Thread: How do the manufacturers "test" their DE and disposable blades?

Overall, it would be possible. But why should something like this be invented?
Who would use it? Dovo??

The trick with DE´s is that they are flat and square,
what makes it easy to fixate and sharpen them on both sides.
As far as I know DE´s are sharpened using three different sharpening wheels,
coarse, fine and a polishing compund.

Dovo (AFAIK) uses a grinding wheel for the pregrind, as well.
But they don´t lay the spine flat on the wheel, for obvious reasons.
This is a problem that doesn´t occour on DEs.
But there should be no problem finishing or sharpening razors with fine wheels,
in fact I know at least one person that sharpens razors on a Tormek machine,
with a leather wheel pasted with CrO

So, there already is a sharpening device for razors:
fine grinding wheels (but beware of heating and ruining the temper)

Well, I saw a documentary on knife making, and cold steel tests their kitchen knives by using a machine that holds the knife and uses it to cut through stacked paper strips. How many strips the knife cuts and how many times it cuts such and such many strips are recorded. If the razor companies wished, I'm sure they could do something like this.

Thing is though, they'd prolly think a blade was ideal that cut well 5 or six times, then completely lost its edge. I'm sure many steel formulations have been rejected because the edge lasted too long.

Maybe something like this?

The fact is DE's are really not that sharp when produced. That's why when you shave with one you only get a couple of shaves. They rely on the coating to provide the true sharpness. years ago when Wilkenson came out with the first stainless DE blades probably 1960s as I recall they advertised you could get a minimum of 10 shaves from each blade and in most cases people got many more. Those blades were quality manufactured and had no coatings on them.

If you tried to sharpen a straight the way they do a DE the edge would be so thin it would crumble when you used it.

I'd bet dollars to donuts they use an electric eye to find imperfections...

Just like almost every mechanically produced product in the world these days.