Abstract: A device for removing a surgical blade from a scalpel handle includes a housing having an aperture. A surgical blade attached to a boss of the handle is inserted into the aperture. The boss is pressed downward into a narrow notch in the wall surrounding the aperture so that the edges of the notch engage the shank of the blade, preventing it from being moved into the notch with the boss and separating the shank of the blade from the rear portion of the boss. Two spring loaded pinch members extend from within the aperture so that they can be pinched together by the fingers of a user and engage the opposed edges of the blade, preventing it from moving as the handle is pulled away from the blade, causing the boss to become disengaged from the blade and withdrawn from an elongated hole in the shank of the blade. When the pinch members are released, the blade falls to the bottom of the interior of the housing, which serves as a receptacle.