Hi,
Don't know much about safety razors, can you get a safety razor where you sharpen your own blades? like a straight.
Thanks,
Nathaniel.
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Hi,
Don't know much about safety razors, can you get a safety razor where you sharpen your own blades? like a straight.
Thanks,
Nathaniel.
You could look into a rolls razor. It attaches to a handle and is used like a safety razor.
The blade is like a section taken from a hollow ground straight. The case contains a hone and a strop, and a mechanism that automatically flips the razor and moves it over the hone/strop.
It's tough to explain in words... Look up Rolls Razor - it is a safety razor that will last a lifetime without ever needing to buy anything else for it.
I've seen a few hones and other sharpening devices for safety razor blades on eBay but I personally have no info as to how or if they work. As a general rule the folks selling them have no idea how they work either. That's something you may have to Goggle to get any 'how to use' instruction or info.
Hope this helps.
I use a straight all the time and have my own hones. I was trying to get some friends to try it but they wont touch something that looks like a "knife". And a safety razor that would last and sharpen similar to a straight would be just the thing i'd like to try out. The flipping mechanism sounds interesting.
Not that I know....
Safety razor blades are thin and floppy making them difficult
to hone and strop.
They also shave as well as they do because of very thin
layers of exotics. These exotics will vanish as soon as
you hone it once. There was a time when they were
simply steel and a largish market of hones and stuff did
surface. But none of the modern blades fall into this class (IMO).
I do read of folk that remove the blade and strop it lightly
on their arm or something. Depending on the grit of your arm
and the nature of your whiskers it could work for you.
Just keep in mind the rolls hasn't been made in a very long time. It's vintage stuff and finding one with the complete kit in good working order requires some effort.
My friend has a rolls razor and says they are great to use, I honed one up for him and they're pretty easy to hone as well - circles is all you have to do, and is the easiest way given the shape of the blade. The strop and hone mechanism works quite well, but I was told you never use neatsfoot oil on a rolls strop, I don't know why :|
Ebay should have some rolls razors floating around. about a year ago now, I managed to find one for £15 with everything intact, in a stall in Glasgow but didn't fancy it, I like the str8 razor too much :)
I just googled it, you won't have to look far to find them on the bay some in quite good nick as well ;)
Too bad new self sharpen ones aren't made anymore. Anyone experiment with making their own blades for these that they then can sharpen yourself? I thought of a few ways to do it, probably not worth it but i like honing my own razor.
I dont know anything about honing safety razors. I do know there are hones designed for them. There's an antique store close to me that has display cases full of the Goodrich hone for safety blades. There are a couple on the 'bay that are similar design, but overpriced IMO.
some pics of a goodrich hone here:
Vintage Goodrich Razor Hone by TinyVictories on Etsy
Ebay Find - Safety Razor Hone
Looks like this nifty little contraption should work, too. Although, on newer blades, I can't imagine it would do much, considering how thin they are.
Score!
Whaddya know...two of 'em, back to back!
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.
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.
Understand how you enjoy sharpening your own SR, but with DE blades so cheap (besides modern ones inability to hone) why would you continue your quest for sharpening your own DE blades.
The DE has its own allure and routine that more than makes up for the difference in SR's. You get to try a myriad of blades, each performing differently on different beards. That and the difference in shave experience from razor to razor (ie a Gillette Tech from a Superspeed).
Only way you'll achieve your wishes are the Rolls Razor (I have one) and trust me, if your goal is to introduce your skeptical friends to wet shaving the Rolls is an equally HORRIFYING route to go. You'll be asking them to shave with a knife on a stick. That or try and find some vintage all steel blades and one of those 'reel' looking spin sharpeners - and hope you find one with good leather in it. But I would think that's even MORE involved than SR and would probably turn off your friends. Better to wean cartridge users to SR's and the ability to change to what I consider a new superior safety blade each week than to scare them with 80 year old all steel 'vintage' blades and questionable sharpening novelties. If your friends attempts at using these contraptions don't produce absolutely razor sharp blades EVERYTIME, it will only take ONE bad shave (and the cuts that go along with duller blades) to make your friends hate you ;->
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.
DE razors were invented to take replacable blades. Straight razors are meant to be resharpened and honed and predate the "modern" DE. To most people shaving with a straight razor is more of a ritual than just removing the hair from your face. Sharpening and stropping is part of that ritual. On a DE razor changing the blade is a "normal" part of that ritual.
Now, I'm not saying you're an idiot for wanting to hone and sharpen your DE blades. But now you're making shaving with a DE razor a hobby. Whatever floats your boat. I wouldn't do it.
DE blades are really not suitable for re-sharpening, but the early SE razors actually came with blades that were intended to be reused, frequently a 7 day kit of them, and often included a blade holder designed to aid in stropping them. The old SE razors that have those blades can be a little pricey, and many of them have blades that may no longer be viable, but if you really enjoy the challange and are patient and can afford to get one of the pricier SE "sets", there's no reason why you can't shave like a modern 1890s man, so to speak, the early SE "lather catcher" razors generally have a rep for being great shavers, so it should be worth the effort, at least.