safety razor hone....how practical?

[ctkelly]

Alright I suspect there might be some serious penny pinchers out there.....anyone use a safety razor hone out there to try and extend the life of your blade? Possible, practical, waste of time?

I just acquired a carborundum 45 hone, mostly for display but it got me wondering if anyone uses something like this to try and extend the life of their blades? I suspect it might be good for blue steel blades and knocking the oxidation off the blade before each use, or perhaps extending the life of a favorite blade no longer in production.....or just a complete waste of time.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[Trainer7]

Back in the old days before the King... (so I have heard)
People used to hone carbon steel blades.

Is it really worth it or even decently possible today?
Probably not.
You can try and strop a blade (glass) to make it smoother, but not sharper?
Or cork a blade...

If you try some search combinations around these forums, you'll see some discussions on this.

Joe.

 

[Go West Young Man]

If your blade is coated (as all modern blades are) stropping will remove that coating and the blade will start rusting almost instantly.

 

[luvmysuper]

I'm all for anything that will extend the life of those outrageously expensive 8 cent blades.

 

[americanarmsdealer]

I'm all for anything that will extend the life of those outrageously expensive 8 cent blades.

+1!

 

[shecky]

I'm all for anything that will extend the life of those outrageously expensive 8 cent blades.

Practical, no. But people yakking on the internet about safety razors don't are wise to not make fun of impractical shaving practices.

IMO, maintaining a blade is the ultimate skill for a traditional wet shaver. Every dedicated wet shaver should know how to do it, and practice on occasion. Wet shavers who never master this skill are nothing more than glorified cartridge shavers.

 

[DE Shaver]

...waste of time?

Yes.

 

[luvmysuper]

Practical, no. But people discussing safety razors on this fine forum are wise to not make fun of impractical shaving practices.

IMO, maintaining a blade is the ultimate skill for a traditional wet shaver. Every dedicated wet shaver should know how to do it, and practice on occasion. Wet shavers who never master this skill are nothing more than glorified cartridge shavers.

There, I fixed your post for you. No need to thank me.

The ultimate skill for a wetshaver is to obtain and maintain a sharp and useable edge on a straight razor.

Trying to maintain an edge on a DE blade is a waste of time and energy, and of minimal value in extending a blades life. Microscopic photography in several Scientific American articles has already demonstrated that point.

Anyone who earns more than minimum wage will expend more value in their time trying to sharpen an 8 cent blade than the value of the blade itself.

If that is your thing, you're welcome to it, but as we all are entitled to opinions here, expressed in a gentlemanly fashion, I beg to differ.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

Practical, no. But people yakking on the internet about safety razors don't are wise to not make fun of impractical shaving practices.

IMO, maintaining a blade is the ultimate skill for a traditional wet shaver. Every dedicated wet shaver should know how to do it, and practice on occasion. Wet shavers who never master this skill are nothing more than glorified cartridge shavers.

Huh?

 

[shecky]

The ultimate skill for a wetshaver is to obtain and maintain a sharp and useable edge on a straight razor.

You make my point. If you want to argue practicality, then the last thing you do is bother with a straight. Yet here we are, many of use who at least dabble. Simply because we like it.

Traditional wet shaving in a first world country is almost never about practicality, despite the occasional bragging about inexpensive blades. Need proof? How about perhaps the longest thread on the forum about the loss of manly rituals from days of yore. Not really about shaving, so much about the nostalgia and passion surrounding the ritual itself.

If you want to talk practical, you simply buy Bic disposables, take a couple days to figure out how they work, and you'll likely never need to worry about the chore of shaving again. But if you want to talk about the practice of traditional wet shaving, then practicality is really just a facade. Because traditional wet shaving isn't about chore. It's about passion.

 

[luvmysuper]

You make my point. If you want to argue practicality, then the last thing you do is bother with a straight. Yet here we are, many of use who at least dabble. Simply because we like it.

Traditional wet shaving in a first world country is almost never about practicality, despite the occasional bragging about inexpensive blades. Need proof? How about perhaps the longest thread on the forum about the loss of manly rituals from days of yore. Not really about shaving, so much about the nostalgia and passion surrounding the ritual itself.

