Durham Duplex shave today

I found a fixed handle Durham duplex razor for basically nothing and was curious. For those that have never seen one it looks like ann oversized open comb DE razor. Got a personna blade from try-a-blade and shaved with it this morning. Interesting. I wouldn't call it a smooth shave but it was a good shave and felt like a straight razor to me. No irritation, nicks, or cuts (probably because I have a basic understanding of the straight)...but I felt the angle was different than other safety razors.

I am glad that I have it in my den and will use it again for variety, but every DE razor that I have (small but growing collection) is a more enjoyable shave.

I appreciate the "bridge" aspect to the straight, but honestly a well honed straight is smoother (and there is the coolness factor of the unguarded blade).

I appreciate also it's place in history but I also now appreciate the advances in shaving technology!

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than me can chime in with some perspective? This post is based solely on my limited personal experience so there is a good chance that I may be doing something wrong.

YMMV

I've owned a Durham Duplex but I never found a blade so I never shaved with it.

[MENTION=17266]kingfisher[/MENTION] try a blade has them

Sdm84 said:

This post is based solely on my limited personal experience so there is a good chance that I may be doing something wrong.

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I don't think you were doing anything wrong, I think your review was spot on. As a historical shaving related item it's kind of cool, but as an actual shaving tool it's sort of... eh. I find it to be about the same difficulty as a straight razor, but not as smooth. The guard actually gets annoying! The only "improvement" over a straight is the replaceable blade- but we have shavettes and DE/SE razors for that now.

I have two Durhams, but they are the straight razor variety. One has an open comb not too different from yours and the other has the attachment to do a one sided open blade. the open comb straight takes some getting used to because you turn it upside down to use the other side of the open comb. I used a Durham blade that came with one of my razors and it does give a great shave. Not too refined, but still a great shave. I saw in a thread that some folks used the Personna carpet cutter blade and so I tried it, and once again it gave a great shave but not particularly refined or comfortable. I haven't shaved with them for a while as I have too much unusual vintage "place in history" razors that I enjoy using more.

Cool. Enjoy.

Cool!

I just want a handle! Did you get it from the bay?

TobyC said:

Cool!

I just want a handle! Did you get it from the bay?

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Yes! It was in just ok shape but the handle is very good. You can find them really inexpensive on the bay.

the duplex handle

Here is the post I did in shave of the day:



I'm way out of my league over there BTW lol

Sweet!

You will see the handle on a fair number of Old Types at antique stores. I think because the Gillette handle almost always got a crack in it and the shave from the Durham wasn't very good, people would just use the handle on their Old Type.

That fixed handle design is the Durham DuBarry razor from the 1920's.
There's a few other fixed handle Durhams from the 30's and '40's too.
Durham Duplex amalgamated with Wade and Butcher in the '20's and that DuBarry handle features on the super rare Wade and Butcher DE.

I use the Duplex handle on my oval slot Tech. The added weight improves the shave. The balance felt off with the original handle. Now its just right.

I have one of the Duplex handles, currantly with a Goodwill head on it. The added weight over the Gillette handles seems to improve the shave.

So here's a later DD fixed handle razor with an angled head and a nylon handle,the No.300:




After the 1920's DuBarry of the OP, Durham Duplex made an angled head razor with a pearlescent celluloid handle, this nylon handled No.300 and then the very beautiful toothcomb aluminium handled Durham Dorset.

Here's the original Domino, DuBarry and No.300:

The Domino is from a silver plated set which was given as a gift by Leslie Butcher, one of the directors of Wade and Butcher in the 1920's:

Of course, the big problem with the Durham Duplex system in the 21st Century is the availability of suitable blades.
Dog dresser blades are good and the stainless Personna Pathology blades are even better....