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My current attempt at sharpening a modern DE blade

ERS4

My exploding razor knows secrets
Wow, your Stanford sharpener looks immaculately clean and even has a pristine box. Have you been getting excellent results with this sharpener? Stropping the blade after running the blade through the Stanford sharpener works great for me. I got a super keen edge on a previously okay vintage blade, and my Dorco blade just gave me a great shave number 12.
First describe the premise:
Stainless steel blades had a bad reputation when they were first invented. It was not until the invention of coating technology that stainless steel blades were given a new reputation.

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Before using "Stanford", I always used modern stainless steel blades. Each blade was used nearly 30 times before discarding it. In the last few times, I will obviously feel that the smoothness of the blade has declined; depending on the performance of different brands, some are still capable of cutting, and some have caused discomfort so I discarded them early.

"Stanford" does extend the smoothness and comfort of the blade by stropping and lightly grinding and smoothing the blade edge.
This is also the time and reason why I use it.

But when the coating on the stainless steel blade disappears, its smoothness will plummet; and "Stanford" can't really finely grind a dull/deformed blade.
Therefore, grinding tools and techniques like these are only suitable for extending the comfort of stainless steel blades to a limited extent, but cannot truly restore their original performance.

I always use my razor to shave my head, so the total surface area used is much larger than someone who only shaves their face. (It’s not male pattern baldness yet, I just like shaving my head)
So, I’ve been using one blade long enough.
 
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First describe the premise:
Stainless steel blades had a bad reputation when they were first invented. It was not until the invention of coating technology that stainless steel blades were given a new reputation.

------
Before using "Stanford", I always used modern stainless steel blades. Each blade was used nearly 30 times before discarding it. In the last few times, I will obviously feel that the smoothness of the blade has declined; depending on the performance of different brands, some are still capable of cutting, and some have caused discomfort so I discarded them early.

"Stanford" does extend the smoothness and comfort of the blade by stropping and lightly grinding and smoothing the blade edge.
This is also the time and reason why I use it.

But when the coating on the stainless steel blade disappears, its smoothness will plummet; and "Stanford" can't really finely grind a dull/deformed blade.
Therefore, grinding tools and techniques like these are only suitable for extending the comfort of stainless steel blades to a limited extent, but cannot truly restore their original performance.

I always use my razor to shave my head, so the total surface area used is much larger than someone who only shaves their face. (It’s not male pattern baldness yet, I just like shaving my head)
So, I’ve been using one blade long enough.
I don’t have any real premise in which to compare the results I get using the Stanford sharpener with the twinplex stropper. As I am fairly new to wet shaving, and my first few sharpening attempts ruined my first few blades. I am not sure if I ever dulled a blade through shaving.

For my first shave, I used a KAI blade. I may have been really stupid in that first shave because I always try to test boundaries in order to understand how things work. I performed my first shave without proper preparation. Oil was the only buffer I applied to my face, and I did not wash my face or put on any shaving soap. I figured I’ll see how the oil performs as a lubricant. I didn’t know what to expect, so I completed the shave while pulling out all my beard hair from their roots over cutting the hair. That first shave may have been my most uncomfortable shave ever. In hindsight, I can’t believe I actually completed shave while yanking all my hair out, but I got a clean face, and learned a huge lesson. After that torturous shave, I started breaking out with some weird pimples. I didn’t know what those pimples were, and I thought maybe I was having some kind of reaction to the blade coating, but realized that my hair follicles were probably reacting to getting yanked out.

That first shave taught me a huge lesson and ever since then, if I feel my hair yanking, I stop the stroke and come back at the hair from another angle. Long story short, I learned about the Gillette slide, which helped. I then learned about proper face prep in how the softened hair with water, and apple cider vinegar. My last big lesson I in how to cut my hair smoothly is a shallow angle shave.

I had to learn all these tricks to shave my thick beard smoothly, as another ironic event occurred. I was looking into sharpening blades before I even started shaving and I bought 200 dull, possibly counterfeit Personna blades. Using the counterfeit Personna blade, I completed shaves 3 through 7. This counterfeit blade had one moderately sharp side and one dull side. With me being a beginner, I attributed the hair yanking of my early shaves to my lack of understanding of how to shave. Yes, there was a lack of understanding of how to shave, but the blade was a dull blade as well.

