In theory, any blade can be stropped and honed. Why do I not hone and strop my own double edged razor blades?
Your grandfathers bladed most likely were uncoated carbon steel .Modern blades have coatings so I would not strop .A lot of blades shave even smoother after first shave . D/E blades are very cheap and will last for a least a week depending on how tough your beard is .
Blades would have been a lot more expensive relative to income then. However, if it works and you like doing it, why not?
But they’re honed before they're plated so perhaps you’d end up with some kind of edge that could be restored....a plain steel edge? And they’re not all plated are they?Hello,
modern blades are plated, this gives the final shaving edge. Stroping/honing simply removes this plating, so it can be done, but it won’t restore the edge.
Adam
+1, mine did too.My grandfather did it every day. He'd strop them on a glass in the bathroom. Must have worked since he used the same blade seemingly forever.
This. With a traditional straight, the spine sets the angle for you but its much more difficult to do that with a DE because the blade in flat.To hone a DE blade, you'd need a holder that positions the blade at the correct angle.
I've honed Personna blades for a Sextoblade using a sacrificial Weck razor.... I can't say the honing was a success, but sharpening on a pasted strop was 'almost' a success. Stropping in general was better overall but still not worth doing IMO.
Many modern blades are triple beveled so finding a holder that positions the blade correctly for honing is a challenge. The metal is thin and prone to flexing, which is problematic. I am not certain that it would hold up well for anything other than a 'tune up'. For stropping, the same concerns apply, but maybe it's not so critical.