I just started shaving today with a safety razor blade made by Merkur. I also have the Feather brand.
Does anyone know of a method to make these blades last longer. I hear there are several ways to do this. Please share.
Thanks,
July10newbie
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I just started shaving today with a safety razor blade made by Merkur. I also have the Feather brand.
Does anyone know of a method to make these blades last longer. I hear there are several ways to do this. Please share.
Thanks,
July10newbie
i feel as if that is a silly idea.. you are saving tons by not using mach3s or fusions or whatever.. you could seriously shave once with a feather and throw the thing away and still be saving hundreds a year.. don't become one of those freaks that try to use the same blade for 8 months.. enjoy your shave.. you are already way ahead of the game.
Hones for safety razor blades turn up on ebay regularly: Lilycraps are the ones you find most often: GREEN DEPRESSION GLASS RAZOR HONE STROPPER NEAT - eBay (item 200495112658 end time Jul-17-10 13:01:59 PDT)
I have got an Escher in the same shape and a Schwedenstein: you won't find those very often. Worth a try.
Yeah, your DE blades should last between 5-7 shaves...that's about as long as a M3 cartridge lasts. A quarter for a blade instead of $3...big difference. Just toss it and grab a new one.
+1 I change DE blades after 3 shaves. Here in NZ I pay 35 cents per blade, the newest cartridges cost about $5.50. With that difference there's no point in trying to prolong the life of a blade!Quote:
Originally Posted by vthomlinson
although i rarely shave with the DE.. and use feather platinums.. i like the idea of buying a pack of the no name blades at the 99¢ store.. from what i can tell just by looking at them at the store.. they are personnas.. which i hear is a good blade..
i'm in love with my artist club.. but the blades are not sold locally and i have to get them from classicshaving.. i have the merkur hd for emergencies and i love the idea of a cheap... (excuse me.. i mean INEXPENSIVE) blade available to me at all times.
they are called disposable for the reason of them being disposed of..
I disagree. Resources on this planet are finite and our population is still growing. Waste is never a good idea if it can be avoided. My wife treats her DE razor the same way I treat all of my straights. After use, she shakes water off the razor (I wipe it off of my straight) and dips the head of the razor (with the blade) into a solution of mineral oil in rubbing alcohol (1 to 200 ratio). This evaporates water off the blade and leaves a coating of oil behind.Quote:
Originally Posted by vthomlinson
You may be able to find an old blade stropper in an antique shop. They look kinda like a pencil sharpener, except a rod comes out, you fix the blade in it, and then push it back in; crank it a few times, pull out the rod, and the blade is ready to go.
I've still got my grandfathers, and I'm still using it. It's a nice way to refresh the blades, as I don't use my DE very often.
Vulcan has the answer. You need to scour the antique shops to look for the DE blade stropper that probably goes back to pre-Depression times when blades were relatively expensive and held dear. When I was a kid, 50 and a bit years ago, my friend Ed had one which may have belonged to his grandfather. It was a neat tool - mount the blade and turn the crank. The leather covered wheels would contact the blade, rotate, turning away from the edge, jump back, the blade would turn over and the still turning wheels would come back into contact to strop that side. The spin and flip would continue as long as you turned the crank. And the gizmo was nickel plated. Very nice.
good luck, :beer2:
Good call! Yes, I've got one of those that I occasionally use for my wife's blades. The one that I've got is a Twinplex. It works quite well. I've checked the edges before and after on a microscope and it really does refresh the edge.
Alternatively ...Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan500rider
How to Make a Pyramid Razor Sharpener | eHow.com
but note the caveat at the bottom of the page
Hi VucanRider,
My dad was grew up in Regina, Sask. and was born in Biggar.
Small world! How did he end up in California? Or was that your move?
Older razor blades were higher quality than modern ones and lasted longer and you could strop them. The newer ones owe their performance to the coatings on them Once they are gone you can't replace them and your left with a crummy blade.
is this true for all DEs? even the higher quality ones.. such as feather platinums and what not?Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
I find this hard to understand. At the end of the day you need a sharp edge to shave. The metal gives the edge. Aren't the coatings only applied for smoothness, rust prevention etc?Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
I would guess the answer would depend on how long you are trying to prolong the blade's lifespan. Are you talking by a couple shaves (which probably wouldn't be worth the hassle) or by a dozen (which may be asking too much for a DE blade)?
For me a fresh sharp blade is the solution for zero irritation. My sensitive skin pretty much demands it. In my Mock 3 days I could feel the blades deteriorating after 3 shaves, which gets expensive when 5 blades cost close to $20. One of the toughest habits for me to break was using a disposable blade long past it's best-before-date, and my face thanks me for it. It is no different with DE blades.
I still experiment with blade longevity vs. different brands, but the average, for me at least, is usually 3-4 shaves before I toss one. You have to cut your losses sometime.
I believe you and defer to your experience, but I have extended the life of both Personna and Derby blades with the Twinplex stropper. I have confirmed improvement in the edge both by microscopic examination and shave testing before and after the stropping. It has worked for me and for my wife who primarily uses my safety razor.Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
Quote:
Originally Posted by Utopian
i was thinking about this and i do try to close the loop whenever possible.. so from now on.. instead of throwing my blades away.. i'm going to krazy glue them to the wall in my room.. eventually i can have a nice metallic shield to protect me from alien mind control.
Excellent!Quote:
Originally Posted by vthomlinson
And if you happen to buy an IPhone4, you can use them to fashion a better antenna for it. I'm glad I was able to show you the error of your wasteful ways.:D
Let me know when you are ready to alter your wasteful toilet habits.
:soapbox:
Not really with any intent to prolong the life of the razor, but when it feels harsh, I cork the blade.
The older DE blades were simply put manufactured with more care and were just better. When Wilkenson came out with the Stainless DE as I recall in the 1960s or so they advertised you could get a minimum of 10 shaves from each blade and I recall my dad raving about them. Most folks got way more than that and they had no coatings and you could strop them. Try that with any DE blade now. Sure some modern blades are better than others but how many shaves can you get from even the best? On average maybe 3 or so. The real reason for the coatings is they are cheaper to apply and produce than to manufacture a higher quality blade.