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My current attempt at sharpening a modern DE blade

ERS4

My exploding razor knows secrets
I also found the rare "GLASHARP" specifically for the skill of sharpening blades using glass cups.It is specially designed for this purpose.

It is designed in a hexagonal shape on the outside, so it can be placed on the table for stable operation, and it is also more stable to hold in the hand.

In addition, the arc inside the cup is consistent, unlike ordinary glass cups that often have a cone shape inside.

The most interesting part is of course that trace amounts of uranium dioxide are safely added to the material, which produces mysterious fluorescence when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Also a good container for soaking brushes if not being used for sharpening blades. And don't worry about turning into Professor X by using it.

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I read your thread, and it is really interesting. Towards the end of the thread, someone pointed out that even after the manufacturing moved to Vietnam, the St300 blades came with two different logos. The early Vietnam blades still keeping “D” printed on the blade, yet the lather ST300 Vietnam blades dropped the “D”. So I thought, maybe the negative reviews that the ST300 blades receive are from the early ST300 blades.

It turns out most of the negative reviews on the ST300 comes from the ST300 blades, which still had a D printed on them. Yet the ST300 blade that @helicopter reviewed appears to be from the newer variety, and @helicopeter photographed the ST300 and the ST301 and stated that the two blades are different blades with different grinds in the bevel.

Although the ST300 gets some superb reviews where people cannot distinguish the difference between the two blades. To me, there appears to be another factor that we have not considered yet. The other factor may just be shipping damage, yet shipping damage won’t explain why @helicopter photograph the two blades as completely two separate blades.

Either way, I decide to play it safe and go with the packaging I like and bought the ST301 blade. I am happy with my purchase even if the ST300 is the same blade with a different packaging.
Glad you are enjoying your new blades. Regardless of the packaging and logo version the Dorco Stainless ST300/301 are excellent blades.
 
I also found the rare "GLASHARP" specifically for the skill of sharpening blades using glass cups.It is specially designed for this purpose.

It is designed in a hexagonal shape on the outside, so it can be placed on the table for stable operation, and it is also more stable to hold in the hand.

In addition, the arc inside the cup is consistent, unlike ordinary glass cups that often have a cone shape inside.

The most interesting part is of course that trace amounts of uranium dioxide are safely added to the material, which produces mysterious fluorescence when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Also a good container for soaking brushes if not being used for sharpening blades. And don't worry about turning into Professor X by using it.

View attachment 1950869
Dang! :eek2:
Would you be so kind as to leave that to me in you will? Thanks :D
 
It took a few days, but I finally have had some success in sharpening some DE blades. first I’m going to have to give an honorable mention of my new toy in my sharpening den.

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I may not have succeeded without this Twinplex stropper. @AnimalCatcher is curious to know how it feels to shave with a vintage Gillette blade. Even though I have some more promising vintage blades which I want to try, I decided for my first vintage blade trial I will try this old three hole Gillette.
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For my first trial, I tried using the Stanford sharpener as I did not have my Twinplex stropper yet. The Stanford sharpener has appeared to have gotten the Gillette blade quite sharp, sharp enough that I thought I could shave with it. In my first Gillette blade shave test, the Gillette blade was comfortable and worked fine for the first pass (WTG), but didn’t cut well when I tried to shave against the grain or on my chin. I finished that shave with a vintage Jem Junior.

After receiving the Twinplex stropper, I checked to see what would happen if I use my two sharpeners in conjunction. At the moment, the Stanford sharpener appears more of a honer, and the Twinplex is more of a stropper. Using the two together may have done the trick. I am told that over sharpening with the Stanford sharpener can ruin the blade, so I only do 5 to 7 back-and-forth passes on an old carbon blade and 15 to 20 back-and-forth passes on the stainless blades. I don’t count the back-and-forth passes exactly all the time, and sometimes I go by how the resistance feels. Many times when the blade is in awful shape, I can feel a grinding resistance and then the blade will smooth out. This smoothing out can also happen with a new blade.

I figured that if the Stanford sharpener is honing and for whatever reason over honing, in the Stanford sharpener can ruin the edge, then stropping in between may help. In short, I did a few more cycles with the Stanford sharpener followed by stropping with the Twinplex stropper. once completed, the Gillette blade was slicing paper buttery smooth and I figure I’ll shave with it today. I’m happy to report that the Gillette blade gave me a wonderful shave.

I will say that the vintage Gillette blades felt sharp, smooth, and soft. Comparing this vintage Gillette blade to my other current favorite blade, the Dorco ST301, I would say the Dorco ST301 is sharper, but the Gillette blade had a softer feel, which may have partially come from it being so much thicker.

