Thread: old DE blades

Hiya,

Just wanted to mention something that may not be known to some DE users. That would be the use of certain old blades, and how effective they can be. Been a while now since I last loaded my go to Iridium blade in any razor....been using vintage ones instead. No, I'm not talking about any non stainless blade made early on, which includes the gruesome 'Blue Blade'. These old blades I mean are 30-40 years old.

So there's probably 6-8 brands and types like super stainless and platinum plus and plus platinum even....heh. Both Schick and Gillette made some choice blades in the 70s-80, and if properly stored can be as sharp and smooth as when new. Then you got Personna, with their legendary Tungsten74 blade (really a nice one). Plus, you can't forget about the UK Wilkinson blade either. Some of those are amazing.......depends on the 'vintage' mostly.


I can pick up most blades I like for maybe 50 cents each or less. Paying a buck or more per blade can be avoided if you're patient, and it helps if you have a few in reserve so no pressure. Hell, some blades (Light Brigade) will even sell for $2-4 a piece, which is pretty nuts, considering a top currently made blade is less than 50 cents.

Well, there's a reason people are buying those old blades, and it ain't nostalgia. It's fun shaving with something of that age....sure, but it's the performance that hooks the buyers in. Heh, like me for example. Some no longer produced blades shave me as good as my favorite Iridium, and 1-2 blades even work better. It's worth trying a few if you run across some.....never know.

There now, I've done my best to enab..........help out a few of you guys,

Martin

Hey Martin, long time no see . I've never tried any vintage blades, but reading your write-up makes me want to hit the 'bay.

Cheers,

Ryan

Originally Posted by Ryan82

Hey Martin, long time no see . I've never tried any vintage blades, but reading your write-up makes me want to hit the 'bay.

Cheers,

Ryan

Yeah, it's been a while eh? Nice seeing you also. Always enjoyed your posts about DE stuff when I was around more.

Well it's strange, but I don't use my usual go to blades much anymore at all. Yeah, some of these old vintage ones have really captivated me as far as performance goes. Heh, of course there's some blades that don't fit me very well, and just like currently made blades you gotta sample each one for yourself.

There's plenty of posts around about DE shavers who love old blades. The best blades for me are very sharp, smooth, and forgiving in nature, and there's actually 1-2 old blades that are borderline too sharp....almost like a Feather feels sometimes. The Personna74 injector blades are like that for me....no room at all for error.

I'm happy to send out a sampler of some popular vintage blades before you buy any blind. Yeah, maybe a Gillette or two, a Schick, and a Wilkinson blade would be fun to try. They won't all be my favorites, but are well received by lots of other members though. Yeah, I'd be curious how you find em to shave. Use the pm feature if that interests you, and no problem if you'd rather skip it.

Good typing in your direction once again,

Martin

The older blades were far superior to the new ones. Around the time they started to use coatings is when they started to go downhill, slowly at first but that accelerated. Modern blades rely on the coatings to do the work so they don't have to expend resources on the blade itself.

I clearly remember when Wilkinson came out with their first stainless blades and they advertised you can get at least 10 shaves from one blade and most folks who used them got way ore than that. I know my dad used them and loved them.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The older blades were far superior to the new ones. Around the time they started to use coatings is when they started to go downhill, slowly at first but that accelerated. Modern blades rely on the coatings to do the work so they don't have to expend resources on the blade itself.

I clearly remember when Wilkinson came out with their first stainless blades and they advertised you can get at least 10 shaves from one blade and most folks who used them got way ore than that. I know my dad used them and loved them.

Hi there,

Unfortunately for me, my knowledge of vintage blades and their various coatings is pretty limited. I did read that in some cases that coating can break down over the years, causing a rougher shave than it should. in my case, I've used some vintage coated ones that were fine, and some that were not so hot. No idea if it was bad coating that caused the clunkers or just the grind wasn't a good fit. Seems like many of the popular vintage blades are coated with something like Platinum. Matter of fact, a favorite Schick blade of mine is a Plus Platinum version.

Wilkinson blades are tough to figure out as far as any coatings go. I can't recall any mention of that, although the blade itself probably changed over the years. Dating old Wilkinsons can be a puzzlement, since they seem to go bya certain vague kinda 'vintage' or 'era', rather than specific years. I know for sure some fit me much better than others do.

Yeah, you do hear about many old blades providing lots more shaves than the current ones. Not quite sure why that is, but it's a nice little bonus.

Martin

Oh yeah, Here's a few old injector blades, some of which are much better than the ones being made now:

The original stainless, like the old Gillette Blue had no coatings on them at all. The quality was based on the manufacturing process used to make and strop them at the factory.

I'm thinking the originals came out in the 1960s but I'm not sure.