Thread: Do any of you guys collect those duplex durham razors?

I'm not sure how they are used or what they are for?
If you do have them...do you use them?

They were made to be a safety/straight razor for shaving your face.


I toyed with one briefly back in my transitional days but the blades for these things are no longer made. There are commercial carpet knife blades that will fit just fine but the shaves were pretty bad. Blade angle was a bear and the quality (edge) on a carpet knife blade has absolutely horrible linger time. After half a pass it pretty much felt like I was shaving with a butter knife. Ultimately I abandoned the effort in favor of more traditional shavettes, then traditional straights.

I have a several Durham razors (Duplex, Domino, hoe-type. etc.) but mostly as an oddity and not as a regular shaver. The original Durham sets came with a stropping attachment that permitted you to keep your blade sharpened by stropping them as you would a regular straight razor. I think these attachments were often lost or discarded by later generations who didn't associate them as being part of a set. Also, Durham Duplex still makes a razor for grooming dogs and these blades are identical in size to their older razor blades. But, I don't know about their relative sharpness.

The stropping attachment is the object in the upper left of the photo.

Regards - Walt

That thing looks creepy

I think to answer this, I must say YES! Most of us have them, whether we admit it or not! I have found they are most effective for trimming the yappin lil dog, with some NOS blades, not the carpet variety! I have a good barber, but I would think a skilled hand with good blade could sculpt well with one.

so at the minimum, ill be able to the knots out of my white long haired Persian cats.

Originally Posted by jcsixx

so at the minimum, ill be able to the knots out of my white long haired Persian cats.

That sounds like the right tool for the right job!

BTW I have one but I dont know why.

I have thrown out a handful of them