Shaving with old king gillette blades

[D/E Bob]

Good afternoon Gent's...............

I just received the Gillette Tech Razor (circa 1940's ) I won on E-bay in its original packaging, and it came with a box of the original blue box of the "King Gillette" razor blades. Has anybody actually shaved with one of these 60 + year old blades? I have not opened the package yet, as I am looking for advise from you guys. Should I just leave them as is and use them as part of my new collection? Thanks in advance for the advise.

Regards,
D/E Bob

 

[michiganlover]

General Consensus says to not bother trying to shave with these old blades.

They are made of un-coated carbon steel, and at the best will provide for a very rough shave. The original Gillette blades were not of very good quality (especially by today's standards), and the edge has further degraded over time.

Leave them as a collectors item.

 

[D/E Bob]

Yea..........
That's kinda what I thought, but I figured I would ask. Sometimes the older stuff is better than the newer stuff, but I suppose in this case with better steels, better technology and better coatings, the old blades would probably seem "crude" by today's standards.

Thank you!

Regards,
D/E Bob

 

[Topgumby]

I'm not so sure that the blades were bad at the time. I'm thinking that time has been bad to the blades. as Michiganlover points out.

I think our stuff now on average is better, but the the main complaint about blades from the contemporary accounts I've read was longevity, not initial quality.