I shaved this morning with a vintage Don Juan blade which is one of the blades I won in Sara-S's "Tongue Twister PIF." The blades are a blue colored chrome steel and the one I opened was a bit dirty looking. One paper overwrap (no inner waxed paper) and ... no glue spots! lol. Just to be on the safe side, I dipped the blade in rubbing alcohol and let it air dry. This cleaned it up nicely and took care of any wee beaties that might have hitched a ride over the years. (Note that these blades are NIB.) I loaded it into my Merkur 3-piece and did my usual in-shower prep. The shave (3 passes) went much better than I expected. I must admit some trepidation as to the sharpness and smoothness of a blade that old. There was a just noticeable amount of tugging, but nothing major given my heavy beard. Interestingly, it seemed like a slower shave though, as if the hairs were being cut in slow motion as compared to my Astra SPs. I suppose this means that the Don Juans aren't as sharp as a new Astra SP (which seem to fly right through my beard). I am a bit hesitant to use the Don Juan for shave two however. I just have the sense that there will be more pulling and discomfort as if the edge is maybe only good for a shave or two. But, I might give it a shot in a day or two just for fun. edit/addition: The end result... an acceptably decent shave (not as close or as clean as normal) and some stinging upon AS application (sting is unusual for me). But, no weepers or anything else to indicate a "bad" shave.
Don Juan is one of my favorites of the old carbons. With my medium beard I can get three shaves from one blade. Nice to hear that you had success.
Thanks & thanks for your shave count. Makes me think I'd get maybe one more good shave out of the blade. Might be worth a try tho...
I get the same results you got from the old carbons....and I don't use them anymore. Too uncomfy for me.
I'm going to at least work my way through all the blades I got in the PIF and go from there. The Don Juans might be a keeper to switch things up once in a while. But, they'll never replace my Astras.
I've seen some folks really pine for those Vintage blades but I remember the old Wilkies and Gillettes from the old days when you could get them anywhere. IMO the blades of today are at least as good if not better...
Joe, you need to go back and look at the stainless steels used in my testing. The vintage stainless blades of the major brands equaled or outperformed most of the current blades. Personna 74, British Personna, were some of the longest lasting. I chose not to test Gillette Platinums and Schick Platinums which I get as many shaves as the British Personna and several other discontinued brands because there is no need to drive up the prices on that market with additional data. A side note, the top three are titanium coated blades and the number one is a tungsten steel blade with titanium coating (Personna 74). During the 1960s through the mid to late 1970s the major blade manufacturers were in a very competitive and market leading situation in which they would spend major advertising dollars. So it was a race to make the very best blade possible to stay ahead of the competition. Today, blades are made to at least an ISO 9001 requirement which as I was directly told by W. Edwards Deming is a measure of "good enough" or "standard" and not a measure of "quality" or "excellence." The market of today's DE community is a low cost low revenue situation in which companies only make them good enough to require the user to buy 6 - 15 blades a month. With the old British Personnas, I have constantly gotten 6 to 11 shaves per blade depending upon the razor used. With a P74, my lowest use level was 11 shaves and all those ratings were made with face and head shaving. If I used a British Personna and then a P74 I might use 2 and at the most 3 blades per month with smooth comfortable shaves available into the next month. Now carbon blades such as the one Rich is using, yes, I agree that today's blades are better. However the vintage stainless steels of the mid 1960s through late 1970s are the high water mark of DE razor blade production because back then, there was only one or two high profit cartridge system and they did not become available in major quantities until the early 1970s (Wilkinson Bonded and Trac II).
Think I need to try out a vintage blade again since my last experience with them was maybe 25 years ago..give or take lol. I was using DE and injector for about a decade or more and mostly Wilky DE with the occasional Gillette.. since that was all I had at the time..no Internet. They seemed alright but not the spectacular expeience I've heard them made out to be..sooo a fair test would be to try some today. Maybe in a while, after I finish sorting out some stuff, I'll look into it.. hmm saw some lately in the wilds. Lol I've managed to pick up a Slim Twist like I had back then so if I happen on some old Wilkys or Gillettes I'll give it a go for old times sake and see what happens..should be interesting..hmmm..better get that Tetanus shot...
I have never had an issue of rust when I started using any of my vintage blades, and only had one develop rust after being in use some time, but I also get a Tetanus shot every ten years anyway.
Accumulation of rust on a stainless blade often occurs from improper storage. So far I've only seen old blades just lying around..wrapped in their paper but not in their original boxes. Also many blades today come in an airtight encapsulation of some kind. Certainly if I want to store blades for a long time I would and intend to take extra precautions against moisture incursion..lol and then there's the shot...
True, that is why I pass on the open ones generally and go for the sealed container items. You can always soak the blades in Marvicide for 10 minutes to clean the blades.
So I've been told, it's a common misconception that you get tetanus from rusty metal per se. Rather, you get it moreso from the microbe filled dirt that the rust metal may have been sitting in. Still, why take chances. In any case, a good alcohol rub (or lysol or barbacide) will take care of even the tetanus germs.
I use the ol' Isopropanol 99 proof..hey there's a name for a heavy metal band..the Rusty metals with Tetanus Infested Microb Filled Dirt All Over Them..
I've got a couple dozen Don Juans and, right outta the wrapper, they're consistently one the worst carbon blades I've ever used, even when minty. However, if you strop that Don Juan you just used, you'll get a markedly improved shave next time. My Twinplex is on the fritz so I've got an Ingersoll DE blade strop handle on the way (I already have the leather strop and an SE strop handle). Ingersolls were designed to strop thick, three-hole blades but it can be adapted to fit thinner blades.
I decided to give the DJs a go for shave #2 and will now try a stopping of some sort... either hand or in a glass.
