I've been wanting to pick up a vintage Oakley Blade lens to put on a pair of "Collectors/Heritage Razor Blades"(2014 re-release) and was wondering if vintage lenses are safe to use? Do they still retain their impact resistant properties (ANSI standard Z87.1) after all these years? I'm talking about NOS lenses of course.

From what I heard, the current Lifestyle frames don't meet the full impact ratings (so Collector Frogs are just as bad as vintage ones); only sport frames live up to the proper ANSI ratings.

My main concern would be the Iridium, if any, doesn't hold up well. I don't believe they get as brittle though since I've bent a few both on vintage Frogs and M Frames to get them to fit, and it's been fine.

I think it’s safe to use in terms of UV protection since it is built into polycarbonate, but I don’t know if a vintage Blade lens would retain the impact resistance it had 30 years ago. Every product has a shelf life, and 30 years is a long time. The shelf life would further be eroded if it was stored in conditions that would degrade the material through the years (such as extended UV exposure or high heat).

You guys make some very good points. So if I understand correctly the frame on the 2014 re-release razor blades are not ANSI rated, right?

My idea was to put a vintage clear blade lens on the 2014 re-release frame since the vintage frames are way too brittle/fragile to be worn.

I think theyre just as strong.. On some of my thirty year old eyeshade lenses - the beaten ones. Its almost impossible to pierce them, and pretty tuff to drill through also. Just tried the other day for a custom vented lens.

The inside coating can rub off easily though if theyve been well used.

You guys make some very good points. So if I understand correctly the frame on the 2014 re-release razor blades are not ANSI rated, right?

- pfour

Sports pairs like the Heritage RB meet or exceed ANSI Z87.1 from a marketing perspective but isn’t certified as safety glasses - the assumption is both the lenses and frame meet the standard. Other than the industrial and some SI stuff, Oakley products that claim to meet the ANSI Z87.1 standard aren’t officially rated/certified as safety glasses.

Ok thanks, I see what you're saying. The clear lenses were not offered as part of the heritage edition re-release, correct?

Correct.

I was browsing through the database and saw that some of the "Collectors Razor Blades" were released in 2010, does anyone have more info on them? I only knew about the 2005 and 2014 versions. I particularly like these with the black frame and white logo.

http://www.o-review.com/database_detail_colorway.php?ID=5278&table_name=glasses

In conjunction with the splatter RB re-released in collaboration with STPL (the first true splatter on a sunglass frame since the '90s....the splatter Hijinx wasn't really a splatter as we know it, and the EB Crowbar was, of course, a goggle), Oakley also did its own set of RB and Eyeshade re-release in 2010 to celebrate 35 years. I'm sure the link is somewhere in the "New Releases" thread, but you can see the media info here:

https://hypebeast.com/2010/9/1975-2010-history-of-oakley-one-icon-collection-oakley-original-models

Following that was the 2014 Heritage collection.

The 2005 RB was a new design, whereas the 2010 and 2014 was a proper re-release.

Many of the 2014 releases mirrored the colorways from the 2010 batch, but some had different colored logos. This was also when the Oki-ni Eyeshade came out. They were very limited.

Thanks for all the help guys, looks like I'm gonna have to do some serious eBay hunting for these! Is there any telltale sign to recognize the 2010-2014 frames from the vintage ones?

The 2010 ones had black logos, while most of the 2014 ones were colored to match the lens to a degree. The Black/Fire one shows this well.

Black/Fire:
2010: Black Logo
2014: Red Logo

White:
2010: Fire Iridium
2014: Violet Iridium

Red/Fire:
2010: Red Stems
2014: Black Stems

Other 2010 match the 2005 colorways:
Neon Yellow
Pink-Black

2014 match the other Heritage colorways:
Blue
Seafoam
Matte Clear

I may not have explained myself very well, what I meant to ask was how to recognize a 2010/2014 re-release frame from a true vintage one? To my untrained eye they look identical. I guess they may be stamped differently on the inside of the stems?

EDIT: Sorry for the confusion, I re-wrote the above as I mistakenly deleted my post whilst trying to edit it earlier.

Oops, there are probably some signs, but I'd have to look. I'm guessing the newer ones would have the Sku information stamped on the inside. And a larger asking price. Most vintage frames will be labeled as such since people would want more money. The 2014 ones were sold cheap at the vaults for ages, so there were a lot of those, and shouldn't be as expensive.