I also saw how the two sharpeners, in conjunction, will work on a modern blade. I took a fresh take Personna blade out of its box and shook it around while it was in its tuck, to see if the blade will shake back and forth. The blade bounced around in this paper wrapping and when I unwrapped the blade and tried to slice through paper, this blade was one of my dullest blades I’ve ever tested. So, @helicopter might be right that the paper packaging dulls many of these blades when they shake around during shipping. Anyway, I went about trying to sharpen the dull blade through using the Stanford sharpener and then stropping with the Twinplex. I got this blade much sharper and tried shaving my left side of my face with this previously dull blade. This fake Personna cut fine but was not optimal. Also, I had trouble shaving the harder areas, like my chin, and going against the hair growth. Yet previously, before sharpening this fake, Perssona just pulled my hair at all points. I ended up finishing my left side with the vintage Gillette blade.

Anyway, I think I’m one step closer to being able to use one blade 100+ times with each shave being nearly as good or better than the early shaves.
 
I think most older DE blade sharpeners where designed just to straighten small blade edge curvatures to improve sharpness similar to stropping a straight razor before using.
To sharpen a blade you would need a abrasive like diamond paste to impregnate or load the surface of the machine to help in straightening and keening a edge.
You will lose some of the edge coatings using a sharpening attempt using abrasives.
(old archived photo of a DE blade edge with a coating)
View attachment 1950836
Have some great shaves!
I bought 1200 grit diamond sharpening paste as I figured 1200 grit may be a happy medium where I’ll get some sharpening but not too much. I was a little worried that the diamond past can ruin the sharpener as the paste may eat into the metal. Anyway, I figure I have several sharpeners and if one gets ruined, it’s not the end of the world. I tried some diamond sharpening past and had a similar experience to what you have experienced when adding sharpening paste to a glass. The diamond paste initially appeared to have little effect, but it eventually dulled the blade. I wiped off the sharpening paste and call that experiment even though there are other factors that may have come into play.
 
I palm strop my blades. My question is whether using the inside of a glass would strop them any better than my palm?
I would think that most people will have more success with the cup over palm stropping, yet a professional palm stopper may actually get better results with their palm. To answer this question, I think you are the only one who can truly know which method is better for yourself. I think the Twinplex stropper may be better than the cup, as the Twinplex stropper is a dedicated tool built for stropping where using a glass cup is more of a one-size-fits-all that can get the job 80 to 90% done.
 
I'm sure that with time & effort, it will be possible to hone/sharpen both carbon & stainless steel blades.

From what I have read, though, when stainless steel blades were first introduced in the 1960's, they failed as the edge was very uncomfortable to shave with.

Apparently carbon steel edges have much lower friction than stainless steel edges do.

It was only after coated stainless steel blades were introduced somewhere around 1965 or so that stainless blades finally took off .

The main purpose of coatings is then friction reduction.
 
I'm sure that with time & effort, it will be possible to hone/sharpen both carbon & stainless steel blades.

From what I have read, though, when stainless steel blades were first introduced in the 1960's, they failed as the edge was very uncomfortable to shave with.

Apparently carbon steel edges have much lower friction than stainless steel edges do.

It was only after coated stainless steel blades were introduced somewhere around 1965 or so that stainless blades finally took off .

The main purpose of coatings is then friction reduction.
You are right. Yesterday, I gave the vintage Gillette blade more love and had to give my fake Personna blade some more love as well. I spent a couple minutes alternating the personna blade through the Stanford sharpener and then stropping the blade in the Twinplex stropper. The Personna blade felt much sharper after about five minutes.

For today's shave, I did the right half of my face with the sharpened Personna blade, and my other half with my newly honed Bic Astor blade. I spent under a minute sharpening the Bic blade, as the Bic blade was still fairly already. This is going to be the second shave with the Bic Astor blade. The Bic blade was very sharp for the first shave, yet it was a little rough. I ran the Bic blade through the Stanford sharpener and I felt a gritty feeling that disappeared after about 20 seconds. I then Stropped the Bic blade, leaving me hopefully with a well broken in Bic Astor blade.

For the shave, the Personna blade did much better than yesterday. The blade cut nicely, but I could feel the blade catching on hair. There was no pulling and the blade felt fairly smooth while cutting against the grain. This sharpened Personna blade could also cut through my tough chin hair. The Bic blade was only slightly sharper than the Personna, as the Bic cleanly cut through the hair with no catching. I could also shave a little quicker with the Bic blade. This second run with the Bic Astor blade was definitely smoother than the first run and possibly even a little sharper. But this Bic Astor blade was still a little less sharp than my now 4 times used Dorco ST301.

