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Thread: Sharpening old razor blades
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4th June 2020, 08:01 PM #31
This is just what you boys need:
Schick Silk handle + 7 blades from Aldi next Wednesday
I have actually been meaning to post that I cracked open the new Schick handle and 4-blade jobbie a few weeks ago. The old one was still pretty good but I was keen to see what the new one was like. For my light beard the 4-blade is no real improvement on the 3-blade, but the shave is immaculate.
There's about 3 years of shaving in that pack above for me (that's < 2 cents per day).
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4th June 2020 08:01 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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4th June 2020, 10:02 PM #32
FF, I don't know how you do it. Maybe I'm too vigorous or go over too many times.
Its weird that, as you noticed in an earlier post, that one gets a better shave after using the blade a few times. Seems quite counter intuitive.
The others noted quite rightly that a box of 100 blades can be obtained inexpensively... there is being cheap and there is being a tight fist! Am I the last category?
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4th June 2020, 11:18 PM #33
Well I'm quite sure that a light beard has a helluva lot to do with it.
(and don't forget the shipping cost) Yes but then you have to buy or build the Pyramid to keep them sharp, and there's all the buggerising around changing the blade every week(?). Not to mention stropping them with green paste, and on, and on...
Me? I put a blade on and change it 5-6 months later. Buy a new bunch on special every coupla years or so.
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30th July 2020, 12:39 AM #34GOLD MEMBER
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If you want resharpenable blades, you're going to have to try to find some kind of vintage gillette blue steel blades or something similar. The core of all of the modern blades that I'm aware of is soft below the chromium coating. The chromium is a two part benefit - it's harder and stainless, and it's slick.
As far as getting a better shave after the first time or two, it's likely that the blades are near dead straight and are deforming slightly in the first couple of shaves before they settle to some extent. On a straight razor, we strop the blades after honing to get rid of that effect and to keep all shaves the same. That's one of the draws to an older straight razor, the ability to have the edge in the same condition every single day with very little variation between shave 1 and shave 100 or 200, whatever is necessary as a stopping point to go to the hones.
There's also a level of sharpness that's too high on razor blades, and that may also be some of the issue for shaves 1 and 2. People report being able to get a bloody shave with the first one or two shaves with a feather blade, and they really marvel at it because of the sharpness. But you need sharpness in a razor blade that severs hair (which isn't that high of a level of sharpness, but high compared to where most people keep knives and tools - the acute angle of the blade has a lot to do with the ability to sever hair with an imperfect edge, too). What you don't want is a blade that severs skin behind the propped up hair. When you shave across or against the grain, a blade will lift the hair a little bit while severing it, which also props up a little bit of skin on the back side of the pores. If a blade is ungodly sharp (like tenth of a micron sharp) it will not only "hang" in the hair (get caught in it and then sever), it'll "hang" in the tip of the skin instead of going over it and sever it off.
Razor burn.
That's also one of the reasons why people will get razor burn if they press hard - you're pressing down and across into the skin behind the pore instead of allowing the blade to sever the hair and then fail to catch the skin behind the hair.
I'd boast about how little I've spent per day shaving in the last 5 years, but that would be ignoring the glut of straight razor goods that I bought to get to that point, and then went bonkers buying used lots of vintage western razors from japan yahoo where they stuck to SR shaving longer. I've bought hundreds and am only slowly managing to sell them off. A good straight razor setup is about $200. If you can manage to not damage your strop or razor (which happens when you bang a razor against something or drop it), then both are good for the rest of your life. I'd be surprised if a lifetime of shaves from a properly maintained straight razor resulted in the loss of more than 10% of the razor's blade width.
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30th July 2020, 01:12 PM #35
Ive found some Feather blades on Amazon. Good price.
They are apparently the sharpest. Being made in Gifu Japan that is hardly surprising.
Lets see how they go!
The existing Russian ones are very good now I know what to do. Shaves are very close.
