Corking blades

Ontario said:

Let us know how you make out. As an aside, I didn't know that running around an apartment relieved razor burn. I'll have to try it!

I tried corking a red-Israeli Personna blade this morning. Fabulously smooth. Just great.

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You know how when you stub your toe, you start hopping around and swearing? That's pretty much what it's like. Somehow running around in circles takes the pain away. Either that or I'm crazier than I realize...

Today's shave was good. Only one small cut on my neck. A little more tingling from the alum block than yesterday, but still not much.

I did have a problem getting as close a shave as I did the day before, but that has more to do with... something. See my thread in the Shave Clinic, for more info.

How many passes do you make through your cork?

I make one pass each side each way across a hard polystyrene block the size of an alum block on my feather blades.

Has anyone done a comparison bethween using a a hard polystyrene block and a cork?

Just interested - sooo many variables!

NigelBurge said:

How many passes do you make through your cork?

I make one pass each side each way across a hard polystyrene block the size of an alum block on my feather blades.

Has anyone done a comparison bethween using a a hard polystyrene block and a cork?

Just interested - sooo many variables!

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I make 3-4 quick and shallow passes, pulling the blades towards me only. I don't go back and forth for fear of dulling the blade. At $1.99, cork is too cheap for me to try another material.

I have noted some folks are pulling the blade through (cutting into?) the cork while others use the term strop, i.e. drawing the blade flat against the cork versus the edge through the cork.. Can I get some consensus here? Presently I am enjoying an experiment with some antique injector blades, but want to cork? strop? or otherwise refine a Feather this Sunday.. Thanks!!

I cut into the cork 3-4 times. Natural cork, not syn. Hope this helps.. Really seems to work for me.

Magruder said:

My wife is already puzzled and confused by all the shaving equipment. Wait 'till I come home with a bottle of wine and tell her it's to help me shave!

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hahaha... I'd love to see that?

As I was thinking about it, what other cork is there? What type of cork are we suggesting for this application? Maybe its because I'm a newb... help a fella out...

guenron said:

I have noted some folks are pulling the blade through (cutting into?) the cork while others use the term strop, i.e. drawing the blade flat against the cork versus the edge through the cork.. Can I get some consensus here? Presently I am enjoying an experiment with some antique injector blades, but want to cork? strop? or otherwise refine a Feather this Sunday.. Thanks!!

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While holding the cork with one hand, I hold the blade at a 90 degree angle to the cork while drawing the cork towards me and very lightly slicing into the cork.

During my last corkfest, I modified the technique by holding the blade at a 45 degree angle to the cork and drawing it towards me with an even lighter slice into the cork. The theory here is that this would better simulate the stropping motion that traditonal straight users perform (concentrate on smoothing the sides of the edge vs. the tip). I got one of my best shaves with this technique, but it is too soon to say if it is better than the 90 degree technique.

guenron said:

I have noted some folks are pulling the blade through (cutting into?) the cork while others use the term strop, i.e. drawing the blade flat against the cork versus the edge through the cork.. Can I get some consensus here? Presently I am enjoying an experiment with some antique injector blades, but want to cork? strop? or otherwise refine a Feather this Sunday.. Thanks!!

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This is how I do it. (Probably doesn't matter that much.) The stropping action takes place along both sides at once, and at 90 degrees to the direction of a traditional str8 strop, but with the same effect.

If we show this picture to non-DE shavers, they just might think we're crazy. But we're not. Are we?

jazzman said:

If we show this picture to non-DE shavers, they just might think we're crazy. But we're not. Are we?

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Repeat after me... There's nothing wrong with being crazy...There's nothing wrong with being crazy...There's nothing wrong with being crazy...
As long as you get a GREAT SHAVE!

xmemnochx said:

I cut into the cork 3-4 times. Natural cork, not syn. Hope this helps.. Really seems to work for me.

