- Thread starter
- #21
Wow, very nice!
Let us know how it shaves. Hey Dave, any chance you have a position open for a research assistant? I could help run "field tests" on all those sweet GEMs you seem to come up with
Week of 1912?
- Thread starter MrGuy
- Start date
Wow, very nice!
Let us know how it shaves. Hey Dave, any chance you have a position open for a research assistant? I could help run "field tests" on all those sweet GEMs you seem to come up with
Hey Dave, any chance you have a position open for a research assistant? I could help run "field tests" on all those sweet GEMs you seem to come up with
hahaha. mr. mikeyk has that position on lockdown at the moment
- Thread starter
- #23
hahaha. mr. mikeyk has that position on lockdown at the moment
How about an intern for the summer?
hahahahaha 
I was watching both of those lather catchers too. Oh well, maybe next time.
Interesting contest between the 1912 Junior and the Micromatic. I have shaved with both quite a bit and cannot determine a definitely superior razor. Every time a shave with the 1912 and say, yeah, that's the better of the two, I turn around and have an absolute shavegasm the next day with the Micromatic. I'd have to call that a dead heat but I do like the heft of the Micromatic and the light nimble feeling of the 1912 (I have the fat bakelite handle model). All in all, I'd say they are the perfect matched set. I've never been disappointed by either.
- Thread starter
- #27
I have to agree that both the 1912 models and the Micromatics are in my top 5, but the MM has a firm hold on 1st place, at least for one more day...
Day 2 down. Played a little with the angle. I'm thinking I might get better results if I hold the head a little "flatter" than I do with the Micromatics. Less blood than yesterday, which at to say almost none, but still more than I'm used to. About as smooth. Still a slight all over irritation. That's the one thing I can't seem to get over when ever I have used the pat. 1912s. I think I'd get a closer shave if I didn't notice the irritation, I probably back off a little too much because of it. Over all, good shave tho.
In an unrelated story, I'm off to work a little early due to the heavy snow fall, AGAIN!!!
- Thread starter
- #28
Day 3 in the books. It does help to keep the head flatter against the skin than with a Micromatic. I'm pleased to announce, first 1912 shave with absolutely no blood! For some reason I still got a minor irritation. Nothing visible, just a slight "tingle" all over. It goes away fast at least. Maybe tomorrow I'll switch to a new Walgreen's GEM blade. Bottom line after day 3, still prefer the Micromatc
I'll jump in on this thread since I started SE shaving with a new to me 1912 Wednesday.
Wednesday's shave was abnormal because I shaved in the late afternoon instead of the morning. So I had more growth than normal. I loaded up a fresh Gem blade from Walgreens and started in. In the end, I had a bunch of weepers between my lower lip and chin and a couple other random spots. Nothing horrible, and it cleaned up with a little witch haze/alcohol mix. The shave was pretty close, but I was left with a pretty tender face.
Thursday morning I debated whether or not to shave. Not much had emerged after about 14 hours. But I decided it was a great opportunity to practice touch-ups. This turned out to be a bit of a mistake. I should have just gone through my normal routine as I had more growth than I originally thought. Again, the result was a close shave, but I still had some tenderness. Not as much as Wednesday, but it was noticeable.
This morning I debated whether or not to continue the experiment. I thought it might be nice to let things clear up for a couple days and then hit it fresh again on Monday. But I couldn't resist. I think the main reason I decided to give it one more go was that all of the tenderness was gone and my beard felt normal for a morning shave. That is, I had the same amount of growth I normally do, so I should be able to go through my normal routine. I took my time and focused on the blade angle and it really paid off. I'm pretty sure the tenderness I was getting from the other two shaves was because I was using an angle of attack that was too steep. This morning I held the razor so that the head was just raised off my face - almost flat. This made a big difference. I had a very close shave and any irritation was taken away with a cold water rinse. I also noticed that the SE razor doesn't leave the slight redness that I usually get with a DE razor. Nice side effect.
It took me a little while to get the blade angle right because the orientation of the head on the 1912 is so much different than I'm used to with any of my DE razors. With the 1912 I had to hold the handle much closer to perpendicular to my face than with any of my DE razors.
In the end, I was really impressed with the results. However, much to my surprise, my family only gave it 'good' marks. Normally, my boys (5 and 7) are really tough. If they find anything, they'll let me know. So I didn't let their assessments get me down. I still thought it was pretty good. But then my wife even gave it a very good, but not your best kind of rating. Maybe I'm just proud that I tamed the 1912 and I really like the nostalgia effect of using a razor that's so old. But I thought it was one of my closest shaves yet.