The razor I have one can wind it just a hair backwards (i.e. not so tightly) and it "loosens" the grip on the blade (Probably not its design or intention!). It seems to change the exposure ever so slightly more. This gives a great shave.
100% happy with it. A shave just before bed with nice hot water is quite therapeutic
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7th August 2020, 11:44 PM #36
PHYSICS has the answer!
Well well, great minds, thinking alike and all that...
What pops up in my daily ScienceX email newsletter (a daily distillation of The Hard Stuff) , but a report from MIT asking this very question.
Here is the article --> Why shaving dulls even the sharpest of razors
edit - the juicy stuff: How hair deforms steel | Science
YEAH SCIENCE. Woo!
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13th August 2020, 02:18 PM #37Senior Member
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Hi, I think I would agree with Derek on this as best made safety razor is the Feathers. I reckon I have about 10 different types from various countries.
The Feathers is very well made however I actually use less well made shavers purely because I find the Feathers just a tad not aggressive enough for my skin. I buy feathers blade in bulk as they work out dirt cheap and to be honest the biggest secret ingredient for for me is using prorasso pre shave cream which I also buy in bulk 500 ml tubes. If I don’t use pre shave cream I find I can only go 2-3 days and my face is quite sore. Using prorasso it’s never an issue at all. All in all it is way cheaper than buying your 3-5 blade Turbo Gillette or what ever you use. After buying a few different shavers shaving bowl, prorasso, anti skin bleed all blocks etc.
I have worked Out I will break even in 10 years ! If I was to keep using Mach 3 Turbos etc.
But really all jokes aside the shave is very nice......not quick but still very nice.
Steven
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13th August 2020, 03:49 PM #38
Anyone use an Alum Block?
I LOVE the close shave, but I seem to bleed a lot!
e.g. Parker Safety Razor's Large Alum Block with Travel Case (125 g / 4.4 oz.) - A Natural Aftershave with Antiseptic Properties: Amazon.com.au: Health & Personal Care
61czXPQdv7L._AC_SL1000_.jpg
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13th August 2020, 04:42 PM #39Senior Member
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The Alu blocks work well ...but in all seriousness pre shave cream has made the Alu block almost redundant.
Steven.
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14th August 2020, 06:45 AM #40GOLD MEMBER
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I use a straight razor before sharpening, and have used an alum block from time to time, but once a straight razor is settled in, it doesn't draw much blood (and settled in may be a period of 200+ shaves).
Alum bar makes a good deodorant in a pinch, too. Better than the mineral stick deodorants. One is potassium alum and the other is something else - I can't remember. Makes me wonder if the face bars are bad to rub on armpits, and if they aren't, why aren't the mineral crystals made of them given that they work better at keeping bacteria dead?
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14th August 2020, 06:46 AM #41GOLD MEMBER
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(the shower comment probably isn't obvious. If you have a little tiny pinhole sized bleed, for some reason, by the time you're done showering, it's stopped. One might guess that keeping a bunch of bleeds wet would stop them from ....stopping, but it doesn't seem to).
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14th August 2020, 12:20 PM #42
Yes! The tiny pin holes!
I look like a squeezed sponge
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14th August 2020, 12:27 PM #43GOLD MEMBER
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21st August 2020, 08:21 PM #44
Potash Alum block
Bought one of these Potash Alum blocks for the old fizz -- Parker Alum Block 125 g - A Natural Aftershave with Antiseptic Properties
Felt really nice.
I gave it a really good sharp shave, washed with cold water, then used this. SWMBO says my face is now smooth.
It definitely stopped all the tiny bleeds immediately and felt like it imparted a particularly nice cooling, soothing and smoothing effect.
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24th February 2021, 12:53 PM #45
I had to check back in here to verify when I put that new blade on. That post was from 4th June, so "a few weeks ago" puts it at mid-May 2020. Here I am 9 months later still getting great shaves from that same blade, and no intention of changing it for a good while yet! Reckon I should be able to get 12 months out of that one blade, which is astonishing (even accounting for a light-ish beard, and 3 shaves per week)
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