I have to say at the moment this Stanford sharpener appears to be the best-kept secret in the wet shaving world. I will probably only continue to sharpen this Personna blade for 20-30 seconds before each shave. As I think, even with stainless blades, if one is not trying to put on a newly honed edge and just wants to keep a sharp edge sharp, they don’t have to spend much time between the honing and stropping, if they hone and strop between each shave.

It’s funny how we believe we need a Teflon coating for the blade to feel smooth. Yet many people find the best shaves are from the shaves after the coating wears off. Anyway, I linked this article before in another thread, but it’s an interesting article so I’ll link it again. PS, this article is very pro Teflon Razor Blade Evolution - Gillette Adjustable Razors - https://gilletteadjustable.com/misc-2/razor-blade-evolution/. Yet if one does a proper pre-shave with a pre-oil, the Teflon coating may become less important. I like to rub a little oil that’s left on my hand on the top cap and down onto the blade’s edge before I lather up. This reduces drag.

One last thing, Wilkinson sword is officially the first stainless razor blade. If one reads the article that I linked, they will learn that Gillette patented the process for making stainless blades, but did not manufacture stainless blades until the Wilkinson blade ate away at Gillette’s market share. This Wilkinson sword blade was uncoated and became very popular. There is also some talk that Wilkinson sword was not the first stainless blade and the Gem “Duridium process” blades may have been an early version of 404 stainless. The earliest uses a 404 stainless actually dates back to the early 1900s and was first used in knives.
 

AnimalCatcher

Thinking of Ricardo Montalban
Just a FYI, gents. In the photo I've posted are three early stainless-steel blades made by Gillette. From left to right, the Deluxe Kroman is the first stainless steel blade manufactured by Gillette and was introduced in the first quarter of 1930. Gillette then released another stainless blade in 1938, and again in 1950.

IMG_4762(1)(2).JPG
 
It’s just an easily accessible way of stropping modern DE blades. Even the one and done people can gain from a little stropping. Depending on the manufacture, a blade may improve by the second shave. Maybe the blades aren’t all properly stropped, or maybe the plastic coating is slightly splotchy. Either way, spending 30 seconds and running the blade through a cup before a shave can smooth out the shave for all the shaves. For those that use blades multiple times, stropping can remove jagged edges, reducing the chance of unintentional weepers.

For now, sharpening a thin DE blade is not worth it. Mainly because I am not a builder and nobody else seems to have the motivation to build one.
Is corking with a wine bottle cork a way to sharpen or just remove microscopic burrs etc?
 
Is corking with a wine bottle cork a way to sharpen or just remove microscopic burrs etc?
I have never corked a blade, but from my understanding corking removes some microscopic burrs. Corking can also can remove some of the plastic coating. finally corking can tame a too sharp blade by making the blade slightly duller. If one is looking to remove microscopic burrs while making the blade sharper, stropping is the go to method.

I am using the Stanford sharpener and the Twinpex stropper with each other. My Dorco blade is still sharp and smooth after 10 shaves and lots of paper cuts. I spend about a minute on a blade between shaves 30 seconds in the Stanford sharpener and another 30 seconds in the Twinplex stropper. I hope to do a more in-depth analysis on the Stanford sharpener if/after this Dorco blade reaches 20 shaves.
 
I also found the rare "GLASHARP" specifically for the skill of sharpening blades using glass cups.It is specially designed for this purpose.

It is designed in a hexagonal shape on the outside, so it can be placed on the table for stable operation, and it is also more stable to hold in the hand.

In addition, the arc inside the cup is consistent, unlike ordinary glass cups that often have a cone shape inside.

The most interesting part is of course that trace amounts of uranium dioxide are safely added to the material, which produces mysterious fluorescence when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Also a good container for soaking brushes if not being used for sharpening blades. And don't worry about turning into Professor X by using it.

View attachment 1950869

I'd be motivated to sharpen my DE blades if I had something like that to play with.
 
I have never corked a blade, but from my understanding corking removes some microscopic burrs. Corking can also can remove some of the plastic coating. finally corking can tame a too sharp blade by making the blade slightly duller. If one is looking to remove microscopic burrs while making the blade sharper, stropping is the go to method.

