djundjila

So that's two of us.

Oh there are many of you. Old_hiker also for instance. I wasnt singling you out, you're in good company

GEM Days 4a/14: first generation GEM Micromatic Open Comb - Wed 20 Nov 2024

• Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts - Papa Eld with Declaration Grooming B3
• Razor: GEM Micromatic Open Comb (first generation)
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. – Oro Valley
• Post Shave: D.R. Harris – Marlborough

This is shave 7 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-stile razors, and I have reached the first generation MMOC, a.k.a. where GEM razors made the jump from good to great.

The Micromatic Open Comb

Fair warning, I love the Micromatic mechanism and will bore you if you're not interested in design details.

To recap the story of GEM razors so far: The 1912 is a great shaver and already has half of what makes GEMs great: perfect blade alignment by pressing the edge against blade stops. The two later models of 1914 and 1924 tried to improve upon the design by 1) making loading the blade easier by having a top cap that fully opens, and 2) decoupling the actions of aligning the blade with the stops and clamping the blade by using two separate spring instead of one. So what could GEM improve further if their product already shaves well and loads easily? Make it safer and even easier! The Micromatic twist-to-open mechanism has your fingers safely a few cm away from the edge when the top cap opens. In addition, the top cap opens smoothly, unlike the predecessors', which is held by buckling springs and opens with a snap motion.

As a second addition, they also modified the blade format to make loading even more easy. Micromatic is the brand name for this razor and also for the new blade format with the three cutouts, see this figure.

The centre cut-out engages with the little post in the centre of the base plate to centre the blade. Previously, the 1914 and 1924 Shovelhead had annoying lateral hooks on their base plates that made inserting the blade fiddly, and the 1912's blade stops grabbed the corners of the blade which also made inserting the blade into the small opening tricky. The Micromatic's centre cut-out makes inserting the blade child's play. You literally just place it on the base plate in you're done. The second set of cut-outs on the sides is where the top cap engages with the blade and pushes it against the stops. We will talk about these lateral cutouts a bit more with tomorrow's second generation MMOC.

It is clear that the company's decision here was to produce a high-tech razor (for the 1930ies), with many machined parts and a clever, but robust twist-to-open mechanism. This represents GEM/ASR Ever-Ready's third attempt at replacing the cheap 1912 (which is still chugging along successfully) and it's a bullseye in terms of robustness and ergonomics. Now this first Micromatic has a reputation for being aggressive, but that's a question of preference and GEM will address it thoroughly over the next four generations of Micromatics.

The shave

Today is already the third Wednesday of the month, which means that it's Buena Vista Wetshaving Social Club meeting day. This month, see have chosen Stirling Oro Valley. Rod one told us that it was his favourite dupe (or was it the most successful? Not sure anymore), and I can see why. A rich warm leather scent. There is a bright note that feels a bit like citrus to me, but I think that's my nose playing tricks.

This particular MMOC is the one I used for two consecutive AAs in the GEMs of Wisdom: Finding Serenity in Austerity challenge, and I also took a blade to 100 shaves in it. In other words, it's my favourite safety razor and I get the smoothest, most efficient shaves from it. It has an unmistakeable pronounced blade feel (great haptic feedback). The angle of the head promotes a flat shave angle (great ergonomics). The crunchy toast buttering audio feedback is legendary.

