First, I’m going to address why sharpen a DE blade at all. Many say blades are cheap, so why bother? Many people have so many blades that they simply want to get through their stash. Personally I feel that trying to use up something for the sake of using the item up a silly. Rather, one can gift, or sell their excess. The throwaway mentality is very common today, mainly born out of social pressure and the manufacturing of disposable products. It’s usually easier to throw something away that to clean or maintain an item. Yet there are many benefits to being able to maintain the blade’s edge. First, many blades get better after the first shave. So knowing the basic concept of corking a blade can help one get a perfect shave the first shave. Some other blades are inconsistent, so testing and honing before first use can help one avoid the dreaded bad blade. Maintaining a blade means you won’t be stuck without a good one, even if you can’t get a new blade.
The most simple and quite effective way of stropping a DE blade is with a glass cup. Here’s a picture of me holding a DE blade in a glass cup to give a novice an orientation and how to hold the blade in a glass cup.
Through my research is apparent that it’s good to put a little liquid into the cup where the blade would sit. Liquids of choice is water, rubbing alcohol, or vinegar. The rubbing alcohol and vinegar can help clean and remove some oxidation on the blade while honing. Water is a completely acceptable medium for modern stainless steel blades, yet one should probably avoid water if using a carbon steel blade. One of the most important things to do is to make sure the entire blade is flat against the glass. In order to accomplish the flat blade, one should push the entire center of the DE blade flush against the glass. The DE blades are very flexible and will give a proper spring back against the glasses curves. Once the blade is in a little liquid and flush against the glass, one just moves the blade back and forth a few times. If the blade is bad, one will hear some grinding sounds which will disappear after a few strokes. This process has to be performed on both sides of the blade, so flip the blade after you’ve done one side. The glass cup also works on thicker blades, yet for thicker blades one will have to use much less pressure on the blade.
Now the tricky part, sharpening a DE blade. Most traditional methods of sharpening do not work on a modern DE blade. The main reason the traditional methods don’t work on a DE blade is that the blades are too thin and flexible, making a steady and proper angle very difficult to achieve. There are some other factors which make sharpening a DE blade difficult as well. Besides for the Teflon coating, which helps avoid the hair from binding onto the steel, shaving blades are ground with multiple facets, or a hollow grind. When the razor blade has three facets and the hypothetical manufactures final angle is at 15°, then using a 10° angle for re-sharpening will make the blade duller instead of sharper. This will happen because one will miss the tip and create a blunt end. Eventually, if one grinds enough metal away, their 10° angle will turn sharp, but when re-sharpening, one should try to remove as little metal as necessary.
I’m going to skip my failed attempts and show my current most successful affordable modern tool that is almost up for the DE sharpening task. the modern sharpeners I am referring to are the rolling knife sharpeners. Here is a picture of mine.
The rolling knife Sharpeners have a magnetic base with pre-cut angles, which holds a knife at the pre-cut angle. One then takes the rolling sharpening pin and rolls the pin against the knife. This system works really well, but it’s designed for larger knives. When using small razor blades, the blade does not always protrude far enough for the sharpener to sharpen the blade. If one tries to lift the blade up higher, they run into an issue where the blade shifts during the grind, giving one a bad grind. I semi-solve this issue by cutting a thin magnet and placing it under the razor blade, causing the razor blade to protrude out a little further, letting me sharpen the blade. My solution is not a perfect solution as the blade still shifts a bit during sharpening, but I could still put a razor edge on a DE blade.
Here’s a link to the current magnetic block I am using. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DDWM4HG9?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title This block includes a 10° angle where most of the blocks that come with the sharpening sets only include a 1 5° and 25° angles. While I know some sharp, straight razors have a 7° bevel yet, the best angle I have available right now is 10°.
There may be some other blocks which can hold a razor blade better, and I’m sure there are other expensive devices which can do more angles and possibly hold the blade completely sturdy, and if anybody knows of better devices, please let me know.