I am using the Stanford sharpener and the Twinpex stropper with each other. My Dorco blade is still sharp and smooth after 10 shaves and lots of paper cuts. I spend about a minute on a blade between shaves 30 seconds in the Stanford sharpener and another 30 seconds in the Twinplex stropper. I hope to do a more in-depth analysis on the Stanford sharpener if/after this Dorco blade reaches 20 shaves.
Interesting info. I only used to try and sharpen with a strip of blue jeans on a piece of wood, and I think I tried a leather belt section attached to some wood. I don't think I got real good results tho.
 
I'd be motivated to sharpen my DE blades if I had something like that to play with.
If you don’t have some cool toys like @ERS4 has, this just means you should use a simple glass drinking cup to experiment with extending enjoyable shaves from one blade.

Now that I’ve been playing with the twinplex stropper and a glass drinking cup, I think I can give a little more of an impression comparing the cup method vs the twinplex stropper. Running a blade through the glass cup was the first sharpening method that wowed me. It took a barely used blade that was no longer cutting good and made the blade cut beautifully again. Yet the glass cup is not as effective as the twinplex stropper. I think, although I haven't done any conclusive experiments yet, but based on other people’s results and what I am seeing, I think a glass cup can extend a blade to somewhere around 10 comfortable shaves, vs the twinplex stropper that may extend the blades life closer to 30 shaves (30 shaves is just me theorizing).

The difference probably has to do with the fact that a glass cup does not smooth out the complete bevel like the twinpex stropper does. I notice this drastic difference when I tried to sharpen a blade with the Stanford sharpener. When taking a blade that I sanded off its edge to see if I can get the blade sharp again, I did not get significant results until I combined the Stanford sharpener together with the twinplex stropper, even though I tried stropping the blade in a glass cup between sharpening in the Standford sharpener.

In short, if someone just wants to avoid possible nicks because of a misaligned blade and slightly extend the blade life, a glass cup is a great free way to do it. Yet if someone is more serious about sharpening their blade, I would first recommend getting a stropping/ honing tool which are built for the job like the twinplex stropper. Afterwards, if they want to experiment with extending their blade’s life indefinitely, or maybe just to a hundred shaves, they may want to try a sharpener like the Stanford sharpener as well.
 
If you don’t have some cool toys like @ERS4 has, this just means you should use a simple glass drinking cup to experiment with extending enjoyable shaves from one blade.

Now that I’ve been playing with the twinplex stropper and a glass drinking cup, I think I can give a little more of an impression comparing the cup method vs the twinplex stropper. Running a blade through the glass cup was the first sharpening method that wowed me. It took a barely used blade that was no longer cutting good and made the blade cut beautifully again. Yet the glass cup is not as effective as the twinplex stropper. I think, although I haven't done any conclusive experiments yet, but based on other people’s results and what I am seeing, I think a glass cup can extend a blade to somewhere around 10 comfortable shaves, vs the twinplex stropper that may extend the blades life closer to 30 shaves (30 shaves is just me theorizing).

The difference probably has to do with the fact that a glass cup does not smooth out the complete bevel like the twinpex stropper does. I notice this drastic difference when I tried to sharpen a blade with the Stanford sharpener. When taking a blade that I sanded off its edge to see if I can get the blade sharp again, I did not get significant results until I combined the Stanford sharpener together with the twinplex stropper, even though I tried stropping the blade in a glass cup between sharpening in the Standford sharpener.

In short, if someone just wants to avoid possible nicks because of a misaligned blade and slightly extend the blade life, a glass cup is a great free way to do it. Yet if someone is more serious about sharpening their blade, I would first recommend getting a stropping/ honing tool which are built for the job like the twinplex stropper. Afterwards, if they want to experiment with extending their blade’s life indefinitely, or maybe just to a hundred shaves, they may want to try a sharpener like the Stanford sharpener as well.

Maybe I'll give it a try with a glass. I admit I'm still having trouble imagining how something like the Standford sharpener works; also, when I've looked for them on places like Ebay, they're often rusty, which has me wondering how they'd perform even if the rust were removed?

I did find a uranium glass DE blade sharpener for sale, as well as some kind of DE blade stone? Both were much more expensive than I thought they would be. The stone was the most interesting to me but I wondered how well it would work in practice. Maybe best to just try a glass at first.
 

ERS4

My exploding razor knows secrets
Maybe I'll give it a try with a glass. I admit I'm still having trouble imagining how something like the Standford sharpener works; also, when I've looked for them on places like Ebay, they're often rusty, which has me wondering how they'd perform even if the rust were removed?