So, will this be my daily shaver? Probably not. Not because it wasn't effective or because it wasn't comfortable enough. Mostly because it does take more effort and is difficult to work in some areas. But I will continue to use it for those special occasions where I have a little extra time and want to use the coolest looking razor in my den.
~Jeff
who is not sure if he's going to try a Treet blade in his 1912 tomorrow or give his new I1 injector a virgin run with a fresh Ted Pella
Wednesday's shave was abnormal because I shaved in the late afternoon instead of the morning. So I had more growth than normal. I loaded up a fresh Gem blade from Walgreens and started in. In the end, I had a bunch of weepers between my lower lip and chin and a couple other random spots. Nothing horrible, and it cleaned up with a little witch haze/alcohol mix. The shave was pretty close, but I was left with a pretty tender face.
Thursday morning I debated whether or not to shave. Not much had emerged after about 14 hours. But I decided it was a great opportunity to practice touch-ups. This turned out to be a bit of a mistake. I should have just gone through my normal routine as I had more growth than I originally thought. Again, the result was a close shave, but I still had some tenderness. Not as much as Wednesday, but it was noticeable.
This morning I debated whether or not to continue the experiment. I thought it might be nice to let things clear up for a couple days and then hit it fresh again on Monday. But I couldn't resist. I think the main reason I decided to give it one more go was that all of the tenderness was gone and my beard felt normal for a morning shave. That is, I had the same amount of growth I normally do, so I should be able to go through my normal routine. I took my time and focused on the blade angle and it really paid off. I'm pretty sure the tenderness I was getting from the other two shaves was because I was using an angle of attack that was too steep. This morning I held the razor so that the head was just raised off my face - almost flat. This made a big difference. I had a very close shave and any irritation was taken away with a cold water rinse. I also noticed that the SE razor doesn't leave the slight redness that I usually get with a DE razor. Nice side effect.
It took me a little while to get the blade angle right because the orientation of the head on the 1912 is so much different than I'm used to with any of my DE razors. With the 1912 I had to hold the handle much closer to perpendicular to my face than with any of my DE razors.
In the end, I was really impressed with the results. However, much to my surprise, my family only gave it 'good' marks. Normally, my boys (5 and 7) are really tough. If they find anything, they'll let me know. So I didn't let their assessments get me down. I still thought it was pretty good. But then my wife even gave it a very good, but not your best kind of rating. Maybe I'm just proud that I tamed the 1912 and I really like the nostalgia effect of using a razor that's so old. But I thought it was one of my closest shaves yet.
So, will this be my daily shaver? Probably not. Not because it wasn't effective or because it wasn't comfortable enough. Mostly because it does take more effort and is difficult to work in some areas. But I will continue to use it for those special occasions where I have a little extra time and want to use the coolest looking razor in my den.
~Jeff
who is not sure if he's going to try a Treet blade in his 1912 tomorrow or give his new I1 injector a virgin run with a fresh Ted Pella
- Thread starter
- #30
Hey Jeff, good to see another guy start on the SE journey. Keep trying out more blades and SE razors. When I started SE shaving with the Micromatics, I could only handle two days in a row before I needed to break out the Gillette Tech for a few shaves and give my face a break. I could go for months now with the Micromatic, we'll see how long I can hold out with the 1912
BTW, As a "tribute" to 1OldGI, I just set out my fat handle pat. 1912 GEM Jr. for tomorrow's shave.
BTW, As a "tribute" to 1OldGI, I just set out my fat handle pat. 1912 GEM Jr. for tomorrow's shave.
My second shave with the 1912 was just fine, no nicks or cuts but not a close shave either.
My third shave wasn't very close, felt the blade starting to drag, missed a few spots. Starting to think I need a more aggressive SE, or a sharper blade.
For my fourth, I thought I'd try to strop the blade, but like everytime I have tried that, it seemed to make the blade worse, so I started with a new blade.
I got a couple of weepers, probably because I used too much pressure because the last shave was not very close. Of course today has a new blade so I shouldn't have needed to use more pressure. So a couple of weepers, but the closest shave I've had with the GEM.
edit: Also I tried building a lather that I read in the forums (dry brush, wet soap method). I think I might have been too dry for me, I usually make my lather on the wetter foamier side that peaks on the face, rather than the thicker pancake makeup style that gets pasted level and flat on the face.
