Thread: Sharpening

There's an antique shop near me that has some kind of sharpener, I've never seen one like it. It looks like a fishing reel. You slide out a little clamp, put in the blade, put the clamp back into the device, and turn the handle. The clamp spins around inside the device which has hones or maybe leather on the inside wall.

Originally Posted by ChesterCopperpot

There's an antique shop near me that has some kind of sharpener, I've never seen one like it. It looks like a fishing reel. You slide out a little clamp, put in the blade, put the clamp back into the device, and turn the handle. The clamp spins around inside the device which has hones or maybe leather on the inside wall.

There were all kinds of gizmos made to extend the life of disposable blades. Modern DE blades are a different animal. They are thinner and depend on coatings to do the job because the actual blade quality and edge quality is inferior to the vintage stuff. So, once the coatings go you would have to do some major honing on them. Considering the cost of the blades it's probably not worth the effort and the vintage sharpeners were not designed to do extensive honing.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

There were all kinds of gizmos made to extend the life of disposable blades. Modern DE blades are a different animal. They are thinner and depend on coatings to do the job because the actual blade quality and edge quality is inferior to the vintage stuff. So, once the coatings go you would have to do some major honing on them. Considering the cost of the blades it's probably not worth the effort and the vintage sharpeners were not designed to do extensive honing.

Yeah, it's definitely a curiosity, I wouldn't try to use it for its intended purpose especially since quality blades are so cheap. It's an ingenious piece of machinery, it's much more impressive than my poor description implies.

ive seen my fair share of weird de dlade sharpeners, i dont use safety razors much but i found that taking the blade out of my valet auto strop and stropping it on an old belt works nice

Hello,

In my searching and asking about safety razors i found out i have inherited my great grandfather's razor. It's copper, with copper rusting (green/blue), Clabar Switzerland. any recommendations on cleaning the rust and dirt and getting ready to use besides buying razor blades?

Ok correction it's an old Gillette, the copper corrosion is in the handle texture and i can't get rid of it easily.

Originally Posted by Deerhunter1995

ive seen my fair share of weird de dlade sharpeners, i dont use safety razors much but i found that taking the blade out of my valet auto strop and stropping it on an old belt works nice

You can also hone them this way, especially with the rolls. I'm sure you could send it to get honed from the classifieds just the same as any str8 razor blade. I honed my friends on a jnat

Let's think about this. I used to have an old British sports car that came with a set of tire irons. It also had a spare tire in the "boot." Why on earth would I try and take the tire off the rim and patch it by the side of the road when I can just put the spare on? Same goes with the DE razor. Except for those older Rolls models, DE razors are made to accept new blades when the blade wears out. If you have the urge to hone your razor stick with straight razors.

Everyone says that new de blades are so cheap, why bother to sharpen them. My answer is , why do you like to sharpen straight razors. For a lot of us it is soley because of the challenge and satisfaction with being able to do something that perhaps everyone can't. I have successfully sharpened some de blades with the use of various vintage blade holders that allow you to use whatever hone you choose. You only have to sharpen the edge, not the entire bevel. It is aggravating and tedious, but rewarding for me. I generally use a coticule first and then a very fine jnat with nagura. After that stropping on a pasted strop and them plain leather. Results vary, but I have had some very good results.