Flip the blade over?

So I'm driving home today and contemplating my next shave when a question hit me.

I'm new to DE shaving so there are lots of things I don't know about that is old hat to you regulars. I've been reading these forums for a couple of months but have never seen anything said about this...

Should I be flipping over my blade in my razor after a shave, or every other shave, to extend blade life? I currently use one blade a week (3-4 shaves) and this has worked out fine without flipping it, but would flipping it extend this?

Inquiring minds what to know!

What do you guys do?

Zatx Woopyoax said:

Should I be flipping over my blade in my razor after a shave, or every other shave, to extend blade life?

Inquiring minds what to know!

What do you guys do?

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Nah... I don't see that flipping the blade would make any difference in blade longevity. I just plunk them in my razor and use them till they're shot

I don't think there is anything to support the merits of controlled flipping. But many may do this naturally as the blade moves back and forth between razor and storage.

Flipping the blade between shaves is, in my opinion, completely useless: the cutting edge is still the same.
Once the blade loses its sharp edge, there is nothing you can really do.

Yep, don’t bother wasting the time and potential of getting unnecessarily cut. Unless you’re one to try those old crank DE Blade strops…
The edge is going to dull the same, or negligible difference as it is used each shave. Shaving every day with 2 passes most blades last me a week.

Well I guess its YMMV, I tried the flipping thing, and it appeared after 2-3 shaves, I flip it and then I get 2-3 extra shaves, still smooth...go figure what's the "science" behind this...but anyway, it's not night and day, just a little extra to extend blade life...

At the same time, when you consider that each blade costs about $0.50 and lasts maybe 5 shaves at best, it's not exactly expensive to do anything funky with the blade.

Were it a cart, sure - try all the funky stuff you want given that it's like $1.50 per cart and it lasts like 2 shaves.

-ice

I did this because the blade would get all gunked up, (even after a good rinsing). I figured it would make a difference for the last few shaves.

It didn't make any difference that I could see.

No, I haven't noticed any difference from blade flipping. I usually use a blade for three shaves and then it goes into the blade bank. I could probably get another shave or two out of a blade, but why bother? They're so cheap that I don't mind tossing them after three shaves. That was a little difficult at first since I was so used to milking the most out of a $3-$4 cartridge, but it doesn't much matter with DE blades.

maxman said:

I did this because the blade would get all gunked up, (even after a good rinsing). I figured it would make a difference for the last few shaves.

It didn't make any difference that I could see.

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That is one reason I like TTO razors; when I rinse at the end, I open the doors and rinse underneath. Although, sometimes I found that the underside getting gunked up was an indication of a too thick lather that didn't have as much 'glide' effect.

Marco said:

the cutting edge is still the same.

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The complete answer, succinctly put.

ziplepingouin said:

Well I guess its YMMV, I tried the flipping thing, and it appeared after 2-3 shaves, I flip it and then I get 2-3 extra shaves, still smooth...go figure what's the "science" behind this...but anyway, it's not night and day, just a little extra to extend blade life...

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I think this is probably more of an expectancy and confirmation bias more than anything else.

I say try it and see for yourself. Let us know what you learn. What could it hurt?

gsurko said:

I say try it and see for yourself. Let us know what you learn. What could it hurt?

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It hurts nothing, of course.

But blade flipping achieves nothing, as flipping does not somehow magically give you another edge with which to shave. It would be like suggesting that rotating your kitchen knives 180 degrees and holding them by the point gives you another sharp edge with which to cut. It doesn't.

You mean you use the same blade more than once?

icedoverfire said:

At the same time, when you consider that each blade costs about $0.50 and lasts maybe 5 shaves at best, it's not exactly expensive to do anything funky with the blade.

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Where are you buying your blades at?? Most of us pay $20 per 100, and some blades are $10 per 100. That makes the cost $.10, and $.20 respectively.

The only blades that consistently cost $.50 cents each are Feather, and Merkurs (which are not worth .50 cents each).

Stubblefield said:

But blade flipping achieves nothing, as flipping does not somehow magically give you another edge with which to shave. It would be like suggesting that rotating your kitchen knives 180 degrees and holding them by the point gives you another sharp edge with which to cut. It doesn't.

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Bearing in mind that I'm a complete newbie, I was just wondering: if the blade edge was like the first or third profile below, then it would only work if it were inserted one way or the other. I suspect blade edges are more like the middle profile. This being the case, it would seem to me that a few shaves would wear on one cutting surface more than the other (causing the profile to slightly start approaching that of the first or third), and there might be some benefit to flipping the blade after all.

Am I completely off base here?

You are correct, the middle profile is how a new blade looks. However, after some use it doesn't turn into #1 or #3, it gets rounded off.

I remember reading someone's comments on one of these threads explaining
why blades are numbered 1 and 2 in the corners on one side and 3 and 4
in the corners on the other side. Supposedly these numbers were an
indicator of which side to start with, then flipping and rotating the blade
after each shave in order to get 4 shaves from each blade. I have been
doing this since reading that. I can't say that I really noticed much
of difference though.

Go West Young Man said:

You are correct, the middle profile is how a new blade looks. However, after some use it doesn't turn into #1 or #3, it gets rounded off.

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I suppose that if you had a face like a sharpening stone, maaaaaaybe....