Thread: Does anyone flip there blade ?

So I've been at this DE thing for a short time but at first I didnt know what side of the blad was up. So I put it in use it for my first two shaves witch was great after that I turned it over for another two shave still work great? Also heard that if you run the razor backward on you arm it is like stoping it. I use to do it with disposables and I could get a couple ex shaves out of them. But haven't tried with the DE mostly because hearing to just not touch the blade. Any comants welcome.

An old man I bought a few DEs from at a flea market told me an interesting tip for keeping DE blades sharp. He remembered his father wiping the DE back and forth on the inside of a water glass to keep the blade sharper longer... This was during the depression when every penny counted and he remembered his father getting a couple of months out of a single blade which not only attests to the fact that it must work but also that men back in the day were tough as nails.

Only problem with that is that they don't make the blades quite like they used to, for better or for worse I can't say. These days they have fine coatings like platinum, "teflon" or some other material that will be removed by any kind of stropping. Old style, uncoated blades I'd imaging are a different ball game and I doubt they'd bother with disposables, even if the advertising claims they're electroplated with "awesome-ite".

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

Flipping the blade does nothing, you are still using the same edge.
DE blades are really cheap, no need to try and extend their life IMO.

Originally Posted by Blix

Flipping the blade does nothing, you are still using the same edge.
DE blades are really cheap, no need to try and extend their life IMO.

I agree with this!

You're more likely to cause damage (touching the edge to the razor, dropping the blade, etc.) than you are to get some benefit from this. Just stick them in the razor, shave......and when the edge starts to deteriorate, pop a new blade in.

I can understand trying to extend the life of your favourite blade, if it's been discontinued, but I've yet to come across a technique that really has any benefit. Anyway, as long as they're making Feather blades, I'll be happy.

For those of us old enough to remember the introduction of the coated blades it was a wonderful thing. The Gillette Blue blades were rough at best in comparison to what we have today, even when brand new. I distinctly remember the Platinum Plus and Super Stainless blades coming out and what a relief they were. Even though they were considerably more expensive than their blue counterparts.

AFAIC the best thing you can do to improve the longevity of your DE blade is rinse the residual soap and whisker gunk off after the shave.

I agree about the drying. The subtle corrosion on the stainless (not stain-free) will deteriorate the edge. Flipping the blade over will not smooth out the deflected fragile edge, it will cause more deflections on the other side (and the deflections from previous shaves may be angled downward into your skin). This is like pinching pennies while scraping your own face. Remember: miser is the first five letters in MISERable!

Modern DE blades are just poorer in every way. it's only those coatings that cause them to shave as good as they do. Once gone you have a poor surface. I imagine you could actually hone one up to perfection but the question is why would you want to spend the time and effort to do that?

Thanks for all the good imput yall. Ok so I've been using the Merkur super blade and like them so far but I here so much good about the feather brand. I was going to order a sample set but I already have Merkur and thought my it's a wast of time and money thinking about just ordering some feather to see the dif. I use a Merkur HD is the correct way to get the angle right to hold the handle at a 30% angle off ur face. Or just what every fells right and works for given person?