Medicine cabinet blade disposal

I just happened to think of this the other day. When I was a kid back in the 1950's my grandparents had a large medicine cabinet that was built into the bathroom wall. Inside the cabinet was a horizontal slot which my grandfather used to dispose of his used blades by just sliding them into the slot. I imagine the blades ended up somewhere between the walls in the house. A cool concept! Has anyone else seen this?

I have ripped out many of these in the past. Neat idea to use. Nasty mess when you remodel.

I don't think I've seen one of these in place for many years. Of course, I haven't been paying attention, either. I'm sure they're still around in older houses and apartments.

I've seen them in older homes.

Not so much fun for the guy doing drywall work in the bathroom in 30 years.

Awesome idea assuming there is some degree of safety behind it

Oh, I feel old. Your Grandfather disposed his blades in the great beyond between the studs in the wall. My Dad did the same.

I think this could be done with most medicine cabinets that are recessed. They all seem to have a plastic back. If they are recessed, they are between the studs. Why couldn't you just cut a slot?
(don't remodel
Sue

sounds like a nightmare down the line, but a neat idea none the less

yup - the blades ended up in the space between the walls. Its not uncommon for bathroom renovations to uncover a bit rusty mass down there

mdunn said:

yup - the blades ended up in the space between the walls. Its not uncommon for bathroom renovations to uncover a big rusty mass down there

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Or a mass of rusty blades that tumble out all over the floor when you rip that section of drywall/plaster out. Big, fat mess.

VaHomebrewer said:

Or a mass of rusty blades that tumble out all over the floor when you rip that section of drywall/plaster out. Big, fat mess.

Click to expand...

except that they'll have rusted together and wont be tumbling anywhere

My apartment complex was built in the early-70's, and has that slot in the cabinet.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=107108&highlight=blade+bank
Here is a link and in it I have linked to another thread about blade disposal and it shows the results of in wall blade banks for renovation crews.

The house I lived in while at college had this...didn't know what it was until I ripped it out as part of an updating project...Imagine my surprise when I realized that removal of 2,000 blades was getting added to my list of things to do...

An apprentice of mine that i worked with told me about this. He had it in his house. pretty cool idea....

Growing up, we had a cabinet with the slot that my dad used. I would love to find an old cabinet to recondition and install at my house.

Hmmm, so I really did see a rat with a wooden leg.

We have one of these in the house we're living in now. Also had one at my parents house (but never used it). Pretty cool. We rent, so I'm not worried about the mess.

Anyone have pics of the removal/

When I bought my house in 1992 it had a 50 year old medicine cabinet with the slot in it. The fellow I bought from lived in the house for 48 years. Well SWMBO and I decided to update the medicine cabinet and when I removed the old one I found a large pile of Gillette blue blades inside the wall. I'm sure some of them dated back to the 1940's!

It is a good idea, certainly keeps the old blades out of sight and out of mind until the renovation.

Gerry

Wow...I've never seen this before...pretty cool idea except for the cleanup! I would think you could easily make this today (to include some type of resevoir in the wall).

The house I'm in has one, and as mentioned before, I rent so I don't mind using it, but I usually use a broth can that I painted a metalic blue. It would be a good idea to form some type of container to fit inside the wall under the slot to collect the blades in case of future remodeling. I'm thinking a container made out of aluminum or galvanized roof flashing bent into a perfectly shaped container to fit between the studs.