How long are DE blades usable for?

[Steelforge]

I recently bought a 1960's Lady Gillette on Ebay for my girlfriend. When it arrived there were 3 boxes of of 10x Israelli Personna blades included. The blades obviously are pretty recent, though there was a bit of dust on the top of one box indicating they'd been stored. The boxes are not cellophane sealed, but the blades are all in their wax paper wrappings and appear to be unopened.

Are these safe to use? If not I'll bin them and buy more, I'd just rather not waste 30 good blades if they're usable.

Thanks.

 

[Simpleminded Rob]

The blades that had a fairly short life were the carbon steel "blue blades" and that was mainly after they were installed in the razor. Stainless blades should pretty much have an indefinite shelf life. Why don't you give them a try and see? The only real problem would be if they had become too dull to serve, and you would know that after your first try!

 

[Navy Chief]

If they were stored properly they should have a pretty close if infinite shelf life.

 

[Steelforge]

Great, thanks guys. She can give them a try when she's used up my stock of Mach3 cartridges.

 

[fatpig]

She can give them a try when she's used up my stock of Mach3 cartridges.

You are an evil man.
Switch her to the DE now and flog your excess M3 blades on ebay. If the Mach3 is no longer good for you why should she pay for your mistakes ?
Offload the burden on some stranger.

 

[AACJ]

Or drop that sucker on the floor and step on it till its broken, then she can't/won't use it.

You are an evil man.
Switch her to the DE now and flog your excess M3 blades on ebay. If the Mach3 is no longer good for you why should she pay for your mistakes ?
Offload the burden on some stranger.

 

[Steelforge]

Well, for leg shaving the Fusion or Mach3 seems ok - or so she tells me. She happily uses either, and also grabs a DE from time to time, and she always seems to do a nice job without any particular preference.

We are trying to save money and cut down on unnecessary waste, so she's quite happy to use up my remaining Mach3/Fusion cartridges before switching to her DE. Which is fine by me if she's happy.