Personna 74 - An Update

[Gene]

I was thinking about blades the last couple of days, and realized I had not seen any discussion on the venerable Personna 74 Tungsten coated blade lately.

I just took a quick troll on eBay - and was stunned. People are asking $6.00 to $7.00 per blade for these things.

Yikes - that's a lot of money! Always wanted to try them, but not at that price...I have too many blades to use now that are fine for me, including a decent supply of German Wilks that I bought from Gareth a long time ago. I used a fresh one yesterday and it was just fine - even on a two-day old beard.

[Squire]

Gene I like the old 74s, which were very good, but I refuse to pay collector prices for anything.

[Rufust445]

Gene I like the old 74s, which were very good, but I refuse to pay collector prices for anything.

An example of how being hard headed can be a virtue.

[Ouchmychin]

A couple (few?) ears ago a seller on ebay was offering the 74 blades for a reasonable price. He had a limit of one or two carts. I bought the limit and later noticed that he was still offering them so I got another limit. Only blade I use in my Schick injector. Use it about once in a week or two in my rotation. Get lots of shaves from one. Still have one cartridge plus one blade left. I'll not get more at that price.

[CMur12]

I'm not generally in awe of vintage blades, but I am of Personna 74s. These blades are the best blades, in every way, that I have ever tried. They are very sharp, they are very smooth, and they last at least twice as long as any other blade in my experience. I have a very limited supply of these and I would like to get some more, but, like Squire, I'm not willing to pay the prevailing prices for them.

- Murray

[brothers]

Even though I never managed to locate any of the DE '74s when they were not too rare about 6 or 7 years ago, I don't really feel any sense of deprivation or loss. I do have a few injector '74s but don't use them any more. I'm sure they were/are simply the best blade ever made, though. It was a shame they didn't survive for whatever reasons.

[Straight Arrow]

They sure are great blades but I think they are too good for me. They make shaving way too easy. Not even fun.