Have you ever heard of this?

[Willybjr25]

I was talking with my dad the other day about my wet shaving techniques. He mentioned that my grandfather used to hone the Gillette Red blades, using just his palm, to get another few shaves out if it.

1. Has anyone heard to doing this before?
2. If so, is this a normal practice?
3. Am I the only person yet to try this techinque?

[AaronX]

1. Never heard of it but I'm a noob. Would your palm have the grit required to hone a blade?
2. See #1
3. Nope you and I might be the only two people though.

[Willybjr25]

Thanks!
At least I am not alone in this!

[texcattlerancher]

*****
He mentioned that my grandfather used to hone the Gillette Red blades, using just his palm, to get another few shaves out if it.
*****

Interesting. Just wondering if your grandfather lived through the depression? Honing/stropping a DE blade over your palm to get a few extra shaves is a very frugal thing to do. Depression folks certainly knew how to stretch a penny much better than we do.

[Willybjr25]

He did indeed! But, this was apparently a practice he used well into the 70's.

[texcattlerancher]

an educated guess, but I think many of the frugal habits formed during the depression stayed with those who lived through it. stropping a de razor blade on your palm to get a few extra shaves just seems very depressiony to me. if I had to bet, I would bet that habit formed during that era. I'm going to try it and see if it works for me.

[DEmac]

He did indeed! But, this was apparently a practice he used well into the 70's.

First of all, it sounds like a good way to cut yourself.

Second, many of the habits learned during the depression stuck with people until they died. My grandpa, who was about ten when the market crashed, still buys shoes which are too small because his feet got deformed during the depression because he had to wear the same pair of shoes for a few years while his feet were still growing. Also, he does not have the ability to throw food away, even after it is well beyond the spoil date. I know a lot of old people do that, but he did it his entire life because it was ingrained into him that it is pure evil to throw food away. When I was a kid at his house I learned very quickly to save some bread to clean my plate with when I was done or he would freak out that I was being wasteful.

I hope some one has a good answer, sounds interesting.

[Shave Cat]

Depression era blades were made from carbon steel which did not maintain a sharp edge as well as modern stainless blades. I doubt modern DE blades can be re-honed. Given the low cost of DE blades, would it even be worth it?

-Clarke

[BroJohn]

My grandfather had a twinplex blade stropper that he probably used for 40 years. The old browned carbon steel blades were good for 1 shave, stretched maybe to 2. It seems that granddad would get two or three weeks of shaves per blade, stropping them with his little gizmo. The twinplex is built like an iron brick and it gave decades of service.

It wasn't that he was cheap, but during the depression years money was very tight; this was followed by wartime shortages and rationing --so it made sense to extend the life of the blades during those years.

As others have said, today's stainless blades with edge coatings probably wouldn't be appropriate for the stopping gizmo or razor blade hones, and likely the result would be unsatisfactory. Besides, todays blades are readily available in bulk for a very modest cost.

-- John Gehman

[Quietville]

Just wanted to throw in that razor blades even 30 years ago were more expensive than they are now. My dad claims that they've gone down 2 or 3 dollars actually, couple this with inflation and the price that blades probably were in the 20's and 30's on, I could see how trying this would extend the life of a carbon steel blade and the benefits of doing so.

So basically +.75 to what was said

[camelman0075]

My Grandfather used to hone his DE blades back in Egypt, but only because he could only get a small amount once a month. He showed me how, but i have too many blades and i need to finish those before i start saving

[D'Brie]

Use a wine bottle cork. I do this and get many good shaves as a result.

[DEmac]

Use a wine bottle cork. I do this and get many good shaves as a result.

How exactly does that work?

[Mr Mockett]

Use a wine bottle cork. I do this and get many good shaves as a result.

I thought "corking" dulled the blade.

[SmoovD]

If you search the forums you will find a rather lengthy string on the possible benefits of corking. Some find that running the blade through fresh cork strops the blade. Some not so much. IMHO, I do not notice much, if any change. This is one of those YMMV topics.

[Rolo]

I was talking with my dad the other day about my wet shaving techniques. He mentioned that my grandfather used to hone the Gillette Red blades, using just his palm, to get another few shaves out if it.

This rang a bell. I remember being very small and watching my dad do this. But if remember correctly, he did it with a fresh new blade before he used it. He switched to a cartridge sometime in the 80's and to my knowledge hasn't gone back to DE. I'll have to ask him about why he used to do that though.

[D'Brie]

How exactly does that work?

I simply take a fresh blade and lightly run it (perpendicular and not too deep, just the edge) to the cork. Seems to remove the microscopic burrs left over from the manufacturing process. I used to get some nicks with a new blade but after I started "corking" the new blade feels much smoother amd "friendlier". IP's are my blade of choice and I'll get 6-8 very nice shaves from each blade.

[masonjarjar]

He did indeed! But, this was apparently a practice he used well into the 70's.

My grandfather did all kinds of crazy "depression era" stuff well into his later years.. including shopping at the most dirt-cheap grocery stores (Aldi's) and bread outlets even though he was close to having a seven-figure estate.

[Robby]

My grandfather's depression-era habits introduced me to just how good a fried egg can be, along with classic meals such as mashed potato sandwiches and the ultimate bargain food: the ketchup sandwich.

Unfortunately I didn't get any shaving tips from him, though, as he had converted to cartridge razors by the time I was around.

[2bits]

. . . Seems to remove the microscopic burrs left over from the manufacturing process. . .

That's what I assume is happening.

In the trade of musical instrument repair and making wooden instruments by hand, this is regular practice in my experience - to strop on the palm of your hand - after sharpening a cutting edge.

I agree that it is unlikely stainless steel would be helped by this but softer metals that are being "sharpened" as the work is being done are "de-burred" this way. (If you are actively using cutting tools by hand for hours in a day this becomes like wiping sweat from your forehead - you do it with no thought ...)