In fact, very little is known, but it is expected that the book will predictably dwell on those archaeologists who work in the blazing sun, gently brushing grains of sand off some completely indistinguishable artifact that will, with more analysis, refute, or confirm a way of life that occurred at least several hundred years ago, but more likely several thousand years ago.
Whoever finds something by leveraging a black crow bar alongside a bathroom medicine chest (c. 1910) and exposing a wall and its studs will probably not be included. This urban archaeologist might be doing a remodeling project in their bathroom, or that of another homeowner who has hired them out to do some work for them.
Thus, when someone doing this work finds a trove of single edge razor blades behind the medicine chest, resting on one of the "cats" between the studs, their discovery will surely not be included in the forthcoming book. Nor will they. Science and mankind is hardly advanced by the discovery of dulled metal that was once applied to someone's face that made them less threatening, and therefore kissable.
Given this expected omission, it will attempted here to theorize about these razor blades. Turns out, theory will have little to do with it. Plumbers, carpenters and electricians who routinely may be the ones popping crows bars into walls alongside medicine chests report that it is common to find used razor blades behind the chests and in the walls. There was a slot in the medicine chest for just this purpose: to dispose of used razor blades.
My own early memory of what my father used to shave with begins with the Gillette Blue Blades, which were double-sided, and came in a dispenser that you held your thumb against to slide the blade out, and into a waiting razor head. When the blade was felt to be used up, there was a slot on the back of the same dispenser that the blade could be safely guided into. When all the new blades were used and disposed of in the back of the dispenser, the entire dispenser could be discarded safely, with no razor blade edges exposed.
Disposable double edge blue blades were an advance over the prior single edge blades that were used in what were called "safety razors." It is these single edge blades that could wind up behind medicine chests. Single edge blades now only seem to be good for scraping paint off windows, and perhaps arts and crafts.
My own era of shaving started about the time Yogi Berra could be seen jumping into a pitcher's arms after winning the World Series. Gillette and baseball, and boxing, went hand-in-hand. There was always a World Series "fact" booklet that came out around the time of the World Series. Considering the success of the Yankees in that era, it was really a Yankee highlight book.
Blue Blades, despite their advertised advance of providing a smooth shave, seemed to be anything but. Shaving was no fun when your face seemed to be scraped with broken beer bottle glass. Of course, shaving has advanced, likely due to NASA engineers getting jobs with Gillette. I suspect there might be an entire exhibition in the Smithsonian about shaving. I once saw something there about paint brushes, so it's a good bet.
A recent mixed gender domestic gathering of Home Depot people shared the news about the discovery of the ancient metal lodged in the wall. One woman did know about the slot in the medicine chests. Another person offered that when the bathrooms were redone in their 1923 house in Flushing, there was no memory of blades being found. No slot was ever thought to exist, either.
Another offered a bit of incredulity to the whole story, thinking that the practice would seem impractical: wouldn't the spot behind the medicine chest get filled up with blades?
This seems highly unlikely. Given that studs are separated 16" on center and that a "cat" would be positioned far enough down to create an air space of a cubic foot or so, design for "overflow," or emptying would seem unneeded.
After all, it was never going to happen that school bus loads of Hasidic men would pull up to a home and all shave at once and change blades.
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