I unwrapped a Wilkinson Sword razor blade this evening, and it had more glue on it than I expected. A small bit of the glue was even on the cutting edge of the blade. Needless to say, I did not use this blade. Is there a safe way to remove this glue without damaging the blade or myself?
Thanks for the advice. Being fairly new to this, I wasn't sure if alcohol or other solvents would have a negative effect on the blade.
It should not have any effect it's steel. Just wash with soap and water after to remove any lingering solvents. Seems like a lot of work for 1 blade maybe you should consider a different type of blade
I agree, I should not have to put this much effort into using a blade. Well, I only bought a 5 pack of these blades. Perhaps this was just a defect in packaging this blade. I'll check and see how the other 4 blades are.
Solvents might remove the coating found on some blades. Manufacturers often coat blades with PTFE (aka Teflon) and other materials to improve their shaving qualities. That is why blade packaging usually says not to wipe the blades. I agree that it makes more sense to simply look for blades that do not have glue or wax spots on them. The majority of the 50+ blades I have tried do not have these spots, so finding suitable blades should be fairly easy. If you do decide to go the solvent route, orange oil is a good alternative to acetone.
As Shaver X said you need to check the blade for and be careful not to remove any coating(if possible). I'm not sure about the Wilkinson Sword, but many Russian made blades have the "wax spots" to hold the wrappers on including two of my favorite blades the Astra SP and PolSilver Super Iridiums. While the wax doesn't seem to affect either the blade or shave I also "DISLIKE" it "VERY" much !!! The "BEST" way I've found with dealing with the "wax spots" without the BS of cleaning off every fresh blade, is to use the Viking's Sword blades(Personna) out of Israel..I.M.O. an "EXCELLENT" blade at a fair price and best of all "NO" wax spots..!!
The spots don't bother me, but has anyone tried to shave them off using a single edge blade? Just wonderin'.
Seems I heard someone here I think either doing that or asking about it...It would be ok as long as the SE blade was used I'd think, I wouldn't waste a fresh blade on it though..I use shims so the "wax spots" are a P.I.A. for me as in if I'm not careful the blade and shim will stick together..I honestly can just see no reason why the "wax spot" is needed in the first place..In my mind the spots are just an added expense to the consumer with "NO" real benefit..
I use rinse twice with boiling water. I have kettle I use for my scuttle. Works great because I hate the wax spots too.
I predominantly use Astra SPs and they have small glue dots in the middle of the blade. Generally, they are small and don't come close to the shaving edge. However, if there is larger "blob" than normal, I will take my previously used blade and carefully scrape it off the new blade.
