I have some sources that can get me a lot of old stock blades, but I would like forum members opinions of these brands before I spend hard earned dollars. I can get these brands: Shick, Berkley, Segal, Silver Star, Nasco, Pal, Star, Mystery Edge, Berkley, Schaeffer, Valet and Hoffritz. Ever tried any of these brands or would you advise me to stick to the shick brand. Sort of Stick with Shick (sounds like an advertisement).
your source wouldn't happen to be E-bay would it? They sell all these old blades... Is the plan to actually shave with them or just collect them or what? I personally wouldn't shave with them. Blades dull over time, they could have gotten moisture damage, etc. To use them, I'd be prepared to hone and strop them a lot first... EW
The Schicks are the only ones I would consider. If they are the Plus Platinum they would be great ones to use.
No emegapd ebay is not the source. Some time ago I was told not to use old stock blades and omegapd told me that they are excellent. Asylum's repsonse explains the difference, shick is the only old stock blades that are worth buying. My source tells me they are hard to find but they are offering me some.
I think the point is whether or not these NOS blades are carbon or stainless... most of those sound like they'd be carbon, and the schick can be either depending on when they were made... Carbon blades likely won't shave you - stainless should be just fine.
Ah, understood. Add to this the understanding that stainless steel was introduced to the shaving world in the 50s, so anything before that is probably carbon steel. Will need to run these names past my pop to see if he reconginzes the names. Will tell me if they are pre-50s or not.
Yup. That's why I suggested the Plus Platinums. Older carbon steel blades are iffy at best. I have most all the blades you mentioned which I have picked up here and there. I just keep them in a box. But, if I run across 60's or later Schicks or Gillettes I usually PIF the ones I don't keep for myself with a special razor sale every so often.
Nope...I'm pretty sure I never said they were excellent. I've never talked about NOS blades at all actually.
Did shick make others besides the plus platinum in the days? I am being offered Shick blades but they do not appear to say plus platinum on them. Are their other double edge blades worth considering?
I have some Schick Super Chromium blades that are awesome... They're stainless but I don't know when they were produced... I have seen Schick Krona blades which I'm pretty sure were Carbon... Add to that the previously mentioned Plus Platinum and that's three total. I'm sure there are other varieties, but this is all I know of.
The Schick blades should be very satisfactory if they are the Platinum Plus or the Super Chromium. The Krona is also OK but not as good as the others. As for the rest of your list I have tried these: Berkley...Carbon steel, rough painful shave, would never use again. Silver Star...if it says "Duridium Process" it may be usable for two or three shaves. It is nowhere near as comfortable as we expect from our blades, but you can shave with it. Pal Carbon steel. Shaves are possible but not very comfortable. With carbon steel it's a crapshoot. There's no way to really tell under what conditions they were stored over the years. If they were kept in their original wrappers (plastic shrink wrap would be a big plus) and stored in dry areas they may still be usable. The only way to find out is to try them. You have to keep in mind that before stainless steel blades came along, shaving was not a pleasant morning ritual. Most of the old carbon blades were not comfortable to shave with even when they were brand new so it is not strictly like all these blades were smooth shavers once upon a time and then deteriorated over the years.
I just used a blue blade with king gillette on the front of the package. Shaved great. Blades seems about twice as thick as a modern blade.
How old of a blade? I tried a regular Blue from '54 that was straight out of an unopened package. As awful as awful gets. The Supers I have are from '60, and the one I used was decent, but not worth getting excited about. I have a large supply of Platinum-Plus and a HUGE supply of Spoiler Super Stainless from ~1980. Those are fantastic.
What's the date code on the blade itself? That's assuming it's a US-made blade. That wrapper suggests that it wasn't.
Yeowch! That would put it at 1946. R comes up again in 1971, but the date code page suggests production of regular Blue Blades ended the year before. You're a braver man than I if that truly is a '46 Blue.
I tried a couple of NOS blades and did not get good results. The old blades fore me skipped on my face alot and the shave wasnt as good as the new blades. But they do look good in a frame or shadow box.
It all depends on the type of NOS blades. The Platinum-Plus, Super Stainless, and Blues may all be NOS, but give vastly different shaves.