This is the older gem head which was more flat, I have a newer pat 1912 that has the more curved head and I might give that a go and try the personna blades next week.
My third shave wasn't very close, felt the blade starting to drag, missed a few spots. Starting to think I need a more aggressive SE, or a sharper blade.
For my fourth, I thought I'd try to strop the blade, but like everytime I have tried that, it seemed to make the blade worse, so I started with a new blade.
I got a couple of weepers, probably because I used too much pressure because the last shave was not very close. Of course today has a new blade so I shouldn't have needed to use more pressure. So a couple of weepers, but the closest shave I've had with the GEM.
edit: Also I tried building a lather that I read in the forums (dry brush, wet soap method). I think I might have been too dry for me, I usually make my lather on the wetter foamier side that peaks on the face, rather than the thicker pancake makeup style that gets pasted level and flat on the face.
This is the older gem head which was more flat, I have a newer pat 1912 that has the more curved head and I might give that a go and try the personna blades next week.
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whats your blade stropping routine?
I did it with DEs like your video and I didn't get anything out of it, normally the blades were worse after trying to hand strop them.
So for this SE blade, I didn't do it on the edge of my palm because that hasn't worked before, but I tried 3 passes each side on a rolls leather strop pad.
So for this SE blade, I didn't do it on the edge of my palm because that hasn't worked before, but I tried 3 passes each side on a rolls leather strop pad.
if your hand didnt work the rolls most likely wont either.
well, sometimes it works, sometimes it dosent. it could be that particular blade or it just might be something that dosent work for you.
well, sometimes it works, sometimes it dosent. it could be that particular blade or it just might be something that dosent work for you.
Do I understand you correctly? All 1912s do not have the same head geometry? I know the first ones had open combs (rather than closed), but if there are other differences, some comparison photos would be helpful for identification purposes.
-Clarke
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- Thread starter
- #36
I attempted to post some pics of the two different heads in this thread. They didn't come out all that clear, but I think you might get the idea.
Andy,
Sorry I missed that post. Your photos are definitely helpful. I just checked my 1912s. They're all flat headed. So, was it the early 1912s that had curved heads, later ones as Pablo said, or was it something ASR tried for just a while?
-Clarke
Sorry I missed that post. Your photos are definitely helpful. I just checked my 1912s. They're all flat headed. So, was it the early 1912s that had curved heads, later ones as Pablo said, or was it something ASR tried for just a while?
-Clarke
- Thread starter
- #38
Fourth shave down. I would say it was the best 1912 shave to date. No blood, and I'm going to have to give this one the full BBS approval. I did switch over to the fat handle model, but kept the Pella blade for the fourth go. Also, no irritation this time. I was able go a little more aggressive with the tough up passes due to the lack of irritation, that led to the full on BBS I'm thinking. I feel like I had to put in more effort to reach BBS then when compared to the MM, but the results were worth it.
Clarke, I don't think I ever got a solid answer on the time line of the GEM heads. It seems like based on the open comb 1912 comparison of the curved top and coarser threads that they were earlier models, but I'm not quite sure.
Clarke, I don't think I ever got a solid answer on the time line of the GEM heads. It seems like based on the open comb 1912 comparison of the curved top and coarser threads that they were earlier models, but I'm not quite sure.
The flat head one came in a covered wood case, has the "use only damaskeene blades" stamp inside and "gem cutlery co" stamping on the back.
The curved head one comes in a metal case, fancier handle and just has "gem brooklyn new york" inside, and nothing on the back.
Due to the type of box and the stamping on it, I always thought my flat head razor is older than my curved head one.
The curved head one comes in a metal case, fancier handle and just has "gem brooklyn new york" inside, and nothing on the back.
Due to the type of box and the stamping on it, I always thought my flat head razor is older than my curved head one.
A razor that reads "Gem Cutlery Co. New York" is likely pre 1920. Gem Cutlery Co changed to Gem Safety Razor Co (and started stamping the razors with "Gem" only) at a point after World War I. The earlier heads have the more pronounced, curved "bird beak" like shape. The later ones are more flattish and stamped looking. IMHO, the earlier GEM Damaskene razors are much more attractive than the later model Gems that had fancy handles to detract from the cheaper looking heads and thinner plating. Ask Corky Irving the date that Gem moved into Brooklyn; he has a "not before" date for a razor so marked. It is interesting that my 1912 open-comb has a smaller knurled handle than it's post 1912 counterparts. I thought the whole razor was smaller until Corky Irving pointed out that it was the handle.
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