Thread: Strop a shavette?

I have a lot of different razors and was thinking about getting a Dovo Shavette just for fun. I know the blades are replacable, but do people strop these things between shaves?

It would cut it up faster than.....well... Your face! Don't do either.

I say give it a try. Tell us how it goes.

The angle that you would have to hold it to even be able to touch the blade to the strop would probably cut it or roll the edge over. There are some older machines that they made to strop and resharpen razor blades. I never used one though.

Originally Posted by JSmith1983

The angle that you would have to hold it to even be able to touch the blade to the strop would probably cut it or roll the edge over. There are some older machines that they made to strop and resharpen razor blades. I never used one though.

I have never held a Shavette but I wonder what the included angle would be. I have a couple of Durham Duplex razors with a stropping attachment that makes the spine appear very thick. I have never measured it but now I will! I got an interesting stropping arrangement for a single edge this last week. It goes over and through a strop sort of like a Valet. I don't have a leather strop narrow enough at the moment to work. I tried it on a seat belt strop but the strop isn't thick enough to grab and make it work.

I say give it a go. But be careful you might wreck a disposable blade!

After I posted the thread I started thinking about that angle. While a straight razor is actually made to strop and sharpen at the proper angle, I doubt you'd ever get it right with the shavette. Of course, that doesn't mean you couldn't try. If I do it I'll let you know what happens if I don't die.

My Durham Duplex has a spine thickness of .368 inches at the stropping attachment. the width is .811. That gives a ratio of 2.2 to 1. A lot more than the recommended 3.5 - 4 to 1 for a straight edge.

With the blade in the shavette the angle would be about 45 degrees before the edge would touch the strop atleast that is what it is with the one that I have. The edge of the blade only sticks out about 1/16 and the holder for the blade is about 1/8-3/16 thick. I found an old razor blade stropper that would hold the blade flat and spin it on and piece of leather. It looked like an old pencil sharpener with a crank handle was tempted to get it and try it out, but it was alot more than I was willing to pay to experiment.

Originally Posted by JSmith1983

With the blade in the shavette the angle would be about 45 degrees before the edge would touch the strop atleast that is what it is with the one that I have. The edge of the blade only sticks out about 1/16 and the holder for the blade is about 1/8-3/16 thick. I found an old razor blade stropper that would hold the blade flat and spin it on and piece of leather. It looked like an old pencil sharpener with a crank handle was tempted to get it and try it out, but it was alot more than I was willing to pay to experiment.

Interesting. I have accumulated a few DE and SE stropers. I have bought a few that have been advertised as pencil sharpeners. I haven't tried much with them but appreciate their workings. One of these days i may have to go over to the Dark side to give them a proper workout.

There are some that are supposed to hone the blades, but the stones looked really coarse so not sure how that would turn out. Wasn't like the stones for a rolls razor. Looking like a grinding wheel that you sharpened the blades on the side of.