and there starting maybe when I was 7 and continuing until I left high school, but it was a lot to a kid. I remember him as very kind and loving.

I love stories like this. I was fortunate enough to have my great grandfather until I went in the Air Force. My great grand mother was still alive when my oldest daughter was born. So, 5 living generations and now, I have 5 generations again as my middle daughter had a child earlier this year and my grandmother is still living. I hope to see it again with one of my grandchildren and my father. It is rare these days.


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I love stories like this. I was fortunate enough to have my great grandfather until I went in the Air Force. My great grand mother was still alive when my oldest daughter was born. So, 5 living generations and now, I have 5 generations again as my middle daughter had a child earlier this year and my grandmother is still living. I hope to see it again with one of my grandchildren and my father. It is rare these days.


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Very much so. I've actually started again. I have adult children who are 31 and 27. They just recently lost their grandmother. Their grandfather is still alive. Their great grandmother was in their lives for a time.

My four year old son has one 73 year old grandmother and two grandfathers, 77 and 85. He's very close with my wife's parents. Makes me sad that he likely won't have them for his entire childhood. But he gets other advantages. I'm a far better father now, at 55, than I was when I first began at 23.
 
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