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Pair of jeans as a strop?

I've seen several websites and youtube videos recommending to use an old pair of jeans to resharpen cartridge and DE blades.

Hold your razor in your right hand as you would for shaving and place it, blade down, on a pair of jeans. Firmly swipe it across the jeans in the opposite direction that you would when shaving. Do this 10 to 20 times in the same direction. Switch hands and run the blade across the jeans another 10 to 20 times in the opposite direction that you would when shaving. This method of switching hands allows the jeans to rub the blades two different ways and sharpen the blades.
Won't that wear out the blades prematurely?
 
I did this once just for sh*** and giggles, but did it before my first shave. I noticed my third and fourth shaves were better than my first couple. It seemed to help a little bit. I used a very taut section of my bed on top of a stretched sheet. I may do it some more.

Med Personna, btw
 
In regards to cartridge razors, the stropping action on the jeans should accomplish nothing. Stropping requires that you have access to both sides of the blade edge, and the nature of the cartridge means one side is inaccessible.

Yet people do claim results, it might be that the stropping action is not sharpening it, but is removing oxidation from the blade edge.
 
I use a home-made denim strop with my straights. It was formerly a pair of blue jeans. It is an acceptable cloth element in my opinion.

Phil
 
Best thing you can do to extend blade life is to keep it as dry as possible, so the stropping on cloth may work somewhat just by removing surface moisture.
 
Yet people do claim results, it might be that the stropping action is not sharpening it, but is removing oxidation from the blade edge.

From what I understand, blade dullness stems more from oxidation, microscopic rusting, than from contact with whiskers. Corrosion cause metal on the blade to flake off and the edge to become blunted and jagged. That results in blades pulling and tearing hairs instead of cleanly slicing through them.

WONDER PHOTOS REVEAL UNSUSPECTED FACTS ABOUT Razor Blades and Shaving (Oct, 1931)

The effect of stropping this blade is easily seen. Not only has the edge been restored to original smooth shaving condition, but the size of the nick has been reduced to one third of its original area and the bottom of the nick has, moreover, been formed into a sharp cutting edge so that a hair end that happened to drop into this nick would be parted just as cleanly as those encountering the unbroken line of the cutting edge. IT HAS long been known that corrosion, which in this case means rusting, does more damage to a razor blade than does shaving. One of the pictures on page 54 shows a new safety razor blade cleaned of oil and left on a shelf in the bathroom for ten days. One look at the edge is enough to tell you that shaving with it would be a kind of major operation both painful and ineffective.
http://www.bruceonshaving.com/2010/...spected-facts-about-razor-blades-and-shaving/

When you see that this article is nearly 80 years old and look at the knowledge it contains it tells you that there is no excuse for making a bad razor blade today. This really isn’t rocket science. The only major changes to the DE blade since this article are the adoption of the stainless steel blade by Wilkinson Sword in 1960, which the whole industry then followed, and the use of modern coating techniques using the likes of platinum and PTFE which tend to smooth out the microstructure of the edge.
 
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oc_in_fw

Fridays are Fishtastic!
From what I understand, blade dullness stems more from oxidation, microscopic rusting, than from contact with whiskers. Corrosion cause metal on the blade to flake off and the edge to become blunted and jagged. That results in blades pulling and tearing hairs instead of cleanly slicing through them.

WONDER PHOTOS REVEAL UNSUSPECTED FACTS ABOUT Razor Blades and Shaving (Oct, 1931)

http://www.bruceonshaving.com/2010/...spected-facts-about-razor-blades-and-shaving/

When that article was written, blades were made with carbon steel. They are now made with stainless.
 
When that article was written, blades were made with carbon steel. They are now made with stainless.

Gillette blades made in the 1930's :

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http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=25551
Stainless steel is steel that stains less. Stainless steel is defined as steel alloyed with chromium that is highly resistant to stain, rust and corrosion. This does not mean stainless steel never rust or corrode.

This is confirmed by a manufacturer of stainless steel stripping used for razor blades. Their product has "good corrosion resistance" and "corrosion-preventive oil is applied to the strip before packing"

Anti-corrosion enhancements would not be necessary if stainless steel was completely rust-free
 
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The Kroman blades pictured above were a dismal failure for Gillette. They were rushed into production during the "blade war" with Henry Gaisman's Auto-Strop company and were not quite ready for prime time. Gillette charged 50% more for the blades, which were made from a chromium-manganese steel alloy. They did not perform as well as the old "green package" blades, but were the only blades that fit the NEW razors.

After the Gaisman takeover of Gillette, they introduced the Blue blade which used the Probak manufacturing techniques and withdrew Kroman from the marketplace. Interesting that Gaisman continued used King C. Gillette's picture on the new Blue Blade package as it had been used on both the Kroman and the old green blades, and Mr. Gillette was no longer around . . .
 
(Steel + chromium) x the right heat treatment = basic recipe for stainless steel.

Kro-man = (steel + chromium + manganese) x wrong heat treatment = very brittle stainless steel = a big failure

Because of the embarrassment caused by the Kro-Man blades, Gillette created the famous Blue blades, so that the consumer could be assured they weren't being sold some of the Kro-man leftovers.
 
What effect would Corduroys have?

Or Parachute pants?

:lol:

Corduroys would cause ridges so your face would look like someone went over it with a rake! OUCH! :ohmy:

Parachute pants could only be used while in mid air descending to earth, so we would not see a lot of applications with that design! :tongue_sm
 
so in essence, to strop a sharpened blade, with a cloth material is good, but a sturdy one such as denim or canvas is more conducive to maintaining a fine edge.

Lesson of the day? if you're in a pinch...i.e. you're down to your last blade of the one million you aquired during your blade aquisition frenzy...take some denim to it.
 
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