Thread: How to tell when to change the blade

Originally Posted by regularjoe

Sorry to toss another question into this thread, but it seems relevant to me. What about stropping your DE blade? I thought there were little DE strops too...no? Maybe at .16 per, it's a non-issue. Just curious.

At one time honing and stropping made sense (true Blue Blade days).
Today DE blades as well as almost all other factory blades have
a thin coating of PTFE (Teflon) fused on the surface. This coating
is the one clear advantage that DE blades have as it very much lowers
the cutting pressure for a lot of shavers. However the application
of PTFE requires heat. The amount of heat is sufficient to cause
a loss of hardness. The timing and temperature control for this are
critical. Additional coating includes chrome and platinum that
minimize corrosion and help with other qualities of the edge.

If you were to strop or hone a DE blade the steel under these coatings
could be substandard and difficult to hone and strop. Having said this the availability of
sub-micron abrasives could reopen the door and put the technology
back in the hands of individuals. However the costs may not justify
the activity.

The same submicron abrasive technology applies to the old
style straight razors. This may be part of the reason for the
quality of shaves folk get from a professionally honed str8..

As most have already said, it's impossible to come up with a specific number of days a blade will last as everybody's face, beard, and prep is different. I like the person who said when it starts to pull a bit it would be dangerous to stretch it another day, and I think most would say to change your blade at least once a week.

The trick is to change it "before" it starts to degrade, and this is what makes a straight so nice. It may never be as sharp as a new DE blade, but if stropped properly it will give a very good shave for a long time.