Hello everybody,
Took a chance on a box of 100 single edge blades dating from the the 1920s or 1930s. The seller thought they were from the 1960s, but that is pure deco packaging, aluminum ink and all, definitely much older than that.
If anybody knows anything about the brand, let me know!
Here is the link to the etsy sale- my box was in much better condition than the one pictured, so the seller must have had a couple of boxes.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/178297789/hey-this-is-on-sale-chess-single-edge
Locally, I can only get the American Safety Razor carbon blades (sold under various names) and crappy Korean blades that I haven't bothered wasting my money on. Was just about to order some pella coated stainless online when I found these. The vintage blades worked out to exactly half the cost, including shipping, of ASR carbons I get local. I'm guessing I've got a years worth of shaves in this box, but one unknown is how many shaves I will get out of a single Chess blade. I get 4 or 5 four-pass shaves out of an ASR carbon.
Here's the lowdown after my first shave:
I used the blade in a later model Gem Damaskeene razor. I have an earlier model Damaskeene that I will try the blade in for the second shave. The two Damaskeenes do give slightly different shaves. I lathered with a silver badger brush and plain old cheapo drug store Van Der Hagen shaving soap.
Unwrapping the paper wrapper, there is a card board wrap to protect the blade. Removing that, there is a heavy grease/oil on the blade similar to what the military used to put on machine parts for storage. A quick wipe down with alcohol and I'm ready to shave. There is a slight spidering of rust on each side edge of the blade, but it does not come close to the cutting edge.
The blade is substantially heavier in weight than the ASR. The spine is a really thick slab of steel, so you've got a very stiff blade with some mass. The primary bevel is about the same as the ASR. The secondary bevel is MUCH more acute than ASR. The ASR secondary bevel is almost invisible, the Chess secondary bevel is 2, possibly 3, times as wide as the ARS. This makes for a scary sharp blade. Rub a thumb tip across an ASR blade and it "picks" at the skin, bring a thumb tip to meet the Chess blade and it keeps going into the blade until you realize you're cutting into your skin. Yep, scary sharp.
The first pass cuts differently than the ASR. That's how I'll describe it- different. A new ASR blade will be silent and you won't feel anything when cutting with the beard grain. The Chess blade scrapes the skin, slightly stinging, with a "scritching" sound you don't get from the ASR unless you are cutting against the grain. The chess blade is not tuggy, I guess calling it more aggressive than the ASR would be the best description. It's a much closer shave.
Subsequent passes were about the same as the ASR blade in terms of feeling and noise, but again the Chess blade is giving a closer shave. This was most apparent with a touch up pass at the end (which, technically, I guess is a 5th pass), when I hit trouble spots and feel for rough areas one last time (you know, where I see if I actually managed to shave under my nose at all). The ASR blade always leaves some stubble spots that are impossible to smooth, even with "scrubbing". The touch up pass with the Chess knocked these areas out of the ballpark. Its 8 hours on and I'm still rubbing my face amazed at how close a shave the Chess blade gave me.
So this is after 1 four-pass shave (5 pass if you count the final touch up). Being such an acute angle on carbon this blade, it may dull a lot faster than the ASR blade. If I get half the shaves out of the Chess blade as I do from an ASR blade, it will still work out to the same money as buying ASR- I'll still consider that a win. If I get the same number of shaves out of it I will be doing a happy dance for a whole year. Time will tell.
My main worry now is what will I do when I need a vintage blade fix in the future, once these are all gone? Guess that's half the fun, going on the ole shaving safari.
Took a chance on a box of 100 single edge blades dating from the the 1920s or 1930s. The seller thought they were from the 1960s, but that is pure deco packaging, aluminum ink and all, definitely much older than that.
If anybody knows anything about the brand, let me know!
Here is the link to the etsy sale- my box was in much better condition than the one pictured, so the seller must have had a couple of boxes.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/178297789/hey-this-is-on-sale-chess-single-edge
Locally, I can only get the American Safety Razor carbon blades (sold under various names) and crappy Korean blades that I haven't bothered wasting my money on. Was just about to order some pella coated stainless online when I found these. The vintage blades worked out to exactly half the cost, including shipping, of ASR carbons I get local. I'm guessing I've got a years worth of shaves in this box, but one unknown is how many shaves I will get out of a single Chess blade. I get 4 or 5 four-pass shaves out of an ASR carbon.
Here's the lowdown after my first shave:
I used the blade in a later model Gem Damaskeene razor. I have an earlier model Damaskeene that I will try the blade in for the second shave. The two Damaskeenes do give slightly different shaves. I lathered with a silver badger brush and plain old cheapo drug store Van Der Hagen shaving soap.
Unwrapping the paper wrapper, there is a card board wrap to protect the blade. Removing that, there is a heavy grease/oil on the blade similar to what the military used to put on machine parts for storage. A quick wipe down with alcohol and I'm ready to shave. There is a slight spidering of rust on each side edge of the blade, but it does not come close to the cutting edge.
The blade is substantially heavier in weight than the ASR. The spine is a really thick slab of steel, so you've got a very stiff blade with some mass. The primary bevel is about the same as the ASR. The secondary bevel is MUCH more acute than ASR. The ASR secondary bevel is almost invisible, the Chess secondary bevel is 2, possibly 3, times as wide as the ARS. This makes for a scary sharp blade. Rub a thumb tip across an ASR blade and it "picks" at the skin, bring a thumb tip to meet the Chess blade and it keeps going into the blade until you realize you're cutting into your skin. Yep, scary sharp.
The first pass cuts differently than the ASR. That's how I'll describe it- different. A new ASR blade will be silent and you won't feel anything when cutting with the beard grain. The Chess blade scrapes the skin, slightly stinging, with a "scritching" sound you don't get from the ASR unless you are cutting against the grain. The chess blade is not tuggy, I guess calling it more aggressive than the ASR would be the best description. It's a much closer shave.
Subsequent passes were about the same as the ASR blade in terms of feeling and noise, but again the Chess blade is giving a closer shave. This was most apparent with a touch up pass at the end (which, technically, I guess is a 5th pass), when I hit trouble spots and feel for rough areas one last time (you know, where I see if I actually managed to shave under my nose at all). The ASR blade always leaves some stubble spots that are impossible to smooth, even with "scrubbing". The touch up pass with the Chess knocked these areas out of the ballpark. Its 8 hours on and I'm still rubbing my face amazed at how close a shave the Chess blade gave me.
So this is after 1 four-pass shave (5 pass if you count the final touch up). Being such an acute angle on carbon this blade, it may dull a lot faster than the ASR blade. If I get half the shaves out of the Chess blade as I do from an ASR blade, it will still work out to the same money as buying ASR- I'll still consider that a win. If I get the same number of shaves out of it I will be doing a happy dance for a whole year. Time will tell.
My main worry now is what will I do when I need a vintage blade fix in the future, once these are all gone? Guess that's half the fun, going on the ole shaving safari.
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