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Your a braver man than I Gunga Din- Feathers slice my fingers from within their container- and to think that you are doing this by hand- Thus why I will only try this with the Feather for my AC only- and while in the razor.

fritz said:

This is how I do it. (Probably doesn't matter that much.) The stropping action takes place along both sides at once, and at 90 degrees to the direction of a traditional str8 strop, but with the same effect.

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My method is similar to Fritz except I lay the cork on its side and draw the blade across the width of the cork as if I were trying to slice it in half. I figure it is easier to keep my free hand out of the way of the blade if I hold one end and slice in the middle with the other. As Fritz says, it probably does not matter.

Wil said:

Your a braver man than I Gunga Din- Feathers slice my fingers from within their container- and to think that you are doing this by hand- Thus why I will only try this with the Feather for my AC only- and while in the razor.

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This is exactly how I cork the AC blades.

Ricardo,

You do leave the blade in the AC.. correct?...

I would run the blade across the circumference of the cork- rather than the top- probably because the corks I use are old Whisky corks.

nuts!!

Raf

xmemnochx said:

I cut into the cork 3-4 times. Natural cork, not syn. Hope this helps.. Really seems to work for me.

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Thank you sir!

Ricardo said:

While holding the cork with one hand, I hold the blade at a 90 degree angle to the cork while drawing the cork towards me and very lightly slicing into the cork.

During my last corkfest, I modified the technique by holding the blade at a 45 degree angle to the cork and drawing it towards me with an even lighter slice into the cork. The theory here is that this would better simulate the stropping motion that traditonal straight users perform (concentrate on smoothing the sides of the edge vs. the tip). I got one of my best shaves with this technique, but it is too soon to say if it is better than the 90 degree technique.

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Thank you also sir!

fritz said:

This is how I do it. (Probably doesn't matter that much.) The stropping action takes place along both sides at once, and at 90 degrees to the direction of a traditional str8 strop, but with the same effect.

Click to expand...

Thank you sir! A picture is worth a thousand words.

Ricardo said:

My method is similar to Fritz except I lay the cork on its side and draw the blade across the width of the cork as if I were trying to slice it in half. I figure it is easier to keep my free hand out of the way of the blade if I hold one end and slice in the middle with the other. As Fritz says, it probably does not matter.

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Thank you sir again!

Wil said:

Ricardo,

You do leave the blade in the AC.. correct?...

I would run the blade across the circumference of the cork- rather than the top- probably because the corks I use are old Whisky corks.

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Hi Wil,

That is an advantage of the AC. You can load the blade into the blade holder and then strop. I am unaware of a similar method for the DE.

It seems we have similar methods for corking

Has anyone tried soaking the cork? Are there any cork soakers here?

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

SalvadorMontenegro said:

Has anyone tried soaking the cork? Are there any cork soakers here?

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

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Another SNL fan, eh??

That has to be one of the most halarious skits ever.

Back on subject, I did cork one feather and wasn't thrilled with the first 2 shaves. It was in a Progress and I have no intention to try another.

I have been extremely skeptical of this whole idea. Yet after reading the entire thread yesterday, I decided to give it a try. Here's what happened.

I couldn't find any cork so I just broke off a piece of polystyrene from a box in the garage. Since so many are using this technique on premium blades I decided to go the opposite direction. I grabbed a 6 cent blade and stroked it in the prescribed manner on each edge. The result was so completely beyond my expectations. This cheap little blade, that has only yielded so-so shaves, gave me one of the nicest shaves. I shaved BBS last night and have been comfortably smooth all day.

I will be shaving with this blade again tonight to see if I can get two shaves out of it. However, even if I only get one shave, it is still a great shave and I can still afford daily changes. This simple little task takes only a few seconds, yet yields huge returns.

I know I once said I couldn't tell much difference between blades. That is still pretty much true. The differences are subtle and if I wasn't paying close attention I wouldn't notice much difference on my daily shaves. Trying to get BBS every day takes its toll on my skin. The differences are much more noticeable when going for a really great finish. The differences also stand out more on second, third or fourth shaves. Having said that, the above technique has yielded the single most noticeable difference.