Hi everyone, I recently obtain a C.V. Heljestrand. Vintage 7 Day Safety razor through a online auction. It was in with other vintage shaving gear I bought for $20.00. It needs a lot of TLC but mostly It needs a new blade. It has two blades, one has a chip the other is badly tarnished. I seem to remember A post on this forum that talked about replacement blades that may work in the C.V. Heljestrand. It was an old post, maybe 2016 but not sure. I searched the internet and found a blade for a WILKINSON 7 DAY SAFETY RAZOR. model "1920" Pall Mallonly, which the seller says will work in the Heljestrand. My blade measures 4cm by 2cm. I'm going to try to attach a picture of my old blade. Any ideas?
I just saw your post. I have a Heljestrand wedge razor and some Wilkinsons too. I will dig them out tomorrow, compare the blades, and get back to you with the results. I know you can also use some of the wedge razors by using a Gem PTFE blade with a couple shims.
I compared my Heljestrand blades to those from a couple Wilkinson models. The Heljestrand is nearly the same width and depth as a modern Gem PTFE single-edge blade but is about three time the thickness at the spine. You could likely make a modern Gem blade work, using one of the aluminum blade spines as a shim on each side. Wilkinson had two styles of wedge razors -- the 7-Day models and the later Empire models. They used different blades. The 7-Day models used blades about 4x2 cm like your Heljestrand (and modern Gem blades), but the spine is only about twice as thick as a modern Gem blade, or roughly 1/3 thinner than the Heljestrand. It fit in my Heljestrand razor, provided I lifted and dropped the side holder tab bar over it instead of trying to slide it under, but probably will work better with a shim under it. The Empire models used blades about 4 x 1.5cm in size. No way, Jose -- unless you rigged some sort of .5cm wide adapter behind it to hold it firmly in place. (Three modern Gem blade backs stacked and glued together into a single unit would probably do it.)
Thanks for all the good info, Screwtape. I was hoping that one of those WILKINSON blades would work, as they "look" like the originals. If I can't find one, it maybe possible to clean the tarnish from one of the ones that I have. I found the post from 2017 that I mentioned earlier. The info you gave me and this post information is exactly the same, Screwtape. I don't know if it's proper to include the URL from a different forum but the post is relevant to this discussion so, here goes: "https://www.badgerandblade.com/foru...-edge-razors-guide.334348/page-4#post-9126249" Thanks again
If you are interested I have a whole 7 day set for a Heljestrand that have been resharpened. I thought I'd use them on a regular basis but never took to them and will sell them if you are interested. Pm me if you are and I'll get some pics taken and work out a sale price.
Thanks BBS, Yes I'm interested. I'm not sure how to private message and right now I'm recovering from eye surgery, so that doesn't help. I had some updates to post, but that will have to wait too. thanks Randy26
@Randy26 here are the blades. Sending pictures in private messages is not easy on this board. Will send a private text message to discuss seperately.