I did find a uranium glass DE blade sharpener for sale, as well as some kind of DE blade stone? Both were much more expensive than I thought they would be. The stone was the most interesting to me but I wondered how well it would work in practice. Maybe best to just try a glass at first.
"STANFORD 5 SECOND" used to be produced in large quantities, so as long as you spend some time searching/waiting, you can always find one that is almost new.

Just like Gillette Slim, if you feel hesitant to find the item currently on eBay, then wait a little, and there will always be a more complete one.

The dark colors inside are not necessarily rust, some are residual oil stains, which can be easily wiped off with a cotton swab dipped in some new mineral oil.

The one I found came in its original packaging, was inexpensive, and was an interesting little piece of shaving history worth buying and appreciating regardless of the results. I've also been trying to use it on and off for four or five years.
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Maybe I'll give it a try with a glass. I admit I'm still having trouble imagining how something like the Standford sharpener works; also, when I've looked for them on places like Ebay, they're often rusty, which has me wondering how they'd perform even if the rust were removed?

I did find a uranium glass DE blade sharpener for sale, as well as some kind of DE blade stone? Both were much more expensive than I thought they would be. The stone was the most interesting to me but I wondered how well it would work in practice. Maybe best to just try a glass at first.
have you ever seen these Pull through kitchen knife sharpener’s?
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Even though these kitchen sharpeners don’t work on double edge blades, I see Stanford sharpener working in a similar concept. For kitchen knives, these pull through knife sharpeners have been my go to kitchen knife sharpening method for many years. Most people don’t enjoy spending a lot of time sharpening knives. These pull through sharpeners can put on a fairly sharp edge in a fairly short amount of time onto a kitchen knife. The Stanford sharpener probably works with a similar type of mechanism. The major difference is that they designed the Stanford sharpener specifically for double-edged razor blades.

I got a lot of 16 Stanford sharpeners. When I first got them, there was oxidation on the tin portion and some of the steel portion had rust. I first tried to clean the assembled sharpeners, but I couldn’t clean them satisfactorily. I tried to disassemble the sharpener, which turned out to be remarkably easy. All I had to do was leverage the steel portion out of the tin container.

The whole sharpener should last many lifetimes, as there’s nothing really to break. The sharpener comprises two hardened steel sharpening plates, a tin container and another tin blade holder/handle. Disassembling the sharpener allows easy cleaning of all its crevices and polishing. Reassembling it was just a matter of popping the pieces back into place. After reassembly, sometimes I get a movement in the plates where the plates may not line up perfectly causing the cover not want to close. The tin container, having a little extra slack, causes this movement of the plate. When this sharpening plates misalignment happens, I have to open the cover again and realign the plates. I found I can dent the tin container in a bit, taking away the extra slack. after pushing the tin containers in a bit on the sidewalls, I have not experienced a misaligned plate and the sharpener worked great even when there was a bit of extra slack.

In the future, I may end up disassembling and cleaning the other 15 sharpener. at that point, depending on my mood, I will either sell the sharpeners for about $15 or give some away. I have sold nothing online in the past but I probably should sell some things on eBay as I have to get rid of some items that I don’t use. For now, if you buy a Stanford sharpener off of eBay, the sharpeners should not be that hard to clean and will most probably work fine. Just look for one that looks like it’s in good condition.

I will recommend one to look into a good stropper first, as in the early reports I read, people using the Stanford sharpener got excellent results, but sometimes the blade was not completely smooth. So if you want to sharpen with the sharpener and one wants to have that perfect blade every shave, they probably should have a way of stropping first. I strop my blades after running them through the Stanford sharpener and I have only experienced very smooth blades.
 
"STANFORD 5 SECOND" used to be produced in large quantities, so as long as you spend some time searching/waiting, you can always find one that is almost new.

Just like Gillette Slim, if you feel hesitant to find the item currently on eBay, then wait a little, and there will always be a more complete one.

The dark colors inside are not necessarily rust, some are residual oil stains, which can be easily wiped off with a cotton swab dipped in some new mineral oil.

The one I found came in its original packaging, was inexpensive, and was an interesting little piece of shaving history worth buying and appreciating regardless of the results. I've also been trying to use it on and off for four or five years.
View attachment 1959309
Wow, your Stanford sharpener looks immaculately clean and even has a pristine box. Have you been getting excellent results with this sharpener? Stropping the blade after running the blade through the Stanford sharpener works great for me. I got a super keen edge on a previously okay vintage blade, and my Dorco blade just gave me a great shave number 12.
 
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