If you want to talk practical, you simply buy Bic disposables, take a couple days to figure out how they work, and you'll likely never need to worry about the chore of shaving again. But if you want to talk about the practice of traditional wet shaving, then practicality is really just a facade. Because traditional wet shaving isn't about chore. It's about passion.

yeah.... ok.

Thanks for that.
Have a great evening.

 

[ouch]

Aren't guys named Shecky supposed to be funny?


Yours,
Shecky Ouch

 

[wdwrx]

Not practical? I beg to differ. I'm an incredibly practical person. Nothing i do doesn't serve some purpose.
I would agree in that straights are the pinnacle of wet-shaving, but strictly from a practical standpoint. If shaving is to be considered a practical practice in the first place.
With a handful of straight razors and a couple hundred dollars in hones, I am FOREVER free of the need to purchase anything except a fine soap. Self sufficiency for me is more practical than reliance on a corporation with something other than my best interests in mind. But then, I actively resent the position I've been put into as a "consumer" in our culture. I hate to be manipulated, especially for someone else's monetary gain.

Kind regards,

 

[Stubblefield]

IMO, maintaining a blade is the ultimate skill for a traditional wet shaver.

Attempting to maintain a blade that was not designed to be maintained in the first place is not really a skill. The beauty of using a disposable is that I can toss an 8 cent blade after two shaves and not waste my valuable time with corking, honing or buffing.

But to each their own.

Take care.

 

[ctkelly]

What is the magical 8 cent blade everyone keeps referring to? Just curious, none of the blades I like so far are in the 8 cent category.

I agree with a lot of what has been said so far, I was just curious if anyone had any insight on actually using one....sort of a why does this exist and does anyone actually use one type of thing. I'm guessing its true purpose was either a marketing ploy or was used for carbon steel blades to knock the oxidation off prior to shaving.

 

[BBchew]

If the safety razor blades can be honed then I guess the market will be gone completely ...

 

[luvmysuper]

What is the magical 8 cent blade everyone keeps referring to? Just curious, none of the blades I like so far are in the 8 cent category.

I agree with a lot of what has been said so far, I was just curious if anyone had any insight on actually using one....sort of a why does this exist and does anyone actually use one type of thing. I'm guessing its true purpose was either a marketing ploy or was used for carbon steel blades to knock the oxidation off prior to shaving.

You have to shop around and you have to buy in bulk. The larger the number the cheaper the price. Even if you're not interested in buying 500 blades at a shot, you can regularly get top grade blades in less than massive bulk quantities for 12 to 20 cents a blade.

If you earn minimum wage, you'd lose money (figuratively speaking) on a 20 cent blade if it took longer than 1 and a half minutes of your time.

 

[Wil Dorenbos]

Alright I suspect there might be some serious penny pinchers out there.....anyone use a safety razor hone out there to try and extend the life of your blade? Possible, practical, waste of time?

I just acquired a carborundum 45 hone, mostly for display but it got me wondering if anyone uses something like this to try and extend the life of their blades? I suspect it might be good for blue steel blades and knocking the oxidation off the blade before each use, or perhaps extending the life of a favorite blade no longer in production.....or just a complete waste of time.

Thoughts anyone?

Do not know about the hone you have got, but I (Dutch accountant, so perhaps worse then a Scotsman ) have picked up some resharpening pads from the Bay. I intend to use them on my injector blades (nos, from the 50-ties), as I am having a hard time finding those (or new ones) for a fair price. First use of the pad is coming up, will try to resharpen my blade tomorrow... I am also considering resharpening my Treet carbon DE blades, and perhaps my Feather DE blades. According to the seller (have to check this) a blade can be resharpened once or twice, and a pad can be used a few hunderd times. The pads are 2,95 conus and 3,95 international. Now I get 3 shaves out of an injector blade, and I would like to have 5 or 6.

 

[Too Tall]

+1!

What they said!!! Come on my friend. You "could" but why would you?????

 

[Wil Dorenbos]

What they said!!! Come on my friend. You "could" but why would you?????

Well, if you could say double the number of shaves, for only 2,95 per hunderd? And injector blades (for me) are about 1 usd a piece (with shipping and all). True, these pads are intended for cartridges, but should also work with injector and de blades.