Gillette Vintage Blue Blades

Tried one of these for the first time today. Yikes. Only blade I've tried that could produce a rough shave in an AS-D2.

Are they known to be rough, or did I maybe get one that was corroded?

Rough. The later ones were however coated with PTFE and they shave great IMO.

Old carbon blades can do that. But before you're half done the first pass it should smooth out quite a bit. Or at least that has been my experience. I get about 2 shaves on average without any kind of stropping before the blade becomes uncomfortable.

Gillette Blues

My Dad's Blade of Choice in the 1960s.

His Setup:

Gillette New Open Comb
Gillette Blue
Noxzema Brushless Shaving Cream
Little Pieces of Toilet Paper to Stem the Bleeding


There's no such thing as a tough child - if you parboil them first for seven hours, they always come out tender.
― W.C. Fields

And don't confuse 'blue' with 'bleue', because the Bleue Extras are indeed coated and shave great as well! I wouldn't risk a rough shave with a blue, myself, though. Cheers

The Blue Blades I used in the 1960's were the best blade ever,slick,smooth luxurious shaves.If your blades are giving you rough shaves ,then you have oxidation on the cutting edge,and that may not be visible to the naked eye.

Binned it and inserted a scary evil untamed Feather blade. Nice smooth uneventful shave today.

I use Gillette Blue Blades from the 1940's through the mid 1960's, and while some of them do start out a bit rough, they always provide an excellent shave. I usually only use them for two shaves though. They deteriorate rapidly. I use them out of a sense of nostalgia, to get the fullest vintage experience I can. I actually like them very much. They don't seem overly rough to me. But to each his own.

Sometimes you get a few fantastic shaves from one of these, and sometimes it's like you describe. The better part of a century of inconsistent storage conditions has left these (and all other) blades, well, inconsistent. Considering how good they occasionally are, it's a good bet that, in their day, when they were new, these were very premium, top-of-the-line, blades.

Boge said:

Rough. The later ones were however coated with PTFE and they shave great IMO.

Click to expand...

Spot on - the older ones are rough, but the Super Blue Blades shave pretty decently.
I've tried regular ones from 1946, 1963 and Super Blue's from 1988.

I have a couple of tucks of the older, uncoated Blues, but I have so far been unwilling to pop one into a razor. Based on this thread, I'd say that was a good decision.

I recieved a sample gillette blue blade and used it for the first time today. I found it to be the sharpest I have ever used and got a great shave with it. Anyone know a reputable place that sells them?