On Tue, 02 Jan 2007 03:40:54 GMT, wrote:


"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
...
mm wrote:

I find it too much trouble to sharpen blades when the possibility of
buying new ones was still reasonable.

I actually have some sort of razor blade sharpener, about 5 inches in
diameter and an inch thick, with a fold-out crank handle. It has a
clamp for the blade and a leather wheel that works as a much more
effeciient strop. One pushes the blade against the wheel and as one
cranks, it gradually lifts the blade up, so one knows when he is done.

But handling a double edged blade to get it in right was not easy.
And either restoring multiple blades, or having to sharpen only one at
a time and putting it back in the razor when done were both
inconvenient.

I can't remember where I got it. It was in perfect condition when I
got it, but I made the sad mistake of displaying it in the bathroom
(seemed appropriate) and even though I only take baths in that
bathroom and not hot or steamy baths, and nothing else shows water
damage, it rusted some. Maybe when I have time, I can clean it up.
Usually I use a wire wheel, but the underlying steel surface was
almost mirror smooth.

I do wonder sometimes if the edges of the 200 blades I just bought
will get dull even if they aren't used. Does anyone know?

For example, I think some plastic is a very thick liquid and will
deform just because of gravity with enough time. I think the shop
teacher said that about glass, and that window panes eventually become
thicker at the bottom and thinner at the top.

(snip)
I fondly remember King Gillette's "Blue Blades", and even the "foxhole
radios" made from them during WWII.

http://members.aol.com/djadamson7/articles/foxhole.html

I believe it was King Gillette who first came up with the concept of
"giving away" the razors so he could then sell you the blades forever.

A concept that HP, Lexmark, and the other printer companies have taken to
heart- sell the printer for next to nothing, and screw them over on the
refills. Lotsa people find a new inkjet only costs a few bucks more than new
carts for their year-old printers, and just throw away the old ones.

Maybe a good time to mention that some Walgreens drugstores will
refill cartridges. It says "Savings of up to 50%. Takes only a few
minutes" So that seems to mean they refill yours when you bring it
in, and you save no more than 50% of the cost of a new one. I'll
still do it at home. Plus the fact that the Walgreens near me don't
do it, and the three in Baltimore that do are on Harford Rd. Belair
Rd. and in Essex or Dundalk. Far away.

But Walgreens has big advantages in that it is open on Christmas and
New Years and even sells some food. Some like the one near me are
open 24-hours a day. A year or two ago, I had to go to my uncle's
funeral, a"h, and I wanted to go see my grandparents' first home about
50 miles away, and I had forgotten to bring a camera. Walgreens was
open on Xmas day, when nothing else was, and sold them.

The apartment building that my grandparents moved to in 1907 had been
torn down, but I still got satisfaction from seeing it. I recently
got the address from my grandmother's Ellis Island papers.
www.ellisislandrecords.com iirc. My grandfather had come about 6
months earlier.

aem sends...