P74* The Immortal Blade

[awa54]

Back in mid January I put a Personna 74* (tungsten plus/coated) blade in my R89, it was a test subject, as there was a little surface rust on the blade and its companions in the pack... I wasn't expecting much. The first two or three shaves were a little more irritating than I have come to expect from the 74*, but it smoothed out nicely from there on. After the first month (used almost exclusively for 7 days a week) it started to feel a bit rough in the R89, so I "retired" it to only three or four days a week use and began swapping it around into different razors. Almost six months later it is still giving well above average shaves (closeness *and* comfort) in my blue tip flare, which seems to make the most of its capabilities. I intend to keep using it until it stops giving shaves that are as close as a new "conventional" blade or finally starts to feel harsh in the blue tip, whichever comes first.

These blades blow my mind!

 

[Toothpick]

I've got to try these blades! They are hard to come by for a decent price though.

 

[Sir Lurkalot]

Heh heh heh. Just what I've been preaching all along. The legend grows.

 

[TheVez2]

I've got to try these blades! They are hard to come by for a decent price though.

They can usually be found for around $1 a blade, last time I checked. That seems like a decent price for a blade that lasts 6 months. Compare that to a 30 cent feather blade that lasts less than a week.

 

[ShaveYourSoul]

Dang it...I knew I should have bought that P 74 injector lot I saw on the bay!

 

[Haggises]

I put a 74 injector blade into my Schick C in January. Got over 15 great shaves out of it. After leaving the razor alone for over a month I changed out the blade yesterday. other than a couple of water spots it looked brand spanking new. Incredible blade.

 

[ShaveYourSoul]

I put a 74 injector blade into my Schick C in January. Got over 15 great shaves out of it. After leaving the razor alone for over a month I changed out the blade yesterday. other than a couple of water spots it looked brand spanking new. Incredible blade.

Got any for sale?

 

[Haggises]

absolutely not!
I think I was lucky to get these on Amazon just before Sabbatical. That seller no longer sells 'em.

 

[jwilock]

I've got to try to find some 74 DEs. I've got a few packs of the injector blades and they are incredible. I don't do a full shave with my injector. Mostly use it under my nose where my large Merkur has a hard time reaching, and sometimes around the edges of my mouth. At that rate of use one of these injector blades can go months and still feel as good as when it was new.

 

[ShaveYourSoul]

absolutely not!
I think I was lucky to get these on Amazon just before Sabbatical. That seller no longer sells 'em.

Well, it was worth a shot

 

[Toothpick]

They can usually be found for around $1 a blade, last time I checked. That seems like a decent price for a blade that lasts 6 months. Compare that to a 30 cent feather blade that lasts less than a week.

I have yet to see them at that price. and that is a decent price for sure!

I check the bay once a week maybe. I'm just waiting until I have the extra funds to spend.

 

[Dalejr]

Someone got a steal over the weekend, I wish it had been me. http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Vintage-Gillette-Blade-Razors-Travel-Home-with-100-Blades-Personna-74-/321148058367?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ac5ea7aff&nma=true&si=%252FrEPTGV4X1HmtZBOQ2QHMsxJ%252FxM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

[Toothpick]

Someone got a steal over the weekend, I wish it had been me. http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Vintage-Gillette-Blade-Razors-Travel-Home-with-100-Blades-Personna-74-/321148058367?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ac5ea7aff&nma=true&si=%252FrEPTGV4X1HmtZBOQ2QHMsxJ%252FxM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Maybe I should start checking the bay once a day!

 

[awa54]

Someone got a steal over the weekend, I wish it had been me

I'll say! even if all of the 10 packs are uncoated, that was a crazy deal!

my ebay search that's supposed to catch all of these auctions must need some fine tuning, since I didn't get wind of this until you posted it here congrats to the auction winner!

 

[mblakele]

Tomorrow I plan to use a P74 blade for the first time. This seems like the most active recent thread on the topic, so I hope it is a good place to post.

The blade is from a five-pack with the NFL locker room text, no UPC bar code, price tag 89 cents marked down to "Fay's Price" 74 cents. The pictures are not all they could be, but I hope I caught all the relevant details.



Removing a blade was somewhat difficult: I have never had this much trouble with old Gillette or Schick blade packs. I am fairly sure I did not damage the edge, but it was tricky. I see something on the blade surface that might have once lubricated the blades, but not anymore.



Why the mark on the blade? Why look at the edge under a microscope? Well, like Mantic I find that a quality blade lasts longer if cleaned after each shave. I am very lazy about this: I just strop the blade in the razor, on my jeans or on a towel. Looking at new and used blade edges under a microscope confirms that gunk builds up on the blade shave, and stropping removes most of it. The blade still gets dull eventually, but many blades seem to last twice as long. So I think we often throw out blades that feel dull or rough, but are really just gunked up.

