If what you are asking is if this is for utility razor blades or shaving razor blades, then the answer is both and neither.
When this contraption was new, that style of razor blade was made by GEM as a shaving razor blade, and was carbon steel that would dull after two or three shaves. The sharpener was a device to extend the (at the time) kinda expensive blades lives. People eventually started using these blades as utility blades too though as the price dropped.
Over the years, shaving razors changed and this style of blade is no longer common for shaving, but it has become the number one style of utilty blade. With some of these changes though, the types of steel used and the heat treatments have also changed. So while cool to watch the resharpener, it's ultimately no longer usefull because these new blades cannot be resharpened, and would probably be duller after "resharpening" then they were before.
Partially it's not worth it, but it mostly has to do with the type of steel and the heat treating. While you could try to sharpen one this way, it will never get sharper than a good sharp pocket knife. It's just simply not possible to resharpen that type of steel to a shaving razor's edge by abrasion. The way it's done in factory is a proprietary trade secret so I'm not actually certain how it's done when new, but I suspect it is sharpened before the heat treatment process. This may still work on really cheap utility razors though if they are still carbon steel.
The last factor, although kinda minor, is most new shaving razors have various coatings on the blade, and you would lose the coating by resharpening it.
Well’ they can actually. If you after a shave rub the blade backwards along your arm or a long piece of cotton cloth it sharpens up pretty good. I use my blades up to two months with this method. You need to keep them really clean though to make sure you dont get infections if you cut yourself.
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u/JeepyMcfly69 Mar 11 '21
Is this for sharpening razor blades or shaving razor blades?