How Double-Edged Shaving Razor Blades Are Made
Brief introduction to double edge razor blade
Double edge razor blade, or we can call it a DE razor blade, is a kind of blade that has two sharp edge sides. Double edge razor blades are always made of premium quality stainless steel and individually wrapped. Of course, to meet different needs, you can ask the manufacturer to use certain materials you want to make it. The blades in a double edge razor normally have a standard size, so even if it’s come from different brands, it fits in nearly all standard handles, which may have sorts of designs.
Double edge razor blades are currently used in a variety of industries, like barber industrial, textile industrial, and bakery industry.
The double edge blade has a nice sharpness which can easily trim facial hair. Meanwhile, the non-stick coating which reduces the friction in every shave makes it skin-friendly. Thus, it’s popular in the beauty and barber industries. And since it may cause infection problems, the barber shop needs to purchase an unbelievable amount of blades every month. Some people who have daily shaving routines are also willing to choose to buy a box of double edge blades. Because each blade is wrapped in wax paper, people do not need to worry about storage time. Until now, “which brand has the best double edge blade” is still a hot topic, there is no doubt that the double edge blade has a high popularity.
Double edge razor blades are also used in bakeries, for the first beginning, here’s the tradition in France of slitting a baguette in a diagonal fashion, called scoring, in order to facilitate the raising of the bread. Used today by bakers of all types, the double edge razor blade is used on a baker’s lame, or handle, and is the preferred way to efficiently score bread.
These razor blades are made very thin to create a sharp edge for close shaves or precise cuts. How could that happen? Next, we will close to the manufacturing of the double edge blade.
The manufacturing process of double edge blade
1. Material
Since the double edge blade is usually exposed to high levels of moisture, it must be made from a special corrosion-resistant steel alloy, like stainless steel, which is hard enough to hold shape and is anti-rust. This material is a metal composite, paper thin, extremely light, and has dull edges. And a strip of stainless steel is hundreds of feet long.
2. Pressing
The strip first enters a punching machine that stamps out the overall blade shape. A punching machine is a high-speed machine, the blades are die-stamped at a rate of 800-1,200 strokes a minute to form the appropriate cutting-edge shape. These dull-edged blades to be are called blanks. At this stage of the process, the stainless steel is very soft as pliable as paper.
3. Thermal process
Next, the double edge blade needs to harden and strengthen through a three-step heat treatment process.
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Step one: Workers heat the blanks in a fire to just over two thousand degrees Fahrenheit for about thirty seconds.
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Step two: Workers briefly submerge the blanks in cold water. This is called quenching.
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Step three: Workers chill the blanks for about 20 seconds in a deep cooling chamber at a temperature of minus 58 Fahrenheit. All this progressively restructures the molecules hardening the metal. However, the metal becomes brittle, necessitating reheating the blanks for 20 seconds.
4. Printing
The now hard blanks then move through a printer that applies the razor blade brand name.
The print process
5. Grinding and Polishing
Once the product has reached the optimal hardness, it is enter a grinding and polishing machine. Within it, are three grinding stations that sharpen the contour, then produce two super-sharp cutting edges. The blades then pass through a polishing station that removes burrs left by the grinding.
Both the grinding and polishing procedures are incredibly important because DE blades need to have sharp but smooth edges to ensure they can cut the hair without cutting the skin.
Until now, the blades have been connected to each other. But at the end of the grinding and polishing machine, a knife separates them.
the cutting process of double edge blade
6. Inspection
All finished components must conform to tight specifications before they are released. The factory’s quality control lab pulls samples from the production line and checks among other criteria. The quality of the grinding and geometric of the cutting edges. Then, every single blade the factory produces is examined for cutting edge defects. Technicians assemble blades in packs of up to 800, then shine a fluorescent light on the two cutting sides. This makes defects visible.
7. Coating
Now pristine razor blades go into a vacuum chamber. It draws a chromium-based coating onto the surface, rendering the cutting edges harder and better resistant.
Next, spray nozzles and apply a non-stick coating. The non-stick coating helps reduce the amount of friction between your face and the blade which helps prevent skin irritation and razor burn.
8. Sintering
A protective coating is bonded to the cutting edge in a process called “sintering”. It’s to adhere the coating permanently to the blade surface, they bake it for 20 minutes at about 660 degrees Fahrenheit.
9. Quality control technicians text samples
This time to ensure the blades meet strength specifications. This test machine measures the force required for the blade to cut a thick white of wet paper to a certain depth.
10. Soaking in organic oil
Lastly, the blades are submerged in organic oil for about half an hour, which helps give them some added protection from corrosion. Corrosion is the primary contributor to blade deterioration. Blades typically only last 4 or 5 shaves, but any added protection from blade corrosion is always helpful.
11. Packaging
On the packaging line, the equipment wraps each blade individually in wax paper. The wax coating on the paper helps protect the razor blade against corrosion during storage. Wax paper is also stronger than regular paper, so the blade’s razor-sharp edge doesn’t cut through it. The individual blades are then placed in plastic bags, plastic boxes, or cartons and boxed by workers for storage.
About Xirui factory
Xirui Group was established in 2005 with nearly 18 years of OEM, ODM, and OBM experience. The factory area is over 60,000 square meters and has more than 300 employees. For now, our factory has a monthly capacity of 200 million blades and 8 million pieces of eyebrow razors. As for quality, our factories have been ISO 9001:2015, BSCI, and High- tech enterprise certified. Welcome to connect us!
While all blades follow a standard design to fit into safety razors, what differentiates the blades is their sharpness. Xirui blades are sharper than others. Sharper blades mean will slice through stubble more easily, but when paired with an aggressive razor, can cause irritation for those with sensitive skin.
And in order to last the life of the blade, Xirui always uses a nice coating on the blade to help it glide across the skin easier or last longer.
Otherwise, both our R&D manager and technicians have rich production experience, and there are precise devices in our laboratory, so you don’t have to worry about the profession of our team.
“To exceed our customers’ expectations for service, quality, and value.” is our mission. During the cooperation, we will try our best to reach customers’ requirements.