First Shaves with Gem Featherweight

I heard a lot of good reviews on the Gem Featherweight and I stumbled on a minty one at an antique store for 5 bucks. How could you go wrong?? Found some carbon steel blades at the local CVS and I was off and running.

My normal preshave routine is a hot shower with a facial scrub while the badger is soaking and then bowl lather with COB cream. With a fresh blade the razor performed as noted by most on this forum, smooth and clean with no cuts or irritation however the feedback from the razor was more pronounced that a DE and I had a 2 day growth. I achieved mostly dfs and bbs on face and chin. This little razor also sets itself nicely when it comes to blade angle and was easy and pleasureable to shave with. Took the blade out of the razor and wrapped it in a tissue after drying it off as I also heard it rusts quickly.

2nd shave 2 days later on a day and a half growth.... put the blade wrapped in tissue back in and followed my same routine. I could have shaved better with butter knife, terrible and rough to say the least. Felt like I was shaving with a cat claw. I guess I have to search out some stainless blades and hope they are better or use the CVS blades as a once only use. I think with a quality blade this razor will perform as well as my vintage DE's. I really liked it....

MR

Personally, I prefer these with a Feather blade which often needs the spine from a GEM putting on.

Just check with yours that the retaining spring behind the blade actually holds the blade firmly. I had one which clawed and it was down to the blade slipping back in the razor whenever it gripped. Otherwise, I rather like the Featherweight shave for swiping off a light growth.

Though the Feather Weight weighs only 30 grams and has a closed comb design it's a fantastic shaver. This Gem model has to be one of the easiest razors to use and I believe rivals an injector in it's performance. A blade that doesn't work for you can definitely mar it's performance. I usually recommend a good all around blade the Gem PTFE coated blades.

IMO, the Gem Blue Star & Treet carbon blades are superior to the CVS branded blades. There was a great deal on Treet blades at Amazon but it has since doubled in price.

I have had trouble with the CVS blades, also. Need to get some PTFE's.

DrumZalot said:

Though the Feather Weight weighs only 30 grams and has a closed comb design it's a fantastic shaver. This Gem model has to be one of the easiest razors to use and I believe rivals an injector in it's performance. A blade that doesn't work for you can definitely mar it's performance. I usually recommend a good all around blade the Gem PTFE coated blades.

IMO, the Gem Blue Star & Treet carbon blades are superior to the CVS branded blades. There was a great deal on Treet blades at Amazon but it has since doubled in price.

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Personally, I have no experience with any current SE blades other than the Gem Blue Star, and I've gotten excellent results from those. Regarding ease of use in comparison to other SEs, besides Injectors, which are in a class all their own for every criteria except visual impact, I have found my Gbar handiest of the several SEs that I now have.

I suspect that I owned a previous Featherweight back in the late 1950s, but it's so long ago now I can't be sure; I never owned a Gbar or Micromatic until about two years ago.

I use the Schick blades from China in my Injectors, and my I-2, and J-1 are my absolute favorites of all razors.

FYI if you stumble on them the Walgreens blades, unlike CVS, are the stainless steel type

Been using my Fether weight all week with a GEm SS blade. Nice and smooth. If you get a chance try a 'G' bar or if feeling daring try a shovel head (1924). Sweet!!!

I've been using a GEM Featherweight since January and am very impressed with it. I bought it after being given a bag full of shaving supplies (soap, brush, blades) from an elderly friend who was cleaning out her attic. In the bag there were a few boxes of SE blades so after doing a lot of reading on the 'net' I picked up a Featherweight off of Ebay. After I got the razor in I took a closer look at the blades and I think they're hardware store blades, so those got put out in the shed and I went to CVS and picked up a package of SE blades. Right from the start I've had very good results! Since I work nights, I don't shave frequently, sometimes only once a week. I have noticed on weeks I've shaved more frequently that I've gotten more irritation but chalked that up to me and not the blade or razor. I also decided to give Skin Bracer a try shortly after I started using the Featherweight and really find that it makes a difference.

MR and Ron, I'm glad the Featherweight is working out for you. I've tried a number of the "1912" type SEs such as the Damaskeene and for me, the Featherweight always worked the best. Smooth, gentle but effective and the handle works really well with a number of grip styles.

Thanks TripleG! If I had looked at the blades a little more closely I would have probably have opted for a cheap Lord or went for a Merkur, but it was a happy goof on my part! I really like the Featherweight, feel it shaves pretty close and although I have gotten some irritation from shaving too frequently, I got that with my cartridge razors too. I found moving to the Featherweight from a Mach III to be pretty easy, very little trouble getting any technique down and have only used the Mach III since for some minor touch up work, where I realized I missed a spot and breaking out the soap/brush etc. seems like too much work.

One thing that puzzles me is why nobody has come up with a modern razor based on that GEM design! I have just started to use a Lord 6 (bought for my son to try but he has no interest so I decided to give it a go!) and although I'm pretty impressed with that razor too, it is nowhere near as easy to clean & change blades as the Featherweight!

Ron1972 said:

One thing that puzzles me is why nobody has come up with a modern razor based on that GEM design! I have just started to use a Lord 6 (bought for my son to try but he has no interest so I decided to give it a go!) and although I'm pretty impressed with that razor too, it is nowhere near as easy to clean & change blades as the Featherweight!

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I think nobody will make a modern GEM style razor because the head is very expensive to produce in small quantities compared to three piece DE razors. With the hinged flip top and sprung blade clip, it requires more complex tooling, materials, and assembly than a die-cast DE does.

Plus there are so many millions of them left in good working condition, nobody would probably be willing to pay the price for a new one.

Ron1972 said:

If I had looked at the blades a little more closely I would have probably have opted for a cheap Lord or went for a Merkur, but it was a happy goof on my part!

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Are you referring to the cost of SE blades vs. DE blades? You will find that SE blades last longer than DE blades so even though the initial cost is higher, the cost per use is probably the same.

mos6502 said:

I think nobody will make a modern GEM style razor because the head is very expensive to produce in small quantities compared to three piece DE razors. With the hinged flip top and sprung blade clip, it requires more complex tooling, materials, and assembly than a die-cast DE does.

Plus there are so many millions of them left in good working condition, nobody would probably be willing to pay the price for a new one.

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You have a good point, though there are several inexpensive TTO razors out there so I think "somebody" could if they wanted to. Certainly SE is even more of a niche market than DE, so I'm not sure who would want to. It's too bad because I wouldn't hesitate to suggest an SE razor to anyone who wanted to get into wet shaving!