Vintage PAL / Personna DE Zipak project

Purchased this rare PAL Zipak DE blade dispenser today. NOS. They were also sold under their other brand Personna. This is the harder to find/rare Zipak dispenser that was sold containing 44 blades (why not 45, huh? OCD.). The easier to find ones held 10 and 20 blades.

I'm going to see how involved it is to reload it with blades and put it into everyday use.

 

Thanks @Jorvaljr ! I was almost certain the pieces would come apart but was not sure about the blade positioning. Like with the Gillette dispensers, the blades are stacked on top of each other in a staggered alternating fashion, hence the arrow is printed on Gillette blades telling you which way to slide each blade. I really should have known better since the Zipak dispenser ejects a blade in only one direction.

Some people may think it's a bit tedious to unwrap a bunch of blades just to put them in a dispenser, but a) it's part of the nostalgia and vintage feel, b) I hate razor blades wrapped, c) I hate the wax spots put on blades to keep the wrapper closed because it definitely gunks up the inside workings of TTO razors when it gets hot and melted and d) I have plenty of time. lol

 

Well this is done. It was quick and easy for one of the 44-blades dispensers. Didn't work out for the other 44-blades dispenser.

The first one, the Clear View Zipak dispenser seen on the left in the first picture, was easy. Just snapped off the bottom metal used blade holder which also functions as the metal strip spring holder on the inside... Unwrapped and then loaded vintage NOS Schick Super Stainless Chrome Edge blades... Snapped back together and it works perfectly. As the old PAL Hollow Ground blades are much thicker, I was able to load 50 of the Schick blades into it.

The second Zipak dispenser with the white plastic top and blue arrow slider, seen on the right in the picture below, has four plastic posts that when all is snapped together, catch edges in slits and is really hard to get apart. I managed to get it apart and load 50 new blades in it, but it was really a struggle to get it back together because the metal strip spring was not cooperating. Once I finally did get it all situated and back together, it would not dispense any of the newer thinner blades. This one has a plastic sliding dispenser arm and it would come out fine but not have a blade with it. So I took it all back apart and put the old PAL Hollow Ground blades back in it and put the dispenser back together. It dispensed the old blades just fine. So I took it back apart again and reloaded it with 50 newer thinner blades again, put it all back together again, but it still would not dispense blades. Then I took it apart again and removed 10 blades, leaving only 40 blades in it. Put it back together with the same failed result. Blah.

 

By the way... If anyone wants the NOS PAL Hollow Ground blades I removed from the Clear View dispenser, plus about 25 more that are individually wrapped and sealed, plus the NOS white plastic dispenser full of blades, all which came as part of this lot, PM me. I'll mail them to you free CONUS. I know some people like to use and resharpen these old blades. They will go in the trash or to you.


Edit: Blades claimed.

 

On a sidenote, I used one of these vintage PAL blades tonight in my 1938 Gillette Senator with some vintage 1970s Palmolive USA Lather Shave Cream. The shave was actually a pretty darn good shave and I'm surprised. The WTG pass was very nice. Then the ATG pass was a bit rough but nothing I couldn't stand and as it went along it seems like it was getting smoother towards the end. So it will probably be much better the next time I use the blade. No cuts or weepers. A very slight bit of blade burn afterwards but my neck and face is BBS. Like literally, I can't feel any missed hairs or missed stubble. I'm actually very surprised because I have never had a good shave with a blade from the 1950s or before.

 

It is. It really is good stuff!