I Used Old Gillette Blades.OUCH

I went to the local antique store, and purchased gold Gillette DE Razor. There was a box of old Gillette razor blades that went with it. They were the old green package that says "King Gillette." I opened it, and it looked clean... the side says no stropping, so i thought, "why not shave with them?" Ouch!!! These things pulled and were dull. I felt like i was shaving with a brick. I thought they would be pretty sharp. Is this common...? Has anyone else made this mistake?

I haven't had much luck at all with vintage blades so far.

I've got several packs in the waiting tho, Gillette Platinum, p74, Wilkinson, Schick. I suspect these will be amazing.

I didn't even get through a single pass.... My grandfather told me to sharpen it in an old glass.. he said that's how they use to sharpen them, even when they said no stropping. Ever heard of this?

Sounds like you have old carbon steel blades which deteriorate with age. Vintage stainless steel blades will be better.

psychzombie said:

I went to the local antique store, and purchased gold Gillette DE Razor. There was a box of old Gillette razor blades that went with it. They were the old green package that says "King Gillette." I opened it, and it looked clean... the side says no stropping, so i thought, "why not shave with them?" Ouch!!! These things pulled and were dull. I felt like i was shaving with a brick. I thought they would be pretty sharp. Is this common...? Has anyone else made this mistake?

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Yes, I have made that mistake. I learned from Mormon Bridge that the old 3 hole blades can be made marginally less dangerous by stropping. The later Gillette Blue blades (carbon steel) are grabby and painful, but you can get through a socially acceptable shave with one.

I have shaved with stropped old Valet blades and albeit not BBS it was a DFS.

I think I will give old blades a miss from now on though.. I must have been lucky..

These old carbon steel blades do indeed feel a lot more tuggy, but hand/jeans stropping helps a lot.
They settle in and become much smoother on subsequent passes/shaves and those Gillette Blues are extremely sharp.
They're normally only good for two shaves, but they can be very nice shaves.
Carbon steel blades work best slicing at an angle, so it makes sense that the Gillette slide is the technique to use with them.
I also wonder if they would work well in a slant for this reason, an experiment I intend to carry out

I think a lot depends on how they were stored. The blue blades which are actually blue were chemically blued to prevent corrosion. This is ok if the blades are stored in a dry environment, but not very good if they get wet or are stored in a humid environment. Even if there is no rust visible the edge can corrode and dull over time, so it's generally not a good idea to use old blued steel blades. Other steel blades which were coated with paraffin or grease can keep better in more environments, but even then it's no guarantee.

Hello all, as far as the old three hole blades, I've discovered stropping is a nessecery part of shaving with these old blades. Even when they are NOS. and sometimes I even have to use a stone on them. The stone I use is one that was designed for big game razor tipped arrowheads. You can usually purchase these at a sporting goods store for a few dollars. For stropping I would reccomend an old stropping machine. There are several manufacturers of these, and many are resonably priced. I have a Kanners, but I know there are other brands too. Those old three hole blades take some work to be made usable, and it takes awhile to get the hang of it, but there is a great satisfaction that comes with shaving with one. And a BBS or DFS is possible with them too. As far as the Gillette Blue Blades are concerned, as was mentioned previously, these blades are worthless if stored in a moist environment. However, when stored correctly, I'm sure you will discover that the Gillette Blue Blades deliver a great shave. They are my favorite blade of all time. I don't find it nessecery to strop those. Anyway thanks for letting me share my input on this topic, as it is a favorite topic of mine. God Bless, and have a good day.

As a complete newbie, I got an old alloy gillette travel razor that came with an unopened packbog Gillette Blue blades, so my first 2 weeks of shaving was with these. I experienced no cuts, no razor burns, etc. It wasnt the closest shave Ive had, but it wasnt the worst, considering a 1963 date code. Ive since tried wilkinsons sword, and gillette 7,0 clocks, and suffered loads of cuts, with no closer shave. I intend to buy up a few more packs of blues, I really think they suit me.

I got some vintage Star blades earlier this year with a razor. I was excited ot use them, but tossed them all after one shave. Just too rough and tuggy.

The blade (Gillette Blue) that was loaded with my Tuckaway looked brand new. It wasn't. "Shaving with a brick" is pretty accurate. Live and learn. . .

Toothpick said:

I've got several packs in the waiting tho, Gillette Platinum, p74, Wilkinson, Schick. I suspect these will be amazing.

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You're definitively saving the best for last. Prepare to be amazed.

+1

The vintage stainless blades (Spoiler, Schick Plus Platinum, Gillette Platinum Plus, and P74) are flat out awesome blades.

Last year I bought a bunch of Schick Krona-Chrome blades from 1968 and they are some of the best blades I've used.