Extended Blade Life, Including OneBlade Feathers

I dry them on a towel and blow the edge dry. Seems to work well.

Circa 1944.
My grandfather would take the DE blade out of the razor.
Hold it for a few seconds under warm water running from the tap and wipe it dry.
He would then place it on the inner wall of an ordinary water glass.
Then with one or two fingers on the blade he would rub the blade back and forth with edges fore and aft.
He would turn it over once and repeat.
After a couple of minutes he would replace it in the razor.
All ready for tomorrow's shave.
I guess this operation would be called honing.
He did enjoy shaving.

I'm not sure how long I should try to extend the life of a blade. I generally shave Monday to Saturday inclusive and use the same blade for all 6 shaves. I like to have a fresh blade on Monday because I have some extra growth from not having shaved Sunday. I'll remove the blade from the razor and rinse everything after each shave. I'l flick the excess water off the blade and place it on a tissue to dry and I wipe off the razor parts with a barbers towel that I use exclusively for the purpose and place the pieces on a tissue as well. Its very dry where I live so everything dries by evaporation quite quickly. I suspect I could probably get a few more days out of a blade, particularly the Feathers and Kais but why risk having some Monday morning drag? I feel far more comfortable tossing out a fully biodegradable 8 to 50 cent razor blade after a week than I did throwing out a $2-$4 plastic cartridge. The manufacturers always say you can get "up to" a month of shaving out of a single cartridge but I think it would only last that long if you only used it once a week and had virtually no whiskers to speak of. Technically they're not lying - the phrase "up to" includes zero. I'm happy with up to a week

I also look at blade usage and cost the the way you do, Marko . Personally, I have never used a single DE blade for more than 6 shaves. SE blades, I have used 10 times max.

But I also understand that it is 'fun' to do different things in shaving like trying new products, making better lather and as crazy as it sounds 'using one blade for 20+ shaves' can be a fun activity. There was a thread going on over at reddit where some experienced shavers got 50+ shaves out of a blade.

I am currently on a 'fun' journey to see how many shaves I can get from a straight razor without re-honing, and I am using my cheapest straight razor for this purpose.

I am expecting to receive my OneBlade Genesis soon. I intend to use Pete123's suggestion and see how far I can go.

I would say we are all on the same page for the most part.

When I mainly used a double edged safety razor I used quality blades for a week before changing.

Currently, I mainly use a straight. I shave the back of my neck twice a week and use a double edged safety for that. I use this process if I have one of my good blades in the safety razor as one use followed by a week of inactivity seems yield a rough blade. Those good blades cost $.40 and are no longer on the market that I can find.

The blades for my shavette are $1.00 per blade. I get two good uses out of that blade unless I use this process. Same for the Feather 10s used by the OneBlade, though the price on them is coming down.

I palm strop my blades as well, but I think the original sharpness of the blade has more to do with the blade life. I get about 10 shaves from a Polsilver, 6-7 from a Personna, but only 3 or 4 with Astras or Voskhods.

I dont usually post in these types of threads since they are so subjective, per user. But I feel inclined to do so.

After wyze0ne sent me a Gem blade from Connaught, I then purchased a box for myself. These blades in a run of the mill Gem G-Bar seem to last well over 2 months of every second day shaving. My first one went well over 20 shaves. The one I am on now I quit counting. (I think I lost count on the first one too) It's a secret I wished I would have learned years ago. These blades that are still in production and easily available far outshave the grey market P74s, P74 injectors, and any vintage DE blade that are known for longevity.

While I was never a stropping kind of guy, But I noticed that there is soap residue build up on my blades so I use a towel to pinch and pull from spine to edge every other week. Then for variety I might flip it but I dont think that matters. So when I see threads like this that talk about 6-10 shaves on blades that cost up to a buck a blade, I mentally scoff at them. If only I could introduce guys to Gem blades from Connaught shaving in a Gem G-bar, or Shovelhead, I'm sure they would see what I do. These Gem blades have almost made my DEs defunct.

I'm not belittling anyone, just reminding there are more options out there. Dont fall into the trap that King Gillette set for us in 1910 and be trapped into buying expensive blades for limited shaves for the status of owning a razor special made for a very specific blade.

I couldn't agree more with olschoolsteel. The GEM blades are awesome, possibly my favorite blade of all. Not to mention that you can get a vintage razor that uses them on eBay for $10 or $15.

I also totally agree about stropping blades. Folks using a straight razor strop before each use.

Some may not be aware of the purpose of stropping a straight, which explains why it works with double and single edge blades. When shaving, the edge of the blade gets a lot of minute rolled edges. Stropping doesn't sharpen the strait - it straightens the rolled edges. To me, it makes perfect sense that the same would be true with a single or double edge.

Keep in mind that the edge of a razor blade is only a few molecules thick and that whiskers are comparable to hair sized copper wire.

To olschool's point, stropping also cleans the blade.

I dont usually post in these types of threads since they are so subjective, per user. But I feel inclined to do so.

After wyze0ne sent me a Gem blade from Connaught, I then purchased a box for myself. These blades in a run of the mill Gem G-Bar seem to last well over 2 months of every second day shaving. My first one went well over 20 shaves. The one I am on now I quit counting. (I think I lost count on the first one too) It's a secret I wished I would have learned years ago. These blades that are still in production and easily available far outshave the grey market P74s, P74 injectors, and any vintage DE blade that are known for longevity.

While I was never a stropping kind of guy, But I noticed that there is soap residue build up on my blades so I use a towel to pinch and pull from spine to edge every other week. Then for variety I might flip it but I dont think that matters. So when I see threads like this that talk about 6-10 shaves on blades that cost up to a buck a blade, I mentally scoff at them. If only I could introduce guys to Gem blades from Connaught shaving in a Gem G-bar, or Shovelhead, I'm sure they would see what I do. These Gem blades have almost made my DEs defunct.

I'm not belittling anyone, just reminding there are more options out there. Dont fall into the trap that King Gillette set for us in 1910 and be trapped into buying expensive blades for limited shaves for the status of owning a razor special made for a very specific blade.

I'm glad I could open up a whole new world of shaving for you! Haha. I love these blades too. I've never pushed one past 25 shaves although it could've kept going. They never get rough, uncomfortable or tug, they just lose efficiency as they wear. I think I just changed it out of boredom.

Applause!

Mickey