Blade Disposal Slot in the Medicine Cabinet

Discussion in 'General Shaving Talk' started by Hirsute, Apr 11, 2012.

  1. Hirsute

    Hirsute Active Member

    When my wife and I bought our house, I was delighted to see that it had old fixtures in the bathroom. I was recently showing the house off to a friend who is in construction, and he remarked that the slot in the back of my medicine cabinet is for DE blade disposal--just drop them into the wall! He's demo'd a lot of bathrooms with piles of old razor blades behind the walls from just such a slot. Pretty cool.

    Now that I'm getting into DE shaving I'm wondering, does anyone dispose of their blades behind the wall like this?
     
  2. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

    I sure do. Started using it a couple years ago and, as far as I can tell from the faint *clink* when I ditch a blade, it already had a fair heap of blades down there. I've added prolly 20 or so to it, at least.
     
  3. battle.munky

    battle.munky Has the menthol.munky on his back!

    I do indeed use mine. I think I have a cross member somewhere about a foot down the wall though as my clink is a bit closer up. Either that or there is about 5 feet of blades in the wall.....
     
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  4. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    I'd use it if I had one.
     
  5. Shave7

    Shave7 Active Member

    I guess I don't understand why anyone would want a bathroom wall insulated with hundreds (maybe thousands!) of old rusty razor blades. Some very distand day in the future, someone is going to have to deal with all those old razor blades. They would pose a safety hazard. I much prefer to place the old blades in the used blade compartments in the new blade packets and safely dispose of them in the trash.
     
  6. 5Savages

    5Savages Well-Known Member

    It wouldn't bother me at all. If I had one, I'd certainly use it. If I were to ever tear out the wall, I'd know about it. if someone else were to tear it out, well...they should know what they're doing. With all the other inherent risks of remodeling I just don't see it as an issue.
     
  7. HoosierTrooper

    HoosierTrooper Steve-less in Indiana

    My parents house that I grew up in has one, it was built in the 50's. I'd use one in a heartbeat if mine had one. I guess it probably wouldn't be that big of a job to cut one with a Dremel tool. Hmmmm...
     
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  8. battle.munky

    battle.munky Has the menthol.munky on his back!

    I see your point, but if you google "razors in bathroom wall" you'll see that this was predominant feature from a bygone era. Remodeling dudes know to look for it. Is it a potential hazard? Of course, it is rusty used razor blades, but from a nostalgia point of view, I use mine every time. Not to mention, 20,000 years from now some archaeologist will dig our houses up and be able to discover traditional wet shaving and throw his light saber razor (with 4 vibrating light sabers, no doubt) away!

    I dare you Tom!
     
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  9. johnus

    johnus Well-Known Member

    Yes, going on 90yrs of blades back there.
     
  10. dpmtherrien

    dpmtherrien New Member

    I wish I had one like that in my house. Newer houses don't have them anymore. They just drop into the foundation.
     
  11. Everett

    Everett Well-Known Member

    I'm in the middle of a reno at my house right now. Converting the room next to the master into a walk in pantry for the kitchen, walk through closet, and master bath. I'm debating putting in one of these slots. It would fit the vintage of the house for sure (1923) but it would just be a matter of finding a proper plate with a slot to put over it. I'm not going to put in a traditional medicine cabinet, it'll be a vanity with drawers, a linen closet, and shelves on one side for my gear, etc.

    Reno's go slow when you do 95% of the work yourself (with help, but no contractors) :p
     
  12. Billr

    Billr Mix Master Mighty White!

    would do it in a heart beat! I have done a bathroom remodel in my parents house and we found a huge stash of blades in the wall. It was kinda neat to find and the hazard was only in cleaning them up. As soon as we saw them it was no big deal. Funny how I never even thought people still used DE blades back when this happened.
     
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  13. catanUS

    catanUS I pity da fool!

    Pretty cool idea. I'm in a newly built townhouse and am a straight razor user, but I'd love to have a slot to discard certain things into--such as junk mail and cat hair.... oh, and I'm sure I could come up with more...
     
  14. macaronus

    macaronus Sir Nice-a-Lot

    Sounds great! Haven't seen one before, though.
     
  15. IAmTheJody

    IAmTheJody Gillette-i Master Staff Member

    It's not like someone that is going to remodel a bathroom, is going to take a running nose-dive into a pile of razor blades anyway. If one is in the midst of such construction, one should be practicing safety anyway.

    My house was built in 1959 and I was quite pleased to see when I bought it, that the medicine cabinet has the blade slot. I tossed my blade bank in the trash and now use my wall exclusively. The way I see it and think about it, it's part of the process. We take this journey back in time to shave like our fathers and grandfathers, might as well dispose of the blades the same way too if you have a wall slot for it.

    I'm actually on the lookout for an old wall plate they used to have in hotels and on trains (think old Pullman cars) for blade disposal into the wall. Looks like an electrical outlet cover. They were very common in the 1930s. If I ever find one, I'm buying it and installing it on my other closest wall. Then I'll have 2 walls to drop all of my old-blade goodness into.
     
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  16. Billr

    Billr Mix Master Mighty White!

    Thats what I am talking about! Think about it this way - How many things do we do in our day that is done the same way that some body did 50+ years ago! How cool is that!
     
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  17. Turk

    Turk Well-Known Member

    It would be nice to see what the slot looks like. Maybe I'll build one into my wall as it would give it a classic touch even though every house in my town is no older than 5 years old. Blade disposal, although it seems simple enough is getting unruly at my abode. I use a blade for only 2 shaves.
     
  18. battle.munky

    battle.munky Has the menthol.munky on his back!

    A few examples from a little bit'o Googlin':

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    Nothing really special, and you may have had one in a medicine cabinet in the past and didn't even realize it. Pretty low key and out of sight.
     
  19. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

    Yeah, but it won't be me. By that time somebody's going to have to decide what to do with my remains (pine box is good enuff fer me, I says...dress me in straight-laced shoes, box-back coat and a Stetson hat. Put a twenty dollar gold piece on my watch chain so the boys will know that I died standin' pat).
     
  20. colosilverado

    colosilverado Active Member

    Friggin sweet! Heck, I've got a little stub wall right next to the toilet that I can turn into one.
     
    Jrdelgado likes this.

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