A little pet project I am toying with

I am going to unwrap the blades and glue them next to the wrapper, and the box cover if I have it. They will be glued to the cardstock and put in a glassed picture frame to hang in my den, maybe next to my shave shelf. I had just sourced a vintage frame and was cleaning up the smoke stained glass.

I figured after almost 5 yrs of giving away vintage blades I decided to keep them to do something like this. Even if I dont fill out the cardstock I can hang it partially finished and continue collecting blades I dont have, and dismount it and glue on some more.

This here was just an initial layout. I got lucky too. I was thinking it woult be nice to have some 3-hole Gillette blades to round this out. As I was laying out the blades I noticed that somebody, years ago, put new or used Gillette 3-hole blades in a non-Gillette wrapper. They must not have had a blade bank or they were saving them to strop later.

What a great idea.

That would be interesting to see.

That would be interesting to see.

+1

Wrappers opened and boxes cut. Laid out in a semi organized fashion.

All glued in.

The completed product. Glassed, framed, and on the wall.

I learned, and relearned alot on this project. It was almost like archeology, finding clues and connecting the dots to explain the past and the present.

Starting with the 3 hole Gillettes, every one of the wrappers and the blades were labeled with "no stropping, no honing". Even then Gillette was keen on reinforcing the fact that you could only get a sharp blade from buying new ones. Not to mention the fact these blades were thick as hell. If there ever was a DE blade that could be stropped or honed, it would be these puppies. Maybe thats why those circular stroppers were such a great idea?
I have probly 15-20 of these 3 hole Gillettes in their wrappers. I didnt know they were 3 hole till I started to look in each and every tuck. Some were still in their wax paper and some werent. Those that werent I think were obviously used, evidenced by the fact some of them had a light pencil "x" on the wrapper. I believe the original owner of these blades intended to strop or hone them when he ran out of sharp ones. (who here has ever considered that?) Some of the blades were still concave from being mounted in the Old Type they were surely used in. In one of the Gillette wrappers I found a 3 hole "Rubie Superfine". I am positive it is vintage but this is the first evidence I have held in my hand that another blade mfr actually committed copyright infringement by producing a blade of their own for the Gillette razor. We all know that Gillette will ride the patent horse till every last dime is wrung from it. In my Gillette research I never heard of them taking another company to court for copyright infringement, but I sure this company was threatened by Gillette.
I really really dig vintage wrapper design and artistry. I am not a philatelist (stamp collector) but I can admire the reasons behind it. The vintage art is so much more visually appealing that current wrappers. If I were walking through a 1950 dimestore shopping for a decent blade, what would catch my eye and sell me on its properties? The blade maker knows they might only have a few seconds of your time to reel you in. I know this scenario doesnt play out in this day and age as we internet shop for our blades. But I wish that wouldnt stop them.
My favorite vintage wrappers would have to be the Cheerio, Don Juan, Crescent, and Craftsman. Oddly, the stamping on the Cheerio blade was purposely misspelled as if they didnt have small enough typeset to stamp them. Instead it reads "Chirio". Of the current production wrappers I would have to say I like the Bic wrapper. Bright and well plastered with their logo leaving no doubt as to the maker.
Then there is the sales pitch and marketing that is printed on them. I think the most over used sales pitch is "Swedish Steel". Now I will concede that there was probly a time in our history when metal from a specific country was superior to all others. But I have to believe that somewhere about the time we put a monkey is space, drawing on our collective bronze age technology, we figured out how to blend certain metals together to create a alloy just like the Swedes. But lo and behold, the crappiest blade in my collage (Rockwell Blades) purports to be of Swedish Steel. Ugh.
But others were just plain goofy in retrospect, which is what I love about them. The Crescent blades claim to be "Inspected individually under new Neon Light Process". The Shamrock blade bills itself as the "Good Luck Shave". (Does that mean you are lucky if they give you a good shave?) The Craftsman blade states that they are so sharp that you shouldnt use any pressure, giving you a smoother and faster shave. Then Pal of course uses terminology from the straight razor days in stating their blades are "Hallow Ground". And my favorite is the Honey Blades give you a "Sweet Shave" One thing I wanted to add is that the Gillette wrappers, while cool in their own right, the original wax paper that wrapped the blade in the tuck, did have a design in it. Its the first time I have ever seen actual design in wax paper. It was very fine and almost indistinguishable. I had to hold it up to the light just to see it, and I still cant figure out what the designs were. Very impressive the amount of detail they went in to just for a disposable product, for 1915-1920 timeframe.
Then there is design. Being on the whiteboard you can really make them out. Just think of all the different proprietary razors made back then. Alot of these blades would fit multiple razors, not just Gillettes. Look at the Don Juan and the Pal blades. Their center section is gutted to fit the other razors of the period. Earlier I mentioned the Gillette 3 hole thickness. It was at this time I wished I had a digital micrometer just to verify the differences in 1915 and current production thicknesses. This would tell me and others how many blades I need to shim in my Old Types. Also, look at the Crescent blade. The tabs at the end of the blade are rounded. I really cant decide if that was a marketing ploy (as they are Crescent blades) or if there is true science behind that shape. I would like to think there is as every time I shave my head, the end tabs scrape past my ears and I have to pause for a sec and do a blood check. If current production blade mfrs made crescent blade tabs, would I scrape my ears every other night? One has to wonder...

It was a fun project. I hope you all enjoy. Now the search is on for more vintage blades

nice, I like it.