Thread: Twinplex stroper

Antique store finds 12$ for the stroper with very little rust inside. 8$ for felt lined box.

Since reverting to DE blades/razors I have accumulated a few used blades in the sharps can.

Dad gave me his WWII Twinplex purchase about 30 years ago and it has been sitting around, safe in the original box, ever since. This morning I pulled out a spent Astra and Personna Blue to give them a spin. The inside of the lid has a dry hone (five llight-pressure circles per blade-side) and the machine strops in 20 laps per instructions. I dump blades around 3-5 uses as I begin to feel any pulling. I think any improvement should be obvious; will report on blade #1 tomorrow. As I recall, Dad was not impressed with how the Twinplex extended blade life or improved edges

Jury is out..

I have one but it does not have the hone inside the lid. That was a cool idea for them to add. On the other hand, the stropper itself, at least mine, has fairly aggressive stroppers. Unlike an ordinary leather strop, the Twinplex stroppers DO remove steel.

It's fun to play with but it is of limited use for modern blades that primarily rely on their coating for their cutting capacity. The Twinplex won't make a bad modern blade good, but it can make a barely tolerable blade a little more tolerable.

Would you please post a photo of the hone in the lid?

My grandfather had one of those, as well as a few other hone-strop contraptions. I will post some pics when I get home.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I have one but it does not have the hone inside the lid. That was a cool idea for them to add.

Would you please post a photo of the hone in the lid?

pm your email adress and i'll send them to you (for posting); posting pictures is a problem for me.

That was a hell of a score. I like that! You made out like a bandit on that item.

Originally Posted by MisterMoo

Since reverting to DE blades/razors I have accumulated a few used blades in the sharps can.

Dad gave me his WWII Twinplex purchase about 30 years ago and it has been sitting around, safe in the original box, ever since. This morning I pulled out a spent Astra and Personna Blue to give them a spin. The inside of the lid has a dry hone (five llight-pressure circles per blade-side) and the machine strops in 20 laps per instructions. I dump blades around 3-5 uses as I begin to feel any pulling. I think any improvement should be obvious; will report on blade #1 tomorrow. As I recall, Dad was not impressed with how the Twinplex extended blade life or improved edges

Jury is out..

Shaved with the Astra - rough as a cob. No mas. Finito la musica.

Hone inside lid on Twinplex.

Originally Posted by MisterMoo

Shaved with the Astra - rough as a cob. No mas. Finito la musica.

Yeah, as I said, it is of limited benefit for modern blades. The older ones definitely are improved by it but it is a lot easier to find a Twinplex that it is to find a stash of NOS DE blades.

Thanks for posting the photo that I had not gotten around to doing yet!

I've wanted to ask this question for a while and this seems like a good place to ask it. I think Utopian may have addressed this,but perhaps someone can elaborate. I've seen discussions where guys talk about modifying SE blades and in one case a DE blade to fit the Valet Autostrop razor. Most of the time the poster will mention:"and you don't have to strop!"

My question is not do you have to strop, but can you strop? Will stropping harm the edge? Will it remove the coating? Is it completely ineffective on modern blades? Part of the fun of the Autostrop is the stropping.

Also feather makes a single edge blade that fits the Autostrop without modification. I assume that this blade is made like modern blades and would behave the same way if stropped. I hope this isn't considered hijacking the thread. Just thought it was related.