quote:

>[1] Putting razor blades under a wire frame soldered into the shape of a pyramid
>for a day or a week was supposed to sharpen them.
>I think when it couldn't get any dumber the pet rock came out.

This sort of thing actually does work, although the pyramid is very much
an optional extra.

How it works is this: razor blades get blunted not so much by the metal
getting eroded away by use but by the metal at the edge getting bent by
the hairs as they are cut. So, a 'blunt' blade is one where the edge is
bent and buckled out of shape.

Steel, especially razor blade steel, is springy and has properties
rather like memory metals at the scales we're talking about, especially
if you leave it alone for a week or so for the metal to revert to the
original shape.

This effect has been known about for a long time; soldiers in the first
world war were often issued with seven separate razor blades at a time,
one for each day of the week. That meant that rather than be used one at
a time day after day, the blades got used one day, then left alone for
six days, this being sufficient time for the metal to re-form.

This trick does not of course completely re-sharpen a blade. It only
works two or three times before the edge is bent beyond the scope of the
effect to repair it, and you need to resharpen or replace it.

This is, however, more than long enough to convince a stoned fuckwit
hippie that something deeply mystical is going on; the pyramid is just
pseudo-mystical fol-de-rol to distract the weak-minded luser from the
actual (and far more magical) effect.