I've seen vintage DE blades by the name of Tungsteel before. They look like they are from the 40s or 50s by the wrapper design. I was wondering if anyone's had any experience with them and if they are the same as tungsten steel which the Personna 74 DE and injector blades are.

No idea but dang that is one pretty looking blade. Best looking I have seen. I know the razor covers it but still. That is a purty blade. (didn't think that I would ever say that :happy102)

I would SO try that blade. Do you have a way to strop it? It may or may not help...from what we can see of the edges it may not even need it.

If tungsteel is the same as tungsten, it seems this company had Personna beat by 20 to 30 years. I'm tempted to buy a pack of them and try them, which is why I wanted input from others. I've never had a good experience with any NOS vintage blades except Personna 74s.

i'm surprised you didn't like schick plus platinum-i've been using them for the past 2 months with excellent results. currently using the same blade for the last 3 weeks and no significant drop in quality of shaves.

The blade says Chrome Steel.

I bet the 'Tungsteel' is a brand name. I doubt they would need to use the bluing if that was made out of real tungsten alloy.

My wedding band is Tungsten Carbide and is cast formed. It's been on my finger every day for nearly six years and still has a mirror polish. My wife's white gold rings have been re-plated at least three times.

My ring came with a card for my wallet too. It says to use a vice to break it off or something. I guess if you have an accident and mangle your hand emergency responders have saws or some other tool to cut rings off.

I also can never have my ring re-sized. I had the option to pay for "insurance" in case I gain or lose weight to trade in for a different size. I chose not to. It wouldn't be the same ring. I'll put it on my pinky before I trade it..

Anyway, I don't think it really is Tungsten. It would have been awfully expensive in the 40's to make blades that hardly ever need replaced. I don't know when Tungsten steels became used commonly, but it wasn't a great business plan for Personna either.

To play "Razors and Blades" one of them needs to be replaced or wear out once in a while.

If they're not super expensive buy some and see.

I agree that this is a chrome plated blade and not Tungsten. Personna went all or nothing with the '74s at the same time that Gillette came out with the Trac II. <Sarcasm insertion: Guess what happened to the DE market and the '74's! when all the men started switching to Trac IIs? We all know that answer.>

This blade does remind me of the Schick "Black Beauty" Kronas that I have used. It looks as if you can shave with it. I would put it in some Isopropyl Alcohol to make sure it is free from any rust deposits and is as clean as possible. It may be better as a "looking piece" than a shaving item.

Good fortune.

TWELVE YEARS LATER...

I just received a mint pack of these blades so my curiosity will finally be satisfied. The blades are pristine but nothing particular stands out about their appearance.

However--and this could just be ballyhoo--the end of the box says each blade is good for eight shaves. At least the sales department had some idea what a tungsten blade could be. We will see.

Shave 1

Tungsteel blade
Clix EZ Flo
Stirling Sharp Dressed Man

3 pass DFS +

The Clix and the Ranger Tech are my two most reliably smooth razors, so I try to use one or the other when I'm unsure of a blade. The blade was arm stropped first.

Shaving, it felt as sharp as any other good carbon but somewhat rougher and louder. The blade was perfectly mint so I've no idea if this has to do with its purportedly unique metallurgy (if indeed it has any).

Perhaps it will smooth out a bit next shave but the feel reminded me of some modern platinum blades which are sharp enough but unpleasantly rough for me. Odd...carbons are usually sharp and smooth or not sharp and scrapey. This was different.

Towel dried and hung up with the P-74. Will arm strop each time and use one of my two best shavers.

Blued blade, neat looking but I wouldn't call it beautiful.

Shave 2

Tungsteel blade
Neillite 400
Brut clone soap

3 pass DFS ++

But I cheated.

Switched to a more aggressive razor. That helped. Also broke out the Aloxite hone. That helped too. The shave was less rough, closer on the neck, and a lot less rough. I swear, though, this blade still has an unusual feel to it. Menthol a/s not because I needed it but because it's hot and muggy.

Shave 3

Tungsteel blade
Niellite 400 on a longer handle
Talbot Holland Glen

No stropping or honing this time, just loaded it and got a much better result. I think the longer handle helped but the blade also feels smoothed out. I'm going to call this one a three pass BBS. The best so far from this blade.