Using a DE razor sharpener

[shaven]

These old machines, usually pre-war, turn up quite regularly on auction sites, and being the tightwad that I am, I decided to buy one to see if they are any good. So I bought a German one, which was very solid and looked as if it would last another hundred years.
The first thing that struck me was that the modern stainless steel razor blade is obviously different to the carbon steel ones that these sharpeners were designed for. I had to use a little cardboard shim to keep the blade in place, so I'm guessing that carbon steel blades were thicker.
After two minutes of cranking a blunt stainless steel blade in the sharpener, the result was an even blunter blade. It was still usable, but not much good. It gave me the sort of shave I was used to with disposable multiblade razors: visually not too bad, but a rough feel. Stainless steel is always a lot tougher to get a good edge on than carbon steel, and I suppose that's the reason that these little machines went out of production.
Still, shaving with even the very best DE blades is cheaper than with multiblade disposables, so I'll keep on changing blades every two weeks, and put the razor sharpener away in a drawer. It might come in handy in the event of nuclear war or global pandemic that destroys society's ability to produce new razor blades: at least I'll look like the most respectable post-apocalyptic survivor fighting over the last tins of beans.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I've been tempted by a few of those, too. Thanks for "taking one for the team."

I have to wonder if one of those might be good for cleaning up a vintage carbon steel blade. I've picked up a few of those along with old razors and I've been curious about them. The consensus here is that you shouldn't use the old blades, but if one could be touched up with a sharpener, I'd like to give one a spin.

 

[michiganlover]

Just wanted to weigh in: those machines are neat for nostalgia purposes, but as you found totally useless with a modern day blade. Even if it was successful in sharpening the blade, the resulting shave would feel very rough, as any attempt at sharpening the blade removes the various blade coatings from the blade.

Vintage blades were much thicker, and also un-coated.

 

[DE Shaver]

Just wanted to weigh in: those machines are neat for nostalgia purposes, but as you found totally useless with a modern day blade. Even if it was successful in sharpening the blade, the resulting shave would feel very rough, as any attempt at sharpening the blade removes the various blade coatings from the blade.

Vintage blades were much thicker, and also un-coated.

That was my finding. Those vintage sharpeners didn't sharpen the blade and made it more uncomfortable to use.

 

[Radar O\'Reilly]

Could it also be the leather pads on these razors have since dried out, and any coating on them has flaked off? I just purchased a Twinplex DE stropper, and added some neatsfoot oil to the leather stropping pads and might eventually add some kind of light abrasive.

 

[shaven]

Could it also be the leather pads on these razors have since dried out, and any coating on them has flaked off? I just purchased a Twinplex DE stropper, and added some neatsfoot oil to the leather stropping pads and might eventually add some kind of light abrasive.

Don't forget to post the results here. Any good?

 

[Greyfox]

DE blades are just too inexpensive to worry about sharpening them after their useful life IMO.

 

[shaven]

I remembered last night that I do have some carbon steel blades that came with a nineteen twenties Gillette that I bought. I unwrapped one and was quite impressed by how clean it looked: no rust or anything. So ignoring the "do not resharpen" warning written on the blade ("yeah, but you would say that, wouldn't you, Mr Gillette"), I popped one in the sharpener and cranked for a minute.
The shave was only marginally better than with the resharpened stainless steel blade, but maybe this is what carbon steel blades were like. Much as I love old technology (LPs were great, as are manual transmissions and proper metal Meccano), sometimes technological advances really are more than marketing hype. Platinum coated stainless steel blades are simply better at scraping the hairs off your face.