First picture is what is for sale,, the other pictures are design ideas for you..................
First picture is what is for sale,, the other pictures are design ideas for you..................Razor blade has been dulled to protect the builder.Gillette Blue Blade Crystal Radio Detector
During WW2 the boys on the front used this blue razor blade idea that Cornell came up with
to listen in on the news and music.
Gillette came up with an idea to blue coat his blades to keep them from rusting
and as it turns out they rectify because of it with the combination of the carbon pencil lead.
Must have been a stroke of genius on Cornell\'s part to think of such a wild idea.In practice the way it works is you move the pencil lead over the lettering and the stations start coming in
and it just about works like a galena detector of the 1910 era because when you move the lead around you
can sometimes change stations or make the one you want clearer.
I personally built the blade radio in 1957 and again in 1962 for an electronic class project.
When I went to the Library one day i was looking around at electronic books and ran onto
a book on how to build the razor blade radio. could have been written by Cornell I don\'t know
I latched onto it and knew I could build it, it was fun!.The razor blade supplied is a genuine 1960\'s blade made the same way as used by
Cornell to build his radio.
As can be seen in the second picture the lead is wrapped on with
silver plated copper wire and super glued to the safety pin and with
care should last a lifetime.

For a clip i made on how to assemble the razor blade detector go to you in this kit
1 razor blade
1 safety pin with pencil lead attached
2 washers... Update: 3 brass washers supplied
3 needed to make this a working radio

• A 300uh coil like 60 to 100 turns on a 3\" diameter form.
• pair of headphones or a high impedance crystal earphone.
• piece of wood like in the clip 6X7X3/8 or 1/2\"
• 12\"X1/8\" brass rod used as a swipe on the coil to tune the radio
• 60 to 100 feet of wire for an antenna
• more screws and brass binding posts like i have on another page
• or you can buy some fanstock clips.
  

• a ground to a metal water By USPS first class mail.
  

  If you buy more than one kit shipping will be adjusted
  

  Thanks for looking

  Rich

  Helpful links

  To automatically design your coil go a clip i made on how to assemble the razor blade detector go to you web