The timeline

1. ~~1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene~~
   • FLS
   • SLS
2. ~~1914-1927: 1914~~
   • FLS
   • SLS
3. ~~1924-1933: 1924 Shovelhead~~
   • FLS
   • SLS
4. 1930-1932: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 1 (Bumpless baseplate) ← We are here
5. 1932-1941: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2 (double-edge Micromatic GEM blades)
6. 1940-1943: Micromatic Clog-Pruf
7. 1945-1946: Micromatic Clog-Pruf Peerless
8. 1947-1950: Micromatic Flying Wing/Bullet Tip, with guiding eye until 1948, with plastic knob in the last year
9. 1949-1953: GEM Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador (The beginning of the end IMHO)
10. 1950: New GEM Feather Weight, renamed to "Slim-V Flat Top" in 1953, British version sold as "Natural Angle" by Ever-Ready
11. 1955-1958: GEM V-Slim "Heavy Flat Top" (G-Bar, shiny chrome), New V Natural Angle Heavy Flat Top (E-Bar, less shiny nickel)
12. 1958-1965: Push Button
13. 1965-1973: Contour
14. 1973-1979: Countour II (The last GEM razor)

Very nice haul, and pity about the logo. I hope you can get it replaced quickly.

This is the 31mm Zenith boar brush, the same that was used for the subreddit's prior "Moar Boar" group buy.

That's not exactly right. Rod love the knot of the Moar Boar, but not the handle (508 XL) and what you got is a new big handle model (510) created for this brush. They are similar, but yours is bigger. Here, you can see then next to one another.. Either way, you got a great brush there IMO.

I'm always surprised when someone's favourite GEM isn't one of the Micromatics. I find them to be in a league of their own.

Lol, unfortunately I used the MM24 already got the SLS, but I can still end with 15 scrubtu-four

GEM Days 3b/14: MM24 – Tue 19 Nov 2024

• Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts - Papa Eld with Declaration Grooming B3
• Razor: EldrormR Industries GEM Division - MM24
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Barrister and Mann – Frankly My Pear
• Post Shave: Pitralon – Swiss version

Second luxury shave with the sub (and personal) favourite, the MM24. The 1924 Shovelhead mod by u/EldrormrR. The legend has it that he didn't like the golf-pencil handle, but loved the head. So he got to tinkering and chopped off the head of an MMOC to harvest its great handle. The resulting Frankenrazor is a great shaver and a joy to use.

Frankly my Pear is a happy gourmand, great for a tipsy evening shave after I stuffed myself in a local fondue place 🫕

This was shave six of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors:

1. ~~1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene~~
   • FLS
   • SLS
2. ~~1914-1927: 1914~~
   • FLS
   • SLS
3. 1924-1933: 1924 Shovelhead ← We are here
   • FLS
4. 1930-1932: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 1 (Bumpless baseplate)
5. 1932-1941: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2 (double-edge Micromatic GEM blades)
6. 1940-1943: Micromatic Clog-Pruf
7. 1945-1946: Micromatic Clog-Pruf Peerless
8. 1947-1950: Micromatic Flying Wing/Bullet Tip, with guiding eye until 1948, with plastic knob in the last year
9. 1949-1953: GEM Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador (The beginning of the end IMHO)
10. 1950: New GEM Feather Weight, renamed to "Slim-V Flat Top" in 1953, British version sold as "Natural Angle" by Ever-Ready
11. 1955-1958: GEM V-Slim "Heavy Flat Top" (G-Bar, shiny chrome), New V Natural Angle Heavy Flat Top (E-Bar, less shiny nickel)
12. 1958-1965: Push Button
13. 1965-1973: Contour
14. 1973-1979: Countour II (The last GEM razor)

PBnT

Instantly translates to peanut butter and telly in my brain

If @djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social decides to vote under my name, I will publicly shame him and remove him as moderator!

Harsh but fair. I'll have to impersonate some less powerful member to get lavanille elected.

Otherwise great pragmatic proposal. +1

Google or Facebook logins? Let's not

A book club was exactly what inspired this 😊

That favourite of yours is in my Chisel and Hound maple wood handle and was my favourite for a long time too.

GEM Days 3a/14: 1924 Shovelhead – Tue 19 Nov 2024

• Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts - Papa Eld with Declaration Grooming B3
• Razor: Ever-Ready 1924 Shovelhead
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Barrister and Mann – Eigengrau
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth – Santa Noir
• Fragrance: Declaration Grooming – Bangarang

This is shave five of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors, and I have reached the 1924 Shovelhead, the ugly duckling of the GEM family.

