Thread: Durmham Duplex

Picked up my first Shavette Saturday at a local flea market. It is a "Durham Duplex" Know nothing about this beast. It has a U.S. Pat. date of May28 of 1907.It does say "Made in U.S.A."
I know ,Pictures help but having a hard time with that. I got some "Blitz" made in Germany regular DE blades to fit but I think I need the longer blades to do it right. Any help would be appreciated!

Dave Huffman aka Slawman

There is a carpet blade that fits them. Try a hardware store or home depot or something like that.

Sorry for thr Typo. Should read"Durham Duplex"! ;-)

They do not take the standard DE blade broken in half. There is a long scraper knife blade available at most hardware stores that will fit them. You may find it in the paint section, maybe in the carpet section. Persona also makes a blade that fits them.

I found blades at Menards. Five blades for around $1.50. I was able to hone & strop them & made a big difference in how they shave. Still not the shave of my Koken "New Charmer" but a darn good shave. The blades are made in the USA which I like.
Just found the package, they are Master Force carpet knife blades. Product #243-5462. Made of High Carbon Steel, 0.17" thick

Slawman

The Personna Pathology blades (72-0200) work very well in the DD razors.

Your Durham Duplex is not really a shavette, but was marketed and sold as a safety razor. The replaceable blades were meant to be stropped and honed and re-used just as any straight razor. The problem is that you need a stropping attachment that came with the razor, but most have been separated from the razor over the years. This attachment provided a "spine" to give the proper angle for stropping the blade. Below is a photo of the set as it was originally sold. It contained a box of blades, the handle, a safety comb, and the stropping attachment (upper right).

Regards - Walt

I didn't know that I was supposed to strop the original blades of my DD.

Learn something new on this site every day.

What an amazing thread. You learn something new everyday! Bye bye shavettte. Hello Durham duplex. Passed up hundreds of these. They go pretty cheap too.