My new Ever-Ready razor.

I received an Ever-Ready razor today I got from eBay. It is new, never used. It came with the box and instructions on how to load it and the original blade. I can't wait to try it. Someone told me it was made between 1933 - 1940 because of the NRA on the box.
Can anyone tell me how the shave with this compares with the Featherweight?

Lovely razor, I have one myself, it is a wonderful little tool. I do not know how it does compare to the featherlight but I am sure some one will let you know pretty quickly.

Good catch! The 1912 is the de facto SE shave. Enjoy!

The National Recovery Act was enacted in 1933 and declared unconstitutional in 1935, so your razor is at least 80 years old. I think you'll find the shave a bit smoother than the Featherweight thanks to the extra weight.

Salty O'Rourke said:

The National Recovery Act was enacted in 1933 and declared unconstitutional in 1935, so your razor is at least 80 years old. I think you'll find the shave a bit smoother than the Featherweight thanks to the extra weight.

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Thanks for the info. So I guess the razor had to be made in that 2 year span. I will take it for a spin tonight.

You found a real beauty...awesome condition

Excellent shaver, I have a few ER's and they will serve you well.

+1. That's a nice clean score. Box is cool, also. I love the design on that handle.

wazza said:

Lovely razor, I have one myself, it is a wonderful little tool. I do not know how it does compare to the featherlight but I am sure some one will let you know pretty quickly.

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I just got done shaving with it. Very nice indeed. I found it to be milder than the Featherweight. A nice shave either way. I was looking for one of these in good condition so when I saw it on eBay I jumped at it. It seems for vintage razors it's either eBay or Etsy's.

Sweet looking razor! I have one as well and it's my go to SE!

I love the look of that razor!

I said that I found the Ever-Ready milder than the Featherweight but I have to retract that. I decided that it is smoother than the Featherweight but I noticed about an hour after I was done shaving I could feel a slight irritation. So I believe the Ever-Ready is a little more aggressive than the Featherweight. Both of then nice razors.

The general consensus seems to be that the later Gems (Featherweight, Pushbutton, Contour) are on the mild side of the spectrum, the Ever-Ready 1914, 1924, Gem MMOC and the lather catchers are on the aggressive side, and the 1912's are somewhere in the middle.

It goes without saying, YMMV (but I said it anyway ).

--Bob

What are the 1912's exactly?

What you have

Its moniker is in reference the patent year: 1912. What you might have seen called the 'Damaskeene' was the razor which gained the patent and was updated somewhere around 1919 when GEM and ASR (Ever Ready) merged companies - this razor is generally what we call the 1912 and continued right through to somewhere into the '30s in the US and right through into the '50s in the UK.

The best of them, I think, are the British made from the '30s ... basically, just like you have ... but British. I can't quite say exactly what distinguishes the British made, but it carries a certain je ne sait quoi, if you follow my French.

Thank you 'pjgh' for the detail answer. So that would be like in the gun world when they refer to the "1911" style guns. The old .45 semi-auto. New ones made today are still called the 1911's.

So if GEM and ASR (Ever-Ready) merged around 1919, the the one I have is really a GEM/Ever-ready. Interesting facts. Thanks again.

Yes.

Brand names continued ...

I should also mention that while it is often regarded that GEM was a stronger brand, it was actually ASR who subsumed GEM.

Damaskeene was dropped, RADIO was dropped (I think) and new (full) names came out: American Safety Razor Corp (was Company), GEM Safety Razor Corp (was Co. Inc and simply GEM Cutlery before) and Star Safety Razor Corp.

Although under one roof, the brands continued as apparent competition and from some of the oddities and rarities, it's fun to try to work out if each respective company was enjoying access to each other's patents, coming up with short-lived and rare items. Something the guys in the R&D labs did on a slow week or on the night shift, perhaps?

If you look at the shape of the comb on yours, understand that to be post-1930. In the GEM line, their "1912" became the GEM Junior, yours would have become an "Improved Ever Ready". Prior to 1930, the "1912" had a wide grin on the comb in all lines, GEM, Ever Ready and Star.



In the UK, Ever Ready continued with the wide grin comb ... worth noting that GEM was not a brand (routinely) available in the UK, although I actually have one! My guess is it was made for the Canadian market.



In the UK, we also got spin-offs like the RADIO and the Oxford. Here's a RADIO (next to my British GEM to compare):





I love collecting these - just when I think I've got it all figured out another oddity comes in and blows all my theories away ...

Enjoy yours! You've got a good one to kick off with. If the bug bites, there's a whole world of these things out there - I have something like 80 of them now and I can point out one or more things that make each unique on ever last one of them!

You have quite a collection it seems. Those are some fine razors pictured here. I never had an interest in vintage razors I only wanted to buy new. But now I have 2 vintage Gillette's and 3 GEM style razors.
So could mine be called a Damaskeene razor?

I love 'em ... and can't stop buying them.

No, yours is an (Improved) Ever Ready, plain and simple. Mid '30s.

As a very rough timeline, here goes ...

1911 GEM Deluxe (or "open comb Damaskeene")
1912 GEM Damaskeene
1919 GEM, Ever Ready & Star "1912"
1930 GEM Junior, (Improved) Ever Ready & Star (revised comb) "1912"
... some time in the '30s, the 1912 was ceased in the US across all brands to make way for the GEM Micromatic line.
... and continued through to the '50s (under the Ever Ready brand) in the UK.

Damaskeene razors have "Use only with Damaskeene blades" stamped on the inside.
Where yours says "Ever Ready", GEM will say "GEM/Junior" and Star will say "Star" ... yours is an (Improved) Ever Ready.

Again, thanks for the detailed answer. To trace mine back to it's roots, it is close to the 1919 GEM? Is that correct?

I would love to see you post a group shot or two of your razors. Sounds like you have a nice collection.