The 1924 Shovelhead

This is a simplified version of yesterday's 1914. It finally breaks with the visual similarity thatthe 1912 and 1914 shared and marks the first appearance of cast parts (the neck between the handle and the base plate) in GEM-style razors razors. This picture (the 1924 Shovelhead is on the bottom left, the 1914 on the top right) shows well that like the 1914, it has what looks like a deep-drawn top cap, but it is hinged at the front on either side of the safety bar, and like the 1914 is has separate springs for pushing the spine to align the edge with the blade stops (blue 1) and for clamping down the top cap (red 2). So both razors are attempts at two improvements over the 1912: 1) the top cap opens fully for convenient blade loading, 2) the actions of clamping and aligning the blade are decoupled. So what's the improvement of the 1924 Shovelhead over the 1914 when they seek the same goal? It certainly can't be the looks.

It seems to me that the reason is manufacturing cost. This profile picture shows well just how much simpler the base plate of the Shovelhead really is. Again, the 1924 is on the left and the 1914 on the right. The base plate of the 1914 is a sheet of brass, bent almost to close on itself again, and has a tapped thread for the handle, three rivets, and two hinges and requires quite involved tooling to be assembled efficiently. The Shovelhead on the other hand, has all the complicated geometry concentrated in the cast neck (where the complicated geometry doesn't matter as much at scale), and the base plate is a roughly flat sheet of brass riveted on the neck. Simple, but it left no space for the clamping spring under the base plate, so it needed to go on the top cap, and the hinge needed to move to the front. Cleverly, the clamping spring and the alignment springs are cut from the same sheet and are attached with just 2 rivets, unlike the to separate parts forming the springs in the 1914 needing 4 rivets.

The shave

I like to hike in the mountains, and Eigengrau immediately takes me to evening winter hikes in the Valaisan alps in the conifer forests just under the tree line. It's a very dry area, so the snow cover is often incomplete until well into January, and the thick layer of conifer needle humus lies there mostly exposed and fragrant. You can see the tracks of snow rabbits and chamois in the snow patches, and when the sun starts to set everything quiets down. Peaceful. Bangarang is not at all a winter fragrance, and also more lively than serene Eigengrau.

The 1924 feels similar to the 1914, with maybe a little less toast buttering. It's not surprising that they feel similar, given how they have a similar geometry and the same handle.

The handle

If I remember correctly, it was this pencil handle that felt too small for u/EldrormR, so he chopped off the head of an MMOC (Tomorrow's razor), drilled it, cemented a thread post into it, and slapped it onto a 1924 head to create what we now know and love as the MM24. I'll be using that variant for the Second Luxury Shave.

The timeline

1. ~~1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene~~
   • FLS
   • SLS
2. ~~1914-1927: 1914~~
   • FLS
   • SLS
3. 1924-1933: Shovelhead ← We are here
4. 1930-1932: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 1 (Bumpless baseplate)
5. 1932-1941: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2 (double-edge Micromatic GEM blades)
6. 1940-1943: Micromatic Clog-Pruf
7. 1945-1946: Micromatic Clog-Pruf Peerless
8. 1947-1950: Micromatic Flying Wing/Bullet Tip, with guiding eye until 1948, with plastic knob in the last year
9. 1949-1953: GEM Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador (The beginning of the end IMHO)
10. 1950: New GEM Feather Weight, renamed to "Slim-V Flat Top" in 1953, British version sold as "Natural Angle" by Ever-Ready
11. 1955-1958: GEM V-Slim "Heavy Flat Top" (G-Bar, shiny chrome), New V Natural Angle Heavy Flat Top (E-Bar, less shiny nickel)
12. 1958-1965: Push Button
13. 1965-1973: Contour
14. 1973-1979: Countour II (The last GEM razor)