Do all Schick E's swing open?

I have a G that was sold to me as an E (no big deal, it was like $5) and a J1, PIFed me by someone here on B&B. But I really would like an injector that opens, even a little, for cleaning...an E was what I was after to begin with. My recollection of mine (an L1?) from the 60's was that injectors get clogged easily, and unlike the TTO DE I switched to, they don't clean up so well. But now I'm pretty convinced that SEs (at least the "big" Gem/Ever Ready sort) are right for me, and I'd love to give injectors another shot (after 45+ years!)

So an E or a Hydro-magic would be my options, right? But how can I tell the various E's apart, and in particular, if all of them open? I have looked at this page:

http://www.safetyrazors.net/schick/schicktech.htm

and it _sounds_ like only E1 and E2 open...but it's not clear that I'm reading it right! And many *Bay vendors don't know what they've go anyway...they say E and leave it at that.

Also, do I really have to "burn" a blade in each of these, to "initialize" them? (Neither of the ones I have now has a blade in it already.) I do have a full set of NOS Schick Platinums, but hate to lose two or even three of them to test out my new toys...must it be?

thanks and regards to all

I don't believe that the E types were ever meant to be opened even if you could swing the "spring" out. If they had been meant to open up, then they never would have made a lot of them that could only be opened by deforming the "spring".

You don't have to burn the blade, you can try it. It may or may not be damaged. If your DIY, then you can make a blade blank for yourself. I've never tried it and it seems like it would be a bit fiddly as it's a fairly narrow piece of metal to work on.

ps I say "spring" in quotes, because I'm not sure if that is the right word. It's not particularly springy.

-jim

My E-3 does not swing open, to do so I would have to deform the retaining spring that holds it all together.

I believe that only the D, E1, and E2 swing open. The Hydromagics open with a lever for cleaning, but they retain the blade on pins when open--don't try to load a blade if the lever is open for cleaning. You never need to sacrifice more than one blade, no matter how many empty injectors you want to load. Just keep the first sacrificed blade, render it safe by blunting the edge, then keep it for use as a blank in the future. Whenever I get a razor with the factory blank in it, I keep the blank for future use.

BTW, I've never had a problem with an injector clogging up, even when the lather is too dry. soaking in hot water always dissolves the soap for me.

My E2 does swing open. When I got it, included was the instructions stating to open it every three weeks to give it a thorough cleaning, the replacing the blade before closing and swinging the spring back into location.

As Stevie said the only Type Es' that opened for cleaning were the Type E 1 which is ultra rare and the first Type E 2...The first Type E 2 is on the left here...It has side left off centred spring if you look carefully and there is only one Knob to the right of the spring..Hence it swings out to the left...The one in the middle also has an off centred spring but it has Knob to the left & right of the spring so it does not open.. The one on the right has a centred spring and also does not open...In essence what you are looking for is one with an off centred spring that only has one Knob to the right hand side...In a Nutshell...That's it...

Billy