Shaved With an Enders Today.

The only SE razor I have in my collection so far is an Enders razor. Not the Enders Speed Razor, but one of the pre-lawsuit Enders "by Christy" razors. So, from somewhere around 1935. Today I got a pack of Speed Razor blades in the mail, and I decided to do the unthinkable: open and use a vintage blade. As it turns out, my blade had a little rust on it, but none on the edge. So I figured I'd be safe to shave with it. I lathered up with my cheapo VDH lather and brush and set to work on my face. It started a bit rough, but got smoother about halfway through the first pass. Not the closest shave I've done, but not bad for a proprietary blade from who knows how long ago. I'll attach some photos of the razor and blade, but I didn't do any before/after shots of my face.

That's fantastic.. I have had a few proprietary blade SE shaves and I had similar experiences as yourself Sir...They can be a tad tuggy on the first pass and then they seem to smooth right out...I have always managed a super smooth BBS with them and it makes me laugh when folks hold all these in depth threads about soaps, lather, pre - shave, post - shave drivel that they come out with shaving with a modern shaving system or blade that a child could use....

Billy

Scooby Doo said:

That's fantastic.. I have had a few proprietary blade SE shaves and I had similar experiences as yourself Sir...They can be a tad tuggy on the first pass and then they seem to smooth right out...I have always managed a super smooth BBS with them and it makes me laugh when folks hold all these in depth threads about soaps, lather, pre - shave, post - shave drivel that they come out with shaving with a modern shaving system or blade that a child could use....

Billy

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It's too bad they don't make new blades for those Enders razors. Seems like with a bit of practice I could get a BBS or at least a DFS with that thing. But since I only have the one pack, I should preserve the other 4 blades for display purposes. Unless I come across a hoard of them on eBay or at a swap meat or something. Are there any SE razors from the same era with readily available blades? I mean, I love my DE Super Speed, but those SE's are pretty cool. As for the pre- and post-shave stuff, all I did was a hot towel and then lather with VDH. Pretty simple if ya ask me.

SuperSpeedf2 said:

Are there any SE razors from the same era with readily available blades?

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Sure from the 1930's?
Well, there is ALOT.
Just off the top of my head.
GEM: 1912, Gem Junior, the Open Comb Micromatic and the Clug Pruf.
Ever Ready 1912, 1914, 1924,
Treet Single Edge Razor
Schick injectors Types A-E
Most of thoes razors are from the 20's 30's early 40's era.
All GEM's the Treet, and ER's use a Single Edge blade found at your local CVS or online, get the shaving blades not paint scrapers. Schick use injector blades found online.

Inari7 said:

Sure from the 1930's?
Well, there is ALOT.
Just off the top of my head.
GEM: 1912, Gem Junior, the Open Comb Micromatic and the Clug Pruf.
Ever Ready 1912, 1914, 1924,
Treet Single Edge Razor
Schick injectors Types A-E
Most of thoes razors are from the 20's 30's early 40's era.
All GEM's the Treet, and ER's use a Single Edge blade found at your local CVS or online, get the shaving blades not paint scrapers. Schick use injector blades found online.

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Wow, quite the list! I'll start looking through those then. I'm kinda hoping for one with a similar angle to my Enders, because I really like how well it worked for me. Thanks for the help!

SuperSpeedf2 said:

It's too bad they don't make new blades for those Enders razors. Seems like with a bit of practice I could get a BBS or at least a DFS with that thing. But since I only have the one pack, I should preserve the other 4 blades for display purposes. Unless I come across a hoard of them on eBay or at a swap meat or something. Are there any SE razors from the same era with readily available blades? I mean, I love my DE Super Speed, but those SE's are pretty cool. As for the pre- and post-shave stuff, all I did was a hot towel and then lather with VDH. Pretty simple if ya ask me.

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Gem razors are readily available in most any "antique" shop. New blades are available in many drug stores still today. Favorite Gem is the 1912 and variants. The early Micromatics are also great.

The first pass or two can be rather harsh, then the blade settles into a sweet shave for the next 8-10 uses before I notice it starting to fall off.

You can allegedly use a Shick injector blade in the Christy/Enders razors, and the Keen Cutter (also made by Christy) with a minor modification. I've never tried it so you are on your own here.

