Corking Blades, but different than you think.

I read this old thread with some fascination. I ruined the strop fro m my 1940's vintage Valet Auto Strop razor years ago (it simply deteriorated). As a result, I had to move to Feather SS blades rather than the original carbon steel blades that could be stropped. I have l toyed with the idea of having a custom strop made (it is very thin) but never got around to it. I am wondering if "corking" the carbon steel Feather blades would have an effect like stropping?

BTW, watching the old Auto Strop mechanism working was a little bit Mesmerizing. Interestingly, the carbon steel blades shaved better after about two shaves and some stopping rather than new.

I'm gonna try corking a Strangelet. Should be interesting. Do you drag it just once or twice? On the edge of the cork or barrell?

DE blades are not knives (obviously) and what imparts the feeling of sharpness in a razor blade is the coating for the most part and not sharpness. The former VP of Gillette R&D for 44 years said as such years ago:

...He determined blade sharpness could not readily be detected by the shaver and sharper blades did not alleviate the pain and irritation from poor prep. It turns out that, according to Mr. Shnitzler, the improperly moistened whisker is harder to cut and the hair itself will adhere to the steel, as it is being cut, causing the hair follicle to be pulled with the consequent pain/tugging feeling. A chemical engineer by training at MIT prior to coming to Gillette, Mr Shnitzler's solution to the problem was an organic silicon coating to the steel so that the protein in the hair would not adhere to the steel; yielding a better cutting action with less pulling at the follicle....

http://www.gilletteadjustable.com/contact-us.html

This "solution" of using an organic silicon coating was to address an issue with carbon steel blades. The product resulting from applying a silicone coating was the Gillette Super Blue blade. Just a few years later, the PTFE coated stainless steel razor blade was introduced and Super Blue blades quickly fell out of favor with the general public forcing Gillette to develop their own PTFE coated stainless blade. Now we have blades coated with PTFE, chromium, platinum, iridium, titanium, tungsten and/or ceramic.

Manufacturers still use silicone to coat surgical blades as PTFE can be problematic in the body.

Blade coatings do improve the shave, but blade quality does as well as is evidenced by the advancement of stainless steel blades.

A corked blade, maybe... corked wine, never...

Blades are NOT coated with platinum, chromium, etc. Only the very teensy weensy cutting edge is SPUTTERED with platinum, chromium, etc., and then some sort of proprietary PTFE coating, or derivative thereof, is 'baked' onto the same EDGE and not the blade. When you shave the blades edge is not in essence touching your skin per se, but it is cutting your beard through the PTFE type coating that is only microns thick. The edge is merely hardened with platinum, chromium, etc., to make it hold the edge better. 

In all actuality, I think the stainless steel type is not all that important as far as we are concerned. but if you can find a Gillette Blue Blade carbon blade made after they started using the PTFE coating in the early 70's then you are in for a real treat as carbon steel can be sharpened finer than stainless.

I corked a Flydear and the improvement was noticeable.

Fluoropolymer coatings do NOT adhere to steel ,especially to stainless steel alloys .
Actually they do not adhere (permanently at least ) to any surface of any material.

Modern fluoropolymer razor blade coatings are not used to provide less friction while cutting through a hair ,as
is widely believed.

Blade edges are coated with
 fluoropolymer ( always being the final coat ) to protect
the edges from oxidizing ,from the time the blades exit their production facility until they reach the consumer.
Fluoropolymers do not adhere to stainless steel .
The fluoropolymer coating was chosen as the best
and cheapest way to protect the blades' edges.Although nowadays we are aware that
it belongs to what it is called "forever chemicals " or PFAS : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per-_and...substances

Nasty stuff,but still used widely...

This very fluoropolymer coating is being removed from
the first pass of the first use of the blade (
some being absorbed by the skin ,most being flushed to oceans ) ,that is why the first shave
of most blades is not exactly their best one.
The fluoropolymer coating widens the keen edge of a blade and until it is removed ,most -if not all- blades feel somewhat draggy and/or somewhat harsh.
After the first shave ,when 99.9% of the fluoropolymer coating has been abraded and washed away,the blades start to show their true "character" .

Corking a blade removes most of this fluoropolymer coating ( meaning that less is absorbed by the skin /flushed into oceans ),thus beyond increasing the comfort of shave ,actually is rather a healthy habit ,as also environmentally friendly.

To disintegrate any possible remains of
the idea that fluoropolymer razor blade coating is used
for increased shaving comfort ,just think of straight razors .They lack that kind of coating whatsoever.But still considered to deliver far
smoother shaves than DE blades.

PS :
SLICING ( lightly ) through a cork does not pose any risk of dulling a razor blade's
edge.What actually dulls a blade is CUTTING through stubble,as this tends to cause tiny cracks and micro-chipping of the blade's edge. 
Especially when the hair is allowed to move and the blade's edge does not meet 
the hair strands at a perpendicular angle.

Excuse me for the multiple edits,
but english is not my mother language 
and I do not quite "own" it .

Are we talking about corking with a real cork, or a piece of styrofoam? 
I consider both of them to be "corking", as "foaming a blade" just sounds wrong.

I use a real cork, first drawing the edge lightly through a corner of the cork from around the middle to the far end, flipping it end-for-end, and then drawing it from the middle to the far end.
Repeat with the other edge of the blade.

Fluoropolymer coatings do NOT adhere to steel ,especially to stainless steel alloys .

...Modern fluoropolymer razor blade coatings are not used to provide less friction while cutting through a hair ,as
is widely believed...

 

Gillette Patent US4330576A:

It is known that the shaving properties of razor blades are appreciably enhanced by applying to the cutting edge polymer coatings such as polyfluorocarbons providing low friction characteristics...

The improvement in shaving produced by the incorporation of low friction polymer coatings on the blade edges is characterized by a decrease in the force required to sever the beard hair manifesting itself in decreased pull and markedly greater comfort and ease. The reduction in pull generally persists during the usable life of the cutting edge and there is reason to believe that the life of the blade is as much determined by the continued existence of the polymer coating as upon deterioration of the edge itself...

I usually strop the edges of a new DE blade before the first shave on the side of my thumb.
Is it equivalent to corking?