Thread: Stropping DE blades...really?

I've heard that its possible to strop DE blades, and maybe get a few more shaves out of them.

Is that true? If so, then how do you do that?

You carefully use the palm of your hand (near the edge under the little finger). I've tried it, I can't say for sure if it works

Yup. I've tried palm/hand stropping, stropping on leather, and stropping on jeans. Dulled a few de blades but can't say as that I made any sharper. A couple times I THOUGHT I did but if ya gotta think about it then it probably didn't happen. I have heard others having success at this but in the end they are so cheap to buy (even feathers) that i didn't see the use except for novelty and such. Just my experience. YMMV.

Considering the quantity of vintage mechanical de blade stroppers out there, I assume it worked.

You'll hear guys talk about running a DE blade around the smooth inside of a water glass. I don't know whether it works, but it seems to be a thing that went on.

There are plenty of devices on the market yet for such. Shop around. I stropped some by hand on leather and newspaper. Any "razor hones" you find that are curved by design are made for DE/SE type blades.

how would it not work? honing and stropping don't care the shape of the blade.

then i bought a 100 count lot of blades and promptly began converting to SR.

Can't find a friggin' pic when i want one. Anyhoo, plenty of mechanical devices and simple concave/hollow hones made exactly for that purpose for many years. You (now) should recognize one when you see it.





and 100 more:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=...s=bs&form=QBIR


Shavers had been stropping for a thousand years before "throw away blades" came to market. (Throwing useful things away is a product of modernism.) And so there was a very long "un-learning" of the masses how to have a sharp blade. PLUS blades might not have been readily accessible in the outer reaches of civility, so you used 'em UP. Thus all the DE stropping.

Heck I have some original three-holers I may strop up and try.

I don't know anyone that strops them everyday. I do know several that will strop or "cork" before the first use, to smooth the edge a little.

My father used to do the "swipe inside the glass trick" he claimed to get a few more decent shaves out of it. Worth a try.

Many thanks for all the info. Interesting!

I dont recommend wrist stropping! Figured id add this for safety reasons