SuperSpeedf2 said:

It's too bad they don't make new blades for those Enders razors. Seems like with a bit of practice I could get a BBS or at least a DFS with that thing. But since I only have the one pack, I should preserve the other 4 blades for display purposes. Unless I come across a hoard of them on eBay or at a swap meat or something. Are there any SE razors from the same era with readily available blades? I mean, I love my DE Super Speed, but those SE's are pretty cool. As for the pre- and post-shave stuff, all I did was a hot towel and then lather with VDH. Pretty simple if ya ask me.

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Hi Sam,
you beat me to an Enders shave, but with the "Speed" model, I have a few unwrapped - got them with the Razor from USA. Waiting for an appropriate time to give it a go.
Mike

bberg100 said:

Gem razors are readily available in most any "antique" shop. New blades are available in many drug stores still today. Favorite Gem is the 1912 and variants. The early Micromatics are also great.

The first pass or two can be rather harsh, then the blade settles into a sweet shave for the next 8-10 uses before I notice it starting to fall off.

You can allegedly use a Shick injector blade in the Christy/Enders razors, and the Keen Cutter (also made by Christy) with a minor modification. I've never tried it so you are on your own here.

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Thanks for the suggestion! I'll keep an eye out when I'm on the hunt for razors. Much obliged.

oldmpf said:

Hi Sam,
you beat me to an Enders shave, but with the "Speed" model, I have a few unwrapped - got them with the Razor from USA. Waiting for an appropriate time to give it a go.
Mike

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To be honest, I just happened to need a shave when my blade pack came in the mail (forgot to mention I got it from BradWorld as a PIF), so I decided to try out the Enders. Your results may vary. I'd recommend testing somewhere other than your face before trying a proper shave with it, in case your blade is more dull than mine was. Other than that, it was just a matter of a good lather and finding the right angle (which was pretty easy with this razor, I might add.)

Inari7 said:

Sure from the 1930's?
Well, there is ALOT.
Just off the top of my head.
GEM: 1912, Gem Junior, the Open Comb Micromatic and the Clug Pruf.
Ever Ready 1912, 1914, 1924,
Treet Single Edge Razor
Schick injectors Types A-E
Most of thoes razors are from the 20's 30's early 40's era.
All GEM's the Treet, and ER's use a Single Edge blade found at your local CVS or online, get the shaving blades not paint scrapers. Schick use injector blades found online.

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But wait, there's more!

Valet Auto-Strops take a Feather blade that is still available online, plus the earlier models can use a modified Gem blade.

The Star Cru Steel series uses standard Gem-style SE blades, plus a 1912 was sold with the Star name.

Some Wilkinson Sword SE razors can take modern blades.

There are probably even more.

--Bob

SuperSpeedf2 said:

It's too bad they don't make new blades for those Enders razors. Seems like with a bit of practice I could get a BBS or at least a DFS with that thing. But since I only have the one pack, I should preserve the other 4 blades for display purposes. Unless I come across a hoard of them on eBay or at a swap meat or something. Are there any SE razors from the same era with readily available blades? I mean, I love my DE Super Speed, but those SE's are pretty cool. As for the pre- and post-shave stuff, all I did was a hot towel and then lather with VDH. Pretty simple if ya ask me.

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Most of these proprietary blades can be successfully sharpened with a Scotts Ball Bearing Blade Sharpener. It will literally re-sharpen any blade from a DE/SE to most any other blade. They are often listed for sale on Ebay and the factory kit comes with a sharpening stone, but any other razor stone will work fine. You can also it to strop the blade on leather to maintain the keen edge after sharpening on a stone. I use mine frequently for difficult to find blades.

One word of warning, is it does take some practice to achieve a really super sharp edge. Similar to sharpening a straight, however the holder will maintain the correct angle, but some experimenting will be necessary to find that perfect setting for that particular blade.
Hope this helps.

I just picked up a Scott's sharpener I am trying out. Mine included the stone and a leather strop glued to the outside surface of a steel tray that holds the stone. The cardboard case is in terrible shape and the sharpener needed a bit of rust removal but is in decent shape. It even included the original instruction booklet in good shape. Looks to me like it should work too with wedge type razor blades from Kampfe, Henckels Rapide and other wedge blade razors. The design looks like it should minimize the corner rounding that is seen on so many of the wedge blades after much use. Got it for $20 + shipping, the cost of a cheap fine grit stone for razor work.