Favorite Vintage NOS Razor Blades?

[mullard]

Personally, I have used most of the popular modern razaor blades. I can appreciate the performance of some of the blades and achieve quality shaves from some brands. I like the Feather for it's sharpness and use them sometimes for longer stubble. However, personally I have found some vintage blades(especially those made in the 60s-70s) to be superior than modern blades. I have used many vintage NOS blades over the years and still use them mostly today. I have used the Personna 74, Gillette Spoilers/Swedes, Wilkinson Light Brigade and super sword edge, Schick blades, and many many others including carbon blades (sometimes I use a carbon blade for my final pass). Personally I have found that the England made Wilkinsons (especially chromium) provide me the best overall shaves. What are your favorite vintage blades?

Thank you...Mullard

[BeatlesFan]

Well, this is undoubtedly a much-discussed topic here at SMF. Your thoughts are pretty much in line with the what has been a prevailing view here -- take a look, for example at the long discussion on Personna Hospital Use blades just down the Razor page from this posting (take note, esp. of Gordon's comments).

Those blades from "back in the day" were incredibly good ... pretty much state of the art. I would also add that many/most current production DE blades don't measure up (scroll through Squire's listings and you can see lots of examples).

For me, however, I'd put the Personna Hospital Use blades fully on a par with golden-era blades. Top marks from me and a number of others around here on closeness, sharpness, comfort, etc. As I indicated in the Personna Hospital Use posting, I have done toe-to-toe testing of NOS Gillette Platinum Plus blades against the Personna Hospital Use blades. IMO, there is no clear winner ... they both get pretty much an "A" in all categories. The only real differentiations I could find were that I think the Platinum Plus lasts a bit longer, but the Personna Hospital Use is IMO a bit smoother. But these are really minor and marginal differences -- I don't think there's a clear winner as between the two.

There are certainly some other top performance current blades, but I'm really a big fan of the Personna Hospital Use blades. Nonetheless, your comment about golden-era blades certainly has validity. I for one wish that I could just walkl into CVS/Walgreens/Boots whatever and instantly have multiple DE blade choices comparable to what one found in (say) 1975. But I do feel that there is much cause for optimism about the future of DE blades. I also think we may see more really great options for DE blades coming up before too long, as DE shaving continues to gain popularity in a world of high-priced cartridges and disposables.

Anyway, for myself, I'm feeling more confident about the future of DE blades rather than nostalgic about the past!

[brothers]

My favorite vintage blades are the Gillette Swedes. They brought out the very best of my expectations from my very old grail razor.

[CMur12]

My favorite vintage blades, by a huge margin, are the Personna 74s. They are very sharp, very smooth, and they last at least twice as long as any other blade I have used. I don't think anything else comes close and I wish I could get more of them for a decent price. In fact, other than these, I haven't found any other vintage blade that I consider superior to current production and I don't care much for the Light Brigade Wilks, as I find them harsh.

I would agree with BeatlesFan that the Personna Med Prep/Hospital Use blades are as good as many vintage blades, even better than some. Another current production blade that I really like is the Perma-Sharp Super. I have been using some vintage Schick Plus Platinum DE blades lately and I find them merely adequate. They are smooth, but they aren't especially sharp or long-lived.

- Murray

[Squire]

Nothing is sharper than a Feather but the circa 1970s Gillette, Schick, Personna and Wilkinsons shave just as well, a number of shavers also find them smoother, and they certainly outlast Feathers by a wide margin.

[Brutus]

Gillette Swedes and Wilkinson (UK production) - best vintage blades that I have come across, but there may well have been other blades in the heydays of DE shaving that were equally exceptional. - I just never stumbled upon them since as a 18-year old in the 70's I thought the Schick Injector or Trac II were the way to go,


B.

[Straight Arrow]

It's hard to beat the '60s & '70s Schick, Gillette, and Personna offerings. For comfort and long lasting close smooth shaves they are the apex of DE blade manufacture. I have them and use them on occasion. But my real favorites are vintage carbon blades. They are not as sharp or as comfortable as the vintage stainless blades, neither do they last anywhere near as long. But somehow I have become addicted to them. Pal, Don Juan, Gillette Thin, Gillette Blue, Durex, Marlin, Fan and so many others. They make me shave right. I can feel them and I like that.

[mullard]

It's hard to beat the '60s & '70s Schick, Gillette, and Personna offerings. For comfort and long lasting close smooth shaves they are the apex of DE blade manufacture. I have them and use them on occasion. But my real favorites are vintage carbon blades. They are not as sharp or as comfortable as the vintage stainless blades, neither do they last anywhere near as long. But somehow I have become addicted to them. Pal, Don Juan, Gillette Thin, Gillette Blue, Durex, Marlin, Fan and so many others. They make me shave right. I can feel them and I like that.

I often use carbon blades for my final pass. I find them to tug quite a bit if used for the first pass and onward. However, if used for my final pass they provide a very smooth and unique final product. As with all blade metal types, some are better than others. There is something about the carbon blades that provide a unique closeness/smoothness that needs to be experienced to relate to. Thank you for the information. Looking forward to any other responses.

[mullard]

My blade stash

IMG_18510000.JPG (671.38 KiB) Viewed 5461 times

[Seamaster]

"MYSTERY EDGE"!

[pausted]

What do you suppose one would need to do to collect on the one year warranty on the Sears blades?

[mullard]

What do you suppose one would need to do to collect on the one year warranty on the Sears blades?

I thought about that myself. I wonder if they would still acknowledge the warranty? The back of the package has information to ship to Sears if one year of shaves in not completed with the blades in the package. I have heard very good reviews about these blades. I am looking to try them out soon.

[pausted]

Enjoy them!

[brothers]

Mullard I appreciate the range of excellent blades in your stash! Lots of good shaving there.

[Straight Arrow]

Nice stash mullard. Some of those are favorites of mine.

[Rufust445]

Since my '63 Slim Adjustable hit the floor and was damaged, I resurrected a Lord Smart razor that I've been using exclusively the past week or more. I'm on my second Gillette Spoiler in it, and these seem to work especially well. There have been some refinements and adjustments to my technique with this "new" razor, but once the 15-pack of Spoilers is used up, I'm confident that modern blades, like Personna Labs or Shark SS will work better than in my GIllette adjustables.

[fallingwickets]

merkur! of course they had to go and change something to make them better

clive

[brothers]

I'm not going to go so far as to say this is my favorite, but the Gillette Super Stainless is one awesome smooth cutting blade.