Fast forward sometime I tried to sharpen that counterfeit Personna blade. I know the Stanford sharpener says only to use 5-8 back-and-forth strokes. Yet with modern stainless blades, one will probably have to use closer to 15-30 back-and-forth strokes. I also read that if someone over hones a blade’s edge, then the edge could fall off, ruining the edge.

I agree with you that this Stanford sharpener is not a proper tool to put on a new bevel and that’s why I recommended using this Stanford sharpener throughout the early shaves before the blade dulls in order to keep an edge good throughout. Yet I decided I wanted to see if I can sharpen my counterfeit Personna blade. I realized I couldn’t perform two hundred strokes in one shot. So I limited my strokes to about 30 to 50 and then tried to strop the blades between sharpening. At first I tried stropping the blade with the glass cup stropping method between my Stanford sharpening. My attempt in sharpening the counterfeit personna blade only succeeded after I switched my routine, where I gave 30 to 50 strokes in the Stanford sharpener, and then another 30 or something strokes in the twinplex stropper.

I shaved with this newly sharpened personna blade and got a fairly comfortable shave. I can’t determine how much of the improved shave results from better technique, but my tests suggest I can sharpen semi-dull blades to a very sharp, smooth level using the Stanford sharpener with the Twinplex stropper. The sharpened blades do not match the sharpest and smoothest blades in production today, but the newly sharpened blades feel fairly close to me.

Regarding the Teflon coating being needed for a smooth shave may be partial propaganda. Correct me if I am wrong, but looking at the @helicopter data, it looks like many blades lose their coating and give their best shaves after the first shave. So thinking that a blade loses its smoothness because of losing its coating after 30 shaves may be true for a few brands, but most brands seem to lose their coating way earlier. There is a possibility that the Stanford sharpener acts as a stropper and a honer. After doing a few back-and-forth strokes with the Stanford sharpener, one is probably just stropping. After many strokes—which may occur if one shave many times without stropping between sharpening—burrs may build up, affecting the smoothness of their shave.

This is just one possibility, and I have some more thoughts on how to tell when the Stanford sharpener is sharpening or stropping based on how the stroke feels. Anyway, the more people that input their experiences with the Stanford sharpener, the more we will all understand how it works, and thank you for your input, and I look forward to any continuing input.
 
i'm not made of money, actually the very opposite but at 7-10 cents each i'll just change blades. good luck
Let’s leave money out of the sharpening equation, as the starting cost could actually cost more for sharpening than the cost of buying blades. It’s more about having more control over each shave. Many blades start low, improve after the first shave, peek, and then crash. I kind of see the blades highs and lows like a person who takes drugs. The drug users’ life is full of large swings where they get a high, and then crash. There are other people that exercise, have a good diet, and have mind control. The second person who built their body and has mind control cruises on a higher level than the drug user, although the drug user may still get higher.

Yes, there’s always going to be valleys and peaks, even for the healthy person, but the general altitude is always higher for the healthy person. For now, my sharpening may not have received feather sharpness yet, but I’m cruising each shave at a very comfortable level.
 

ERS4

My exploding razor knows secrets
I saw a lot of speculation in your experiments; all current situations are just situations, situations cannot be deduced as causes, and your own assumptions cannot be regarded as answers.

The experiment must be kept simple, focus on one variable at a time, eliminate uncontrolled variables, and have a control group, and finally obtain information that can be repeatedly verified.

You have done a lot of serious work and thought a lot, but in fact it is too much, so that it is more like the intersection of many collisions.

Maybe slow down a little, don't rush to the answer yet, find a way to line up the items, organize the data into a table... like a lot of the razor studies we see at B&B - and then things will become clearer.
 
I saw a lot of speculation in your experiments; all current situations are just situations, situations cannot be deduced as causes, and your own assumptions cannot be regarded as answers.

The experiment must be kept simple, focus on one variable at a time, eliminate uncontrolled variables, and have a control group, and finally obtain information that can be repeatedly verified.

You have done a lot of serious work and thought a lot, but in fact it is too much, so that it is more like the intersection of many collisions.

