The Strange Evolution Of Personna 74* Packaging

[ras120]

I find it kind of odd that ASR (American Safety Razor) essentially made their "super blade" invisible by changing the packaging over the years, but, for whatever reason, that's exactly what they did.

As you can see in the first picture, ASR clearly touted the fact that their blades were alloyed with tungsten all over the packaging and dispenser with the Personna 74* and Tungsten Plus wording (there was also a package with a banner across the dispenser that said Tungsten Steel). Then, in the second picture, the dispenser remained the same, but the package was printed with the words Super Platinum Chrome Blades. In the third picture, both package and dispenser say Super Platinum Chrome Blades, but the back of the package clearly says that the blades are alloyed with platinum, tungsten, and chrome, and the blade itself is marked Personna 74* and Tungsten Plus -- so they are the real deal. The strangest ones are in the last picture with the same wording as before on the back of the package (with newer striped design on front and touting Comfort Coated), but the blades have no wording other than MADE IN U.S.A. You also see that the last ones have a date of 1995 on the back, so the 74* blades appear to have been made for a longer period of time than was perhaps originally believed.

FIRST PACKAGING


SECOND PACKAGING


THIRD PACKAGING




FOURTH PACKAGING

 

[ateace]

The plot tungstens....

Very interesting. Thanks for this.

 

[kingfisher]

Maybe at the time there was some kind of negative publicity about tungsten?

 

[SilverKarn]

Maybe at the time there was some kind of negative publicity about tungsten?

I dont know, but if ANY company made some tungsten blades on par with the Personna 74 i'm fairly certain that everyone on these boards would purchase in bulk for the shaveocalypse.

 

[haiti222]

ASR continued to have some tungsten in the blades. The other aspect of the P74 that was dropped after the buyout was the use of the titanium coating. It was switched to platinum.

 

[mattface]

I think the value of the Tungsten in the Alloy was up played for marketing reasons. I know they were great blades, but I'm not sure the pressence of Tungsten in the alloy was as big a part of it as early Personna Advertising made out. THat said I'm thinking their marketing department didn't see any advantage in adverising the Tungsten as an element in the alloy after a certain point, probably for the same reason they didn't see any advantage in advertising the nickel in the alloy, every element of the alloy serves a purpose, but in the end what you get is steel, and most consumers don't care what the individual elements are, they just care how well it works. If the Personna 74 had been around for a decade, folks already knew how they performed, people chose to buy them based upon their reputation, more than marketing hype.

 

[goby]

When I sold some P74s, someone asked to see the back of the package to determine which blade was in the package.

This person seemed to think the blade actually changed.

And check this out. This is a "new" blade that I've found on the internet. I wonder if there are P74s in them?

 

[SB1831]

Sorry but no. If you read the back of the newer packs you'll see that the regular Personna blades "start with the finest stainless steel available." Personna 74's were a tungsten steal blade with a titanium coating not the platinum, tungsten, chrome coating on the newer blades.

 

[Aaron622]

Here's another style of packaging (photo credit Stubblefield):

Note that these are called Tungsten Steel as opposed to Tungsten Plus.

 

[haiti222]

The Tungsten Plus was the last couple years of the run (maybe 75-77?). I went through google news archive and posted on B&B when the P74+ came out and when the transition blade came out, IIRC.

http://www.badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=134614

http://shavemyface.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45585&sid=0c80b0e8fb069aa7da843e67447a4edc

 

[michiganlover]

I am by no means an expert, but I would say only the first, and ( possibly) second packaging are truly Personna 74s.

There is a big difference between the blade being made of tungsten, and the blade edges being coated with tungsten (the first two packages show blades made of tungsten; all of the other packages are advertising just tungsten coating).

Derby blades have tungsten coating but they are nowhere near the quality of Personna 74's.

The other consideration, is that the second packaging may not truly contain Personna 74 blades either. Consider the possibility that Personna had printed a huge amount of blade holders that said "Personna 74" on them.

The Personna 74 idea quickly proved to not be very sound (if your object is to sell as many blades as possible, but you introduce a blade that lasts 4 times as long, you are effectively shooting yourself in the foot; unless you can charge a price premium).

What do you do with the extra Personna 74 printed blade cartridges? Toss them? Probably not, as they are still valuable to you. Refill them with your standard blades? Sure why not!!

 

[Koken]

I recently came across 10 packs of the pack in scan at a thrift store, I'm not sure if these are 74's or not but all I can say is these are the finest blades I have tried so far, over 10 shaves and still going strong. To have made a blade like this must have been so uneconomical, somebody must have wanted to make a point...

 

[Pkrankow]

It was the tungsten

When tungsten is alloyed in small quantities with steel, it greatly increases its hardness and forms tungsten steel that is stable at high temperatures. Tungsten steel is one of important high speed steels. High speed steel, an alloy that combines several metals, is used in high speed applications. Tungsten and molybdenum are two general metals in the combinations. Compared with tungsten carbide, tungsten steel has better flexibility. Tungsten steel alloys are widely used for the manufacture of high speed cutting tools such as taps, dies, twist drills, reamers, and saw blades, as well as rocket engine nozzles.

source
http://www.stanfordmaterials.com/tungsten-steel.html

Phil

 

[Stubblefield]

I recently came across 10 packs of the pack in scan at a thrift store, I'm not sure if these are 74's or not but all I can say is these are the finest blades I have tried so far, over 10 shaves and still going strong. To have made a blade like this must have been so uneconomical, somebody must have wanted to make a point...

Those are the 74 plus. The 74 and 74 plus both have a wider arrow printed on the blade.

The first packaging was cardboard and not blister packed, as pictured.

Thanks ras for posting this info--hopefully it might help those looking to try the 74 find a pack or 2.

 

[Maxime D.]

Hey guys, I just put my hands on 3 box of these, any thought ?

 

[Dalejr]

Hey guys, I just put my hands on 3 box of these, any thought ?

Wow, where did you manage to find 3 boxes if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Maxime D.]

Wow, where did you manage to find 3 boxes if you don't mind me asking?

Any good ? Because there a full carton where I find them.

 

[Dalejr]

Any good ? Because there a full carton where I find them.

I have a pack but have been busy testing other vintage blades so I can't comment on how good they are yet. Others seem to really like them though...

 

[Sir Lurkalot]

The originals were in the package with "Tungsten Steel" across the front in a diagonal band, none other. The originals were coated in titanium and it states so on the package, not vydex or other teflon/polymer coatings.

 

[Maxime D.]

The originals were in the package with "Tungsten Steel" across the front in a diagonal band, none other. The originals were coated in titanium and it states so on the package, not vydex or other teflon/polymer coatings.

The blade inside the second packaging are P74 branded and there is mention of Vydax behind the package, same goes for the thrid packaging. The SI and the PSI are not in the same packaging but they are still the same.