Is the P74 different? Folks report weeks of good shaves, without any special effort. Does something about the blade resists the fouling I have observed on other blades? I plan to leave this blade unstropped, and see what happens. Depending on how that works out I might then try stropping, and see if that helps.

So I marked the blade with a sharpie, then imaged the same area with a cheap USB microscope. I should be able to find the same area again, to see how much gunk has stuck to the blade. The marked side will be the cap side of the blade when used. The razor will be a Made in England long-comb NEW head on a BRW Bull Mastiff handle.

 

[The Dean]

Tomorrow I plan to use a P74 blade for the first time. This seems like the most active recent thread on the topic, so I hope it is a good place to post.

The blade is from a five-pack with the NFL locker room text, no UPC bar code, price tag 89 cents marked down to "Fay's Price" 74 cents. The pictures are not all they could be, but I hope I caught all the relevant details.



Removing a blade was somewhat difficult: I have never had this much trouble with old Gillette or Schick blade packs. I am fairly sure I did not damage the edge, but it was tricky. I see something on the blade surface that might have once lubricated the blades, but not anymore.



Why the mark on the blade? Why look at the edge under a microscope? Well, like Mantic I find that a quality blade lasts longer if cleaned after each shave. I am very lazy about this: I just strop the blade in the razor, on my jeans or on a towel. Looking at new and used blade edges under a microscope confirms that gunk builds up on the blade shave, and stropping removes most of it. The blade still gets dull eventually, but many blades seem to last twice as long. So I think we often throw out blades that feel dull or rough, but are really just gunked up.

Is the P74 different? Folks report weeks of good shaves, without any special effort. Does something about the blade resists the fouling I have observed on other blades? I plan to leave this blade unstropped, and see what happens. Depending on how that works out I might then try stropping, and see if that helps.

So I marked the blade with a sharpie, then imaged the same area with a cheap USB microscope. I should be able to find the same area again, to see how much gunk has stuck to the blade. The marked side will be the cap side of the blade when used. The razor will be a Made in England long-comb NEW head on a BRW Bull Mastiff handle.

Looking forward to the results.

 

[awa54]

Removing a blade was somewhat difficult: I have never had this much trouble with old Gillette or Schick blade packs. I am fairly sure I did not damage the edge, but it was tricky. I see something on the blade surface that might have once lubricated the blades, but not anymore.

I had the same problem with my last batch of the closely related Super Platinum Chrome blades, the way I dealt with it was to carefully remove the metal top plate from the dispenser and put the stuck blades in a plastic container filled with denatured (rubbing will probably work fine as well) alcohol, after just a brief soak the blades came free from each other and I was able to put them back in the dispenser after letting the alcohol evaporate.

 

[mblakele]

I had the same problem with my last batch of the closely related Super Platinum Chrome blades, the way I dealt with it was to carefully remove the metal top plate from the dispenser and put the stuck blades in a plastic container filled with denatured (rubbing will probably work fine as well) alcohol, after just a brief soak the blades came free from each other and I was able to put them back in the dispenser after letting the alcohol evaporate.

How did you remove the top plate? I thought it ought to pop out if I gently pushed the plastic side rails apart, but either I did not apply enough force or that is not the right approach.

We have a wiki page Refilling_Razor_Blade_Slider_Packs for this topic, but it does not cover Personna yet.

EDIT: I was not using enough force. The wiki page now has photos of the process.

 

[jwilock]

The old Gillette Bleue Extras are almost impossible to get out. Different people have made suggestions none of which has worked particularly well for me. I once cut one of the dispensers apart to see what was up. The 10 blades were all stuck pretty solidly to each other. The GBEs are right near the top of my favvorite blades to use. They're just such a pain in the butt to get out of the dispenser that I don't use them as often as I probably should. I've got 150, maybe more, just sitting on a shelf right now.

 

[mblakele]

The old Gillette Bleue Extras are almost impossible to get out. Different people have made suggestions none of which has worked particularly well for me. I once cut one of the dispensers apart to see what was up. The 10 blades were all stuck pretty solidly to each other. The GBEs are right near the top of my favvorite blades to use. They're just such a pain in the butt to get out of the dispenser that I don't use them as often as I probably should. I've got 150, maybe more, just sitting on a shelf right now.

Maybe something to do with storage conditions? My GBE blades are no trouble. I think they are mostly V-2 and V-3, if that makes any difference.

Those GBE packs should be easy to take apart. The design is similar to the metal Spoiler packs, but if anything even easier to dismantle. Just slide a thumbnail into either of the long seams along the back, pulling gently. At the same time push gently on the blades through the window in front. The top and bottom will separate, and there are your blades.

Because of the way the blades are stacked, a little flexing should separate them. Then you can carefully restack them and push the cover back into place.