Strop them carbons!

[DonOhio]

I didn't have great initial luck with Pal carbon SEs some months back...it was good but not great, better than Blue Star but not as good as Ted Pella coated.

Tonight I did strop the blade, using an antique SE strop handle to get just the right angle, six strokes per side. It made a heck of a difference.

Lathered up and used my 1912 Ever Ready with the stropped Pal blade on one side. On the other I used the only comparable axe I have, the Pal injector set on H with a new blade.

Result: one nick on the stropped side, and BBS...much the same result I recall getting with the Ted Pella coated.

On the other side, the injector side, there were several weepers, though the blade did cut the whiskers almost as closely.

I assume stropping would give similar results with Blue Stars, but I gave those away so can't tell.

Now to see how many good shaves I can get out of the Pal blade before using the rough side of the strop, which is supposed to liven them up a bit more.

Verdict: if you got 'em (and they're carbon), strop 'em!

 

[MrGuy]

I use PAL carbon steel blades exclusively in my Auto Strop razors. A few flips up and down the strop and they can't be beat. I need to find a nice strop handle so I can use them in the rest of my SE's, un-stropped they can be a little rough.

 

[DonOhio]

I need to find a nice strop handle so I can use them in the rest of my SE's

I'd advise looking for the ones that have kind of a wire bail surrounding the part that holds the blade. The bail slides on the stop along with the blade and ensures proper angle. There's one on the bay now that does not have the bail...I'm sure it'd work but it'd be up to you to make sure the angle is right.

 

[MrGuy]

I'm not sure if I know what the wire bail kind are. Any pics?

 

[DonOhio]

You have to finagle them, but you can make DE blades work in it, too.

 

[MrGuy]

Thanks for the pics. I know of this style, but for some reason last night my brain was translating "wire bail" into something more like "hay bail"