Maybe slow down a little, don't rush to the answer yet, find a way to line up the items, organize the data into a table... like a lot of the razor studies we see at B&B - and then things will become clearer.
The counterfeit personna blade that I previously sharpened was lost when I sanded down a Chinese stainless razors top cap. If you want to know why I sanded down a razor’s cap, it is because I was trying to open up a shallower angle on that razor. The razors cap that I sanded down is a beautiful “Game changer” clone. Except the “game changer” has a much shallower cap. while I was standing the razor, I accidentally left my sharpened personna blade in the razor, after checking the razor’s effective angle. I then saw some sparks while sanding the cap and realized that I just sanded the blade.

For today’s shave, I decided I’m going to re-sharpen a new counterfeit blade. I took one of the personna’s out of the package and gave the blade a little paper cut test. The blade could barely cut through paper and was almost ripping the paper over cutting the paper. I got the blade sharp this time much quicker. All it took was approximately 50 strokes in the Stanford sharpener and another 40 strokes in the twinplex stropper. The blade was sharper, but not sharp enough. After repeated step one, the blade cut through the paper cleanly and easily. I did another round just for good luck and used this sharpened blade for today's shave. I shaved with a vintage Gillette new type short comb and got a wonderful shave.

I don’t think I’m going to do any valid scientific data collection as I am looking for what works, and it would take too much time to get all the controls and variables in place for proper data collection, although with time some of them might come. For now, the Stanford sharpener with the twinpex stropper is passing with flying colors.
 
Let’s leave money out of the sharpening equation, as the starting cost could actually cost more for sharpening than the cost of buying blades. It’s more about having more control over each shave. Many blades start low, improve after the first shave, peek, and then crash. I kind of see the blades highs and lows like a person who takes drugs. The drug users’ life is full of large swings where they get a high, and then crash. There are other people that exercise, have a good diet, and have mind control. The second person who built their body and has mind control cruises on a higher level than the drug user, although the drug user may still get higher.

Yes, there’s always going to be valleys and peaks, even for the healthy person, but the general altitude is always higher for the healthy person. For now, my sharpening may not have received feather sharpness yet, but I’m cruising each shave at a very comfortable level.
I get it when I use to have money to burn I bought 2 wicked edge knife sharpeners, about 10 different quality Arkansas stones, 5 diasharp diamond plates and all kind of other things. So I get the reason for wanting a special type of sharp. Big collector of high end knives. and I too have noticed I dread the dirst cut on a new blade, looks like a vampire has been feeding, but after that they give a great shave for arond a week. I just know how expensive it can cost to get into sharpening over a pretty cheap DE blade. I couldnt do it cause i'm OCD and would spend $1000 in equipment to sharpen a 10 cent blade, lol
 
Then what you are looking for is actually magic.
One person’s magic is another person’s science. For some, turning on the light may be magic, for others telekinesis may be magic, yet for others, life is magic. I think we live in the big hologram where everything is possible and follows precise laws. From this point of view, telekinesis may be possible, but it’s not magic.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, having a dull blade and then getting the dull blade sharp is proof enough. Yet, the more data we have, the more we can understand the parameters and the boundaries of how and when the Stanford sharpener works.

I invite you and anyone else who owns the Stanford sharpener or uses any other method to sharpen razor blades to share their experiences. The only thing I ask is if you’re using the Stanford sharpener to include the blade that you’re using, approximately how many back-and-forth strokes you do, and whether you strop the blade after sharpening. Knowing the blade’s usage count would also be nice. All are free to add any other data that they feel would add to the data collection.

The reason I would like to know what blade one is sharpening is that some blades may sharpen better than others. I avoid blades associated with Gillette, even though I am a fan of some of Gillette’s vintage razors, I highly suspect that Gillette makes their blades a little too brittle where the blades may not take well to sharpening.
 
I get it when I use to have money to burn I bought 2 wicked edge knife sharpeners, about 10 different quality Arkansas stones, 5 diasharp diamond plates and all kind of other things. So I get the reason for wanting a special type of sharp. Big collector of high end knives. and I too have noticed I dread the dirst cut on a new blade, looks like a vampire has been feeding, but after that they give a great shave for arond a week. I just know how expensive it can cost to get into sharpening over a pretty cheap DE blade. I couldnt do it cause i'm OCD and would spend $1000 in equipment to sharpen a 10 cent blade, lol
Then, for the love of God, at least Cork your blades. Luckily for you, there are not too many effective sharpening tools for the double-edged blades, so the double edge razor blade sharpening rabbit's hole probably can’t go too deep. Unless you’re like me and like to try every tool that might work. Another way one can get sucked down a large sharpening rabbit hole is if they buy collectibles, so it is probably wise to stay away from the collectibles.
 
