7th Annual February "One Blade" Challenge!

[anchovie666]

Wednesday 2/18 Shave
17th ANNUAL ONE BLADE IN FEBRUARY CHALLENGE 2026

DAY 18 – Two Pass & Clean Up – Dried Down to a Great DFS+
The edge is still acceptable – will need to do two pass or more
We shall see how long we can stretch this challenge

Razor: DOVO Runde Sache – Red Scales – 5/8
Blade: JNat Refresh – Translucent ARK Refresh (18X)
Lather: Proraso RED Shave Cream
Brush: A P ShaveCo MIG Synthetic
Post Shave: Draggon Noir Splash
Post Shave: Proraso Wood & Spice Balma

 

[EMG06]

Ok. The Treet is changing. After 20 shaves the edge by the QC #1/2 is still sharp and smooth. The other edge has noticeably deteriorated, and while it still cuts, it is not smooth. I’ve tried a palm strop a few times to freshen the edge without an appreciable effect.

Any tips to freshen up the edge on this carbon steel blade? Should I just try to ride out the final week of the challenge just using the good edge?

I don’t have access to any little honing device from the 1930s or other special hardware.

 

[heysi]

Any tips to freshen up the edge on this carbon steel blade?

Two words....Angle. Grinder.

 

[Spider]

Any tips to freshen up the edge on this carbon steel blade? Should I just try to ride out the final week of the challenge just using the good edge?

I don’t have access to any little honing device from the 1930s or other special hardware.

Hone it on the inside of a glass.

 

[BarberDave]

Don’t do that you wanna kill an edge put it on glass take an old pair of jeans or a newspaper and lightly strop
it and that’ll take some of the burning off that should freshen up the blade just a little bit

 

[heysi]

Hone it on the inside of a glass.

Don’t do that you wanna kill an edge put it on glass take an old pair of jeans or a newspaper and lightly strop
it and that’ll take some of the burning off that should freshen up the blade just a little bit

I think KJ meant drink a glass of whisky and then you won't worry about the edge so much.

 

[heysi]

take an old pair of jeans or a newspaper and lightly strop it

This is new info to me. But makes total sense.

 

[EMG06]

Hone it on the inside of a glass.

Point: I’ve heard of people sliding a blade around the inside of a glass. Never seen it on a video. Do you just press the DE blade down and slide it in the direction of the edge to be honed?

Don’t do that you wanna kill an edge put it on glass

Counterpoint: I’ve heard of straight razor shavers doing this to kill the edge before starting over. I always imagined they took the sharp edge and ran it along the glass, not laying it flat as you would do to hone it (I think I don’t do this stuff).

take an old pair of jeans or a newspaper and lightly strop it and that’ll take some of the burning off that should freshen up the blade just a little bit

Thanks for the tip. I’ll find some denim for stropping.

 

[BarberDave]

Point: I’ve heard of people sliding a blade around the inside of a glass. Never seen it on a video. Do you just press the DE blade down and slide it in the direction of the edge to be honed?

Counterpoint: I’ve heard of straight razor shavers doing this to kill the edge before starting over. I always imagined they took the sharp edge and ran it along the glass, not laying it flat as you would do to hone it (I think I don’t do this stuff).

Thanks for the tip. I’ll find some denim for stropping.

Either way it will destroy the edge, and yes i do that before doing a complete rehone

 

[Spider]

Point: I’ve heard of people sliding a blade around the inside of a glass. Never seen it on a video. Do you just press the DE blade down and slide it in the direction of the edge to be honed?

These are vintage DE razor hones, which is the basis for the idea of using a glass. See here:

 

[Majorrich]

I used that technique to bring a clearly dead Gillette Blue blade back to almost usable.

 

[EMG06]

I used that technique to bring a clearly dead Gillette Blue blade back to almost usable.

A ringing endorsement of the method!

 

[EMG06]

Seems to me like we hit on a great debate topic. Something for the videos or another thread perhaps?

 

[Spider]

Back to my blade today for Shave 14. Still very smooth.

 

[EMG06]

Palm stropping isn’t doing anything to help the edge that has died. Going to try denim before tomorrow’s shave

 

[BarberDave]

Although not in this challenge I am have 24 shaves on this Personna lab blue. Starting to degrade a bit, but still going strong

 

[Majorrich]

~19 on Gillette Platinum. Still pretty good. Wasn’t what I would have picked at the outset for this, but I’m happy with the surprise.

 

[EMG06]

So as promised, I tried the denim strop as recommended by @BarberDave and wow

The blade was smoothed out wonderfully. Not sure about its cutting prowess but it felt very smooth. Worth a try for anyone who has a rough edge at this point in the month.

 

[heysi]

Worth a try for anyone who has a rough edge at this point in the month.

That's what she said.

 

[BarberDave]

So as promised, I tried the denim strop as recommended by @BarberDave and wow

The blade was smoothed out wonderfully. Not sure about its cutting prowess but it felt very smooth. Worth a try for anyone who has a rough edge at this point in the month.

Glad it worked it is an old straight razor hack while traveling or in the absence of leather