Carbon Steel Blades

[Blondie]

Back in the old days, Gillette made the Blue Blades, carbon steel blades, that can rust. At some point, they started making blades from Stainless. I have used Treet Carbon steel blades, and find them to be uncomfortable. Has anyone used a blue blade by Gillette? My thoughts are that they would have microscopic rust and not give a very good shave. Also, given that the Treet Blades are not as good as the stainless options we have available today, was shaving as pleasurable when all that was available were the Carbon Steel Blades? What are your thoughts?

 

[Mr_Amazing]

My understanding of carbon steel blades is that they are sharper blades, but you have to dry them off so that they don't rust.

 

[haiti222]

Carbon Steel blades are a big YMMV. I have found the Treet about as good as the PTFE Gillette Super Blue blades. My guess is that if the Treet was unsatisfactory for you, the Gillette Blues will be as well.

Gillette made the claim that 25-30% of shavers prefer the Super Blues......
http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-1965-MAGAZINE-AD-GILLETTE-SUPER-BLUE-BLADE_W0QQitemZ200342792150QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2ea55c67d6#ht_500wt_1154

 

[Straight Arrow]

The carbon steel blades of yesteryear were certainly capable of delivering a good shave but could not have afforded the same kind of smooth glide as modern coated stainless blades can. Does that mean that shaving was not pleasurable then? Not necessarily. I have used many different vintage carbon steel blades and there are some that perform quite well. Yes there is some tugging and pulling. I also get that from the modern carbon steel blades that Treet makes. That doesn't diminish my shaving pleasure. It's just a different kind of shaving experience.

 

[Boba Fett]

I'm wondering if there was an unavoidable inherent weakness in the carbon steel blades. Given the size and thickness (or lack of it, really), I am curious to know if these blades could be properly tempered, like a sword. Perhaps the edges of these blades were slightly brittle--not enough to see chips or cracks in the blade, but enough so that it could suffer some microscopic chips during shipping, handling, or shaving. If so, I wonder if they would be significant enough to produce a relatively poor shave.

I have always wanted to take a bunch of different blades and put them under and electron microscope, and get a really good look at those blade edges; I'm thinking we could get an even better idea of what are blade edges look like, based and what pictures we do have of the blade edge. If I could secure some time with a microscope for personal use, I might do this and try and get some pictures of as many blades as possible.

 

[Thebigspendur]

Funny post. Modern blades whether stainless or not are way poorer in quality than vintage types. The only reason modern blades appear to be better is because of the coatings. The coating are a crutch to allow the manufacture of inferior blades. Take the coating off and see what happens. When Wilkensen came out with the first stainless blades back in the 60s they advertised you could get 10 shaves minimum per blade and you could. The Gillette Blues were designed for one shave and one shave only and they shaved fine.

 

[jpkunst]

I wasn't there myself, but I have heard people say that shaving wasn't much fun until the advent of stainless steel blades.

 

[Blondie]

Funny post. Modern blades whether stainless or not are way poorer in quality than vintage types. The only reason modern blades appear to be better is because of the coatings. The coating are a crutch to allow the manufacture of inferior blades. Take the coating off and see what happens. When Wilkensen came out with the first stainless blades back in the 60s they advertised you could get 10 shaves minimum per blade and you could. The Gillette Blues were designed for one shave and one shave only and they shaved fine.

When I was referring to "modern" blades, I was not necessarily referring to Derby, or even Feather. I was thinking more along the lines of Gillette Super Stainless, or any of the stainless blades produced at the peak of "DE" shaving. I have used the super stainless, and they are SUPER smooth. Work great in my adjustables, but I still need a feather in my Red Tip.