Blade Flip Myth

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On another popular forum, which shall remain unnamed, I caught myself laughing aloud as well as rolling my eyes at the sheer (no pun intended) stupidity of many posters regarding flipping a DE blade between shaves. When carving meat do you walk around the other side of the table to cut the leeward side? :rolleyes: Blades are double & triple beveled!!! They wear the same on either side shaving just as a knife does cutting cheese!!
 
It would appear that myth has been around a long time. Someone shared a vintage Gillette leaflet the other day (can't remember which thread) and even that mentioned flipping the blade.
 
I posted a snippet from a booklet about the New Improved which said that both SIDES of the razor should be used - they meant both edges, not necessarily to flip the blade.

Here's some advice for butterfly razors:

1963%20Slim%20British%20Mark%20II.jpg


"Slightly open the razor, rinse under the hot tap and shake off surplus moisture" ... which in no way could the blade be removed, handled, fiddled with of flipped.
 
I posted a snippet from a booklet about the New Improved which said that both SIDES of the razor should be used - they meant both edges, not necessarily to flip the blade.

Here's some advice for butterfly razors:

1963%20Slim%20British%20Mark%20II.jpg


"Slightly open the razor, rinse under the hot tap and shake off surplus moisture" ... which in no way could the blade be removed, handled, fiddled with of flipped.
It wasn't this one, it was something about the direction you shave in - slightly angled rather than straight down. I seem to recall it was in response to a comment on the Gillette slide.
 
When carving meat do you walk around the other side of the table to cut the leeward side? :rolleyes: Blades are double & triple beveled!!! They wear the same on either side shaving just as a knife does cutting cheese!!
I'd say your argument is somewhat flawed - a knife usually goes straight against the material being cut, or pretty close to that. Most razor heads will hold a blade in a way that prevents it from cutting that way.

Having said that, it looks like flipping doesn't really make a difference, because these researchers found out that it's primarily micro blade chipping that causes the blades to wear out:
 
Yeah, as I said ... it mentioned to use both sides (point 30):

9717330336_cb976b54e9_b.jpg


... meaning both edges.

"Some users find it an advantage to turn the blade over after each shave." I like the terminology. Coming from IMT Support background, we all know about users and their great ideas. "Some users" ... tut! :D

This pamphlet is for the New Improved.
That's the one!
 
Yeah, as I said ... it mentioned to use both sides (point 30):

9717330336_cb976b54e9_b.jpg


... meaning both edges.

"Some users find it an advantage to turn the blade over after each shave." I like the terminology. Coming from IMT Support background, we all know about users and their great ideas. "Some users" ... tut! :D

This pamphlet is for the New Improved.
It has never occured to me to only use one side of a DE razor during a shave thus me not having to turn the blade after each shave, I just spin the razor round at every rinse giving the blade an equal amount of use on both sides, that may have been a better suggestion in point 30! How odd! :) P
 
To me, the ONLY argument for flipping is that the top surface of the blade can become clogged with detrius, even after a good rinse.

I do sometimes take out such a clogged blade and hold it under a tap whilst pinch sliding (carefully) along blade with finger and thumb to clean both surfaces. Generally tho, i find it works best to loosen the cap just a little, and then rinse the now loose blade under a hot tap (remembering, of course, to re-tighten said cap before commencing shaving :eek:

Other than that, i dont find much credibility in arguments that flipping a blade after a shave makes for a better next shave.
 
I'd say your argument is somewhat flawed - a knife usually goes straight against the material being cut, or pretty close to that. Most razor heads will hold a blade in a way that prevents it from cutting that way...

No one holds, or can cut for that matter, at a perfect 90° angle. Just as with shaving there will always be a "cone of dispersion" due to user error/variation. Remember, a DE razor blade is not held perfectly flush against the skin as it can't. Because of the razor being held at a circa 20° - 30° angle plus the shaver's variations (we're not robots) in the aforementioned "cone of dispersion" plus the double/triple beveling of the DE blade between usually 13° to 19°, one can see there is a lot of geometry at work here. But, as I just explained, the blade leading edge will be affected by hair equally on both sides. Perhaps you thought DE blades have a regular edge(?).


To me, the ONLY argument for flipping is that the top surface of the blade can become clogged with detrius, even after a good rinse.

I do sometimes take out such a clogged blade and hold it under a tap whilst pinch sliding (carefully) along blade with finger and thumb to clean both surfaces. Generally tho, i find it works best to loosen the cap just a little, and then rinse the now loose blade under a hot tap (remembering, of course, to re-tighten said cap before commencing shaving :eek:

Other than that, i dont find much credibility in arguments that flipping a blade after a shave makes for a better next shave.

Are you shaving a pet gorilla? In all my years of shaving I have never had that happen (except with multi- blade ctg. razors years ago) as I rinse after every stroke or two under running water and do not "swish" in a bacteria laden sink.
 
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With a scraper, if one side stops working, you can flip the scraper over and it will work much better. I'm referring to hand held scrapers that use a single edge blade that looks like the GEM blade. I suspect the thin edge bends slightly away from the work surface, and by flipping it you get edge again. It might be possible that the same thing happens on a much reduced scale on shaving blades. There were a few people on other forums who's opinion I trusted who were blade flippers and they claimed longer blade life by flipping.
 
No one holds, or can cut for that matter, at a perfect 90° angle. Just as with shaving there will always be a "cone of dispersion" due to user error/variation. Remember, a DE razor blade is not held perfectly flush against the skin as it can't.
That's pretty much what I wrote in what you quoted, I just used "pretty close to that", rather than "cone of dispersion".

Because of the razor being held at a circa 20° - 30° angle plus the shaver's variations (we're not robots) in the aforementioned "cone of dispersion" plus the double/triple beveling of the DE blade between usually 13° to 19°, one can see there is a lot of geometry at work here. But, as I just explained, the blade leading edge will be affected by hair equally on both sides. Perhaps you thought DE blades have a regular edge(?).
I'm not sure that the description of likely angles actually explains how the leading edge is affected when more force is applied to one side than the other in a significant and regular manner.
Most DE blades I've seen close-ups of were double beveled, but so are many knives and they still need honing to re-align the leading edge, despite the cutting angle being closer to 90° than a DE blade can get.
How do the additional bevels actually come into play there? It seems to me that the bevel would have to be uneven and force applied to just one side for the leading edge to be affected equally on both sides.
It's a shame I don't have access to a decent microscope to test this out. :unsure:
 
...I'm not sure that the description of likely angles actually explains how the leading edge is affected when more force is applied to one side than the other in a significant and regular manner...

Force is not applied to one side more than the other. The razor is for all intents & purposes the leading edge of the blade which is not meant to touch the skin as that results at the least in irritation and worse a cut. Blade gap & exposure prevent that. It doesn't matter at what length the leading edge of the blade cuts the hair as the wear on the beveled edge is equal on either side, just like the slicing cheese analogy.
 
They say stubble is similar to copper wire of similar ø, so chips and dents on the leading edge are inevitable. I expect it's a bit of a different pattern to a kitchen knife, but nonetheless, there will be chips and deformation which would be uneven and therefore not really cancelled out by flipping.

That said, we are in the realms of theoretical discussion here, given what we spend on razors, soaps and pre/post, the % spent on blades probably means flipping is hardly worth it even if you do get an extra shave or so from a blade. Nonetheless a good topic to shoot the breeze over.
 
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