My Dorco St301 is still sharp and smooth after 15 shaves, yet this is not the reason I am posting this update. There are a few other things I thought to put into this thread. First, I was getting conflicting information on the bevel edge angles but did not know how to find an actual bevel edge angle. Without looking for a bevel edge finder I was browsing eBay and saw this “Laser Knife Edge Reader- knowing your angles with this knife goiniometer” Laser Knife Edge Reader- knowing your angles with this knife goiniometer | eBay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/356137438186. Of course I bought this $20 edge finder opposed to buying a few hundred dollar professional one.
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I was thinking to post the bevel edges angle of different razor blades but since it’s difficult for me to take a picture while trying to hold the razor blade straight, and the angles that I am readding may be off by a degree or two I figured I’ll let someone else take up that torch. Knowing the bevel angle for each blade can be an objective data on the blade’s sharpness. However, factors beyond the bevel angle, such as stropping fineness and the facets used, also affect the blade’s sharpness and cutting ability. Anyway, all the shave ready razor blades which I have tested are showing a 7° to 10° bevel angle.

I have to ask myself why other people are posting 13 something degrees going up to close to 30° as the bevel angles for shave ready razor blades. The answer may be because there are two ways to give a bevel angle: one is per each bevel side, and the other is a cumulative angle. Most times, when people think of bevel angle, they are referring to each individual side. It may be when people are giving the bevel angles for shaving razor blades they were giving the cumulative angles. This would make sense as the feather blade was the only blade that had an angle under 14° and as feather might use exceptionally good steel that can break a 7° angle limit and can hold an angle slightly below 7°.

I took the angle of my 15 times used Dorco St301 and I got approximately a 9° angle. A new Dorco St301 blade gives me an angle closer to 7°. I’m noticing this trend where the bevel angle is slightly more acute in the factory sharp blade over a blade that I put through the Stanford sharpener. I’m thinking the staffer sharpener’s angle is closer to 9° or 10°, as after I put a new blade into the Stanford sharpener, I usually get a bevel angle that is about a degree less acute than the factory sharpened one. After sharpening my Dorco blade 15 times, the angle is now 2° less acute, giving the Dorco blade a 9° angle is not as keen as the brand-new Dorco blade, but is still super sharp and smooth.

On to other news, I cleaned up my 15 remaining Stanford sharpeners, and they cleaned up pretty nicely. I thought the case was tin, but it turns out that the case is copper or brass. The nickel plating is peeling on one or two of them and I can clearly see the copper colored metal below. I cleaned them up nicely, and they all seem functional, except some are looser than others; however, the loose ones are only loose when opening and closing, as the sharpeners interlock when closed. one sharpener has a little chip on two of its sharpening plates which do not appear to affect the sharpening ability as the chips are above where the blade sits. We can see these chips ones on the far right, third row, middle sharpening plate. I think the chip happened to a loose one. When they are loose and one tries to open the case, sometimes the two plates get stuck to each other and someone may have forced the two plates opened, chipping both the top plate and the bottom plate a bit. This looseness happens because the copper housing may flare out a bit. One can fix the looseness by banging in the cases sidewall.

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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.
View attachment 1946273View attachment 1946275


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.
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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 fo r 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.
I have a Clix brand glass razor blade hone/stropper. It's from the 20's. Picked it up on the bay for cheap. Same concept of what you're doing with a water glass. Works really well on modern and vintage DE blades . I use it on my blade before each use. I got it because I like to use vintage razor blades, but somtimes those NOS blades may be from the 30's or 40's and may have lost some of their keenness over time. Using this get them up to tip top shape to use. I also have an automatic stropper from early 1900's. It has uses a strop and a mechanism that holds SE and DE blades. We have become a throwaway society, and it's a shame.... cheers
 
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