I am still a novice in razor blade sharpening and razor blade sharpening is more of a curiosity to me, then a necessity. I already own over a thousand blades and the number still seems to rise. In the long run, sharpening DE blades probably won’t even save money Because the sharpening tools cost money as well. Most people are probably better off just honing their blades in a glass cup and tossing the blade once the blade needs a more serious sharpening. yet for those of us that are a little more environmentally conscious and like to avoid planned obsolescence, or if they just want a little more control over their blade’s edge, they may be interested in re-sharpening their blades. Anyway, I would love to hear if anybody has better, or other methods for sharpening DE blades.
The most simple and quite effective way of stropping a DE blade is with a glass cup. Here’s a picture of me holding a DE blade in a glass cup to give a novice an orientation and how to hold the blade in a glass cup.
Through my research is apparent that it’s good to put a little liquid into the cup where the blade would sit. Liquids of choice is water, rubbing alcohol, or vinegar. The rubbing alcohol and vinegar can help clean and remove some oxidation on the blade while honing. Water is a completely acceptable medium for modern stainless steel blades, yet one should probably avoid water if using a carbon steel blade. One of the most important things to do is to make sure the entire blade is flat against the glass. In order to accomplish the flat blade, one should push the entire center of the DE blade flush against the glass. The DE blades are very flexible and will give a proper spring back against the glasses curves. Once the blade is in a little liquid and flush against the glass, one just moves the blade back and forth a few times. If the blade is bad, one will hear some grinding sounds which will disappear after a few strokes. This process has to be performed on both sides of the blade, so flip the blade after you’ve done one side. The glass cup also works on thicker blades, yet for thicker blades one will have to use much less pressure on the blade.
Now the tricky part, sharpening a DE blade. Most traditional methods of sharpening do not work on a modern DE blade. The main reason the traditional methods don’t work on a DE blade is that the blades are too thin and flexible, making a steady and proper angle very difficult to achieve. There are some other factors which make sharpening a DE blade difficult as well. Besides for the Teflon coating, which helps avoid the hair from binding onto the steel, shaving blades are ground with multiple facets, or a hollow grind. When the razor blade has three facets and the hypothetical manufactures final angle is at 15°, then using a 10° angle for re-sharpening will make the blade duller instead of sharper. This will happen because one will miss the tip and create a blunt end. Eventually, if one grinds enough metal away, their 10° angle will turn sharp, but when re-sharpening, one should try to remove as little metal as necessary.
I’m going to skip my failed attempts and show my current most successful affordable modern tool that is almost up for the DE sharpening task. the modern sharpeners I am referring to are the rolling knife sharpeners. Here is a picture of mine.
The rolling knife Sharpeners have a magnetic base with pre-cut angles, which holds a knife at the pre-cut angle. One then takes the rolling sharpening pin and rolls the pin against the knife. This system works really well, but it’s designed for larger knives. When using small razor blades, the blade does not always protrude far enough for the sharpener to sharpen the blade. If one tries to lift the blade up higher, they run into an issue where the blade shifts during the grind, giving one a bad grind. I semi-solve this issue by cutting a thin magnet and placing it under the razor blade, causing the razor blade to protrude out a little further, letting me sharpen the blade. My solution is not a perfect solution as the blade still shifts a bit during sharpening, but I could still put a razor edge on a DE blade.
Here’s a link to the current magnetic block I am using. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DDWM4HG9?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title This block includes a 10° angle where most of the blocks that come with the sharpening sets only include a 1 5° and 25° angles. While I know some sharp, straight razors have a 7° bevel yet, the best angle I have available right now is 10°.
There may be some other blocks which can hold a razor blade better, and I’m sure there are other expensive devices which can do more angles and possibly hold the blade completely sturdy, and if anybody knows of better devices, please let me know.
I am still a novice in razor blade sharpening and razor blade sharpening is more of a curiosity to me, then a necessity. I already own over a thousand blades and the number still seems to rise. In the long run, sharpening DE blades probably won’t even save money Because the sharpening tools cost money as well. Most people are probably better off just honing their blades in a glass cup and tossing the blade once the blade needs a more serious sharpening. yet for those of us that are a little more environmentally conscious and like to avoid planned obsolescence, or if they just want a little more control over their blade’s edge, they may be interested in re-sharpening their blades. Anyway, I would love to hear if anybody has better, or other methods for sharpening DE blades.
Best ask 
