I believe most if not all of the older DE blades were carbon steel (I may be wrong on that score), but they were certainly a plain, uncoated, steel. Back when the Safety Razor was King, there was a glass 'strop' device made for rubbing the edges of DE blades on to make them last a bit longer, much like the 'razor pit' for the modern cart heads of today. I daresay you could do the glass trick described above, it may or may not add a little life to your blades, but they are cheap enough already, even for us over charged country bumpkins in the land down under, so I don't see why you would feel the need to try and ring a few extra shaves out of them.


Mick