Stropping A DE Blade On Glass

[thirdeye]

So for some time now we have all talked about corking blades but not very often have we talked about stropping DE blades on glass.
When I was just a wee little lad I can remember my Grandfather sloshing his razor blades around inside a water glass.
Roll the clock years ahead. As we all know stropping a str8 razor on leather polishes the edge for a smooth comfortable shave. Is this possible with a DE blade?
I decided to do a little testing of my own. Over the last two months I have been stropping my DE blades. I have used a nice vintage glass strop as well as a water glass (just like gramps used).
During the early years blades were all carbon steel and could be honed and stropped. After that came the stainless steel blades and the platinums.
Could it really make a difference?
using the glass dry did very little and the blades dragged but when I added a touch of soapy water the blades moved right along with ease.
I first tried 20 complete strokes (back and forth counted as 1) and flipping the blade over and gave it 20 more. No noticeable difference at all. However, when I jumped up to 50 strokes per side I found that in fact the blades did polish up and I found the shave to be considerably smoother. I have to say that I increased the number of strokes to 100 but I did not find it to get better after 50. I used a variety of blades and it worked across the board making even the worst blades (IMHO) smoother to us. This did not sharpen the blade but again, made it much smoother to shave with. Give it a try, it takes less than a minute to do and you only need to do it on a fresh blade.

Try it on your favorite blade and let us hear how it worked for you.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I will absolutely give this a try - thanks!

I've heard a few rumors that it's possible to resharpen a blade by rubbing it on glass. Have you tried stropping a blade after three or four uses? Think I'll give it a try myself as soon as I finish the current blade.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

Hhhmmm... May have to give this a try.

 

[Snargle]

Interesting, but I'm not sure I understand the technique with the glass...are you putting the blades inside the glass or stropping them on the outside? If outside, how do you hold them to avoid removing a fingertip? If inside the glass, how to you move them around? A detailed description of the technique would be helpful...and would maybe avoid a trip to the ER for stitches!

 

[Robxcarlson]

My dad used to always tell me that his dad stropped razor blades in a juice glass, but I think that was during the depression

 

[ateace]

thirdeye -- Which seems to work better, corking or stropping inside a drinking glass?

 

[thirdeye]

but I think that was during the depression

It's not about being poor and saving money, it's about getting a smoother more comfortable shave....

If inside the glass, how to you move them around?

Yes it is inside the glass with your finger tip on the blade using a side to side rocking motion....see pictures below.

I do hold the glass in hand when doing this but I needed to hold the camera and despite the "thirdeye" I only have two hands......

thirdeye -- Which seems to work better, corking or stropping inside a drinking glass?

I believe the corking does a nice job but to me it starts dulling the blade as it polishes the edge.

 

[thirdeye]

Hhhmmm... May have to give this a try.

This looks interesting. I've never seen one. I'd be a little worried about grooving the edge if you pushed the blade to far in between the beads.

 

[Pauly]

Thanks for the idea, I will try it out tonight.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

This looks interesting. I've never seen one. I'd be a little worried about grooving the edge if you pushed the blade to far in between the beads.

I picked it up at a flea market several months ago. There's a 1930's article from Popular Science magazine floating around here someplace in which they tested some of these devices and found that they didn't do much, if anyone's interested in searching for it. Looks kinda cool though!

 

[DE Shaver]

I recall someone posting a link a article that discusses whether or not these sort of tricks work. The article is old but quite well done and since it pertains to DE razor blades, it might be of use. I'll see if I can find the link and post it to the thread later on today.

 

[skydivemd]

My dad used to always tell me that his dad stropped razor blades in a juice glass, but I think that was during the depression...

+1

I heard the same story! My grandfather would run the blade inside a water or juice glass to get 1 more shave out of it.

 

[john parker]

Always used to strop my Gillette blue blades on a mirror. Liked to think it made them good for one more shave; at any rate I shaved with them one more time!

 

[diamondtim]

+1

I heard the same story! My grandfather would run the blade inside a water or juice glass to get 1 more shave out of it.

I'll have to try this.I wonder if an old coffee cup would also accomplish the desired result.

 

[ZJ68]

I picked it up at a flea market several months ago. There's a 1930's article from Popular Science magazine floating around here someplace in which they tested some of these devices and found that they didn't do much, if anyone's interested in searching for it. Looks kinda cool though!

Is this it? If not, it looks relevant.

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/05/15/delusions-about-shaving/

 

[mtsgsd]

That was brilliant. If this doesn't answer the question then nothing will. Thanks for the interesting article!

 

[HoosierTrooper]

Is this it? If not, it looks relevant.

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/05/15/delusions-about-shaving/

Yes sir, that's it. I had the name of the magazine wrong.

 

[sas71]

the little red one..is that a Lillicraps?..ive only seen them in green like that drinking glass. i wonder if there is a difference in the red/green ones?

 

[Zarba]

So for some time now we have all talked about corking blades but not very often have we talked about stropping DE blades on glass.
When I was just a wee little lad I can remember my Grandfather sloshing his razor blades around inside a water glass.
Roll the clock years ahead. As we all know stropping a str8 razor on leather polishes the edge for a smooth comfortable shave. Is this possible with a DE blade?
I decided to do a little testing of my own. Over the last two months I have been stropping my DE blades. I have used a nice vintage glass strop as well as a water glass (just like gramps used).
During the early years blades were all carbon steel and could be honed and stropped. After that came the stainless steel blades and the platinums.
Could it really make a difference?
using the glass dry did very little and the blades dragged but when I added a touch of soapy water the blades moved right along with ease.
I first tried 20 complete strokes (back and forth counted as 1) and flipping the blade over and gave it 20 more. No noticeable difference at all. However, when I jumped up to 50 strokes per side I found that in fact the blades did polish up and I found the shave to be considerably smoother. I have to say that I increased the number of strokes to 100 but I did not find it to get better after 50. I used a variety of blades and it worked across the board making even the worst blades (IMHO) smoother to us. This did not sharpen the blade but again, made it much smoother to shave with. Give it a try, it takes less than a minute to do and you only need to do it on a fresh blade.

Try it on your favorite blade and let us hear how it worked for you.

At $0.08-0.15 per blade, I just don't see the point.

 

[mdunn]

Especially as modern blades are much thinner and coated than the ones these kinds of tricks were designed for, so all i can imagine this doing is removing the coating and killing the blade longevity