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Micromatic Monday

My Clog Pruf Peerless arrived this morning, so after some soaking, cleaning, polishing and disinfecting it was ready for its first use on MMMonday. Using a flipped GEM PFTE blade on its third mission the Peerless is more aggressive than the MMBT causing some irritation on my neck. I also had the impression that despite "flat against the face", the best angle for shaving is a bit different to the BT.
After two passes I almost had achieved BBS, so I had the impression the Peerless is a pass more efficient than the BT. Third pass only needed for some trouble spots. In the end a fine shave and I guess the perfect technique will be dialed in quickly.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
Had to take my Gem 1912 (MFG around 1921>) out of the razor rack and had a great shave.
Gem shave testers in those days had the right concept of what people wanted for a shave when they designed their Proto type razors. When Gillette was going to reveal a new model in the early 1900's it went through a Gauntlet of men testing shave quality and also fine testing equipment from old photo's I have seen but can not find. Gillette still testing their new razor models through men and woman shaving different parts of our body's no doubt and that is why they Gillette are today #1 for Razor Cartridges IMO. Gillette testing new models.jpg
Gem Monday (2).jpg

Have some great shaves!
 

Flintstone65

Imagining solutions for imaginary problems
Great Micromatic so far!!! I've been enjoying "shaving" vicariously through each of you....I still haven't broken out my trial SE. I'm trying to give my beard a few extra hours of growth. It's been my experience that it's easier to shave longish stubble than it is to shave short stubble. Keep those shavings coming!!!
 
@Tanuki Ok I got really silly this morning. But I did also discover a way to make the scent of Arko tolerable. I mixed a little bit of Arko with some Cremo Cooling.

Here are the tools of choice for today's shave.

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All 6 of my Gems an Eveready and a Star. Just for the front of the neck and the cheeks (I Have a beard) all with the second use Pal carbon blade for the first pass. Then switched to the gem ptfe 13th use in the Bullet tip for second pass and clean up.
Quickly ditched the old blade, threw in a new one and finished up. Then grabbed the Schick g and took care of the back of neck. So 9 razors and 4 blades used for one shave.
 
@Tanuki Ok I got really silly this morning. But I did also discover a way to make the scent of Arko tolerable. I mixed a little bit of Arko with some Cremo Cooling.

Here are the tools of choice for today's shave.

View attachment 966522 View attachment 966523 View attachment 966524 View attachment 966525

All 6 of my Gems an Eveready and a Star. Just for the front of the neck and the cheeks (I Have a beard) all with the second use Pal carbon blade for the first pass. Then switched to the gem ptfe 13th use in the Bullet tip for second pass and clean up.
Quickly ditched the old blade, threw in a new one and finished up. Then grabbed the Schick g and took care of the back of neck. So 9 razors and 4 blades used for one shave.

I am impressed, brotherman. :)
 
I am impressed, brotherman. :)

That's what I'm here for.
It was actually quite ridiculous. The lather ended up getting dry twice with all the fiddling around with blade swaps and such. Then there was the task of cleaning them all up and putting them away. But it was fun to get that ridiculous at the same time.
 
@Tanuki Ok I got really silly this morning. But I did also discover a way to make the scent of Arko tolerable. I mixed a little bit of Arko with some Cremo Cooling.

Here are the tools of choice for today's shave.

View attachment 966522 View attachment 966523 View attachment 966524 View attachment 966525

All 6 of my Gems an Eveready and a Star. Just for the front of the neck and the cheeks (I Have a beard) all with the second use Pal carbon blade for the first pass. Then switched to the gem ptfe 13th use in the Bullet tip for second pass and clean up.
Quickly ditched the old blade, threw in a new one and finished up. Then grabbed the Schick g and took care of the back of neck. So 9 razors and 4 blades used for one shave.

Aaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! I’m falling down a rabbit hole!

I used a paltry MMBT + MMCP and one lonely blade for a quick DFS then out the door and off the grid.

A speck of Cremo cooling on RazoRock What the Puck Blue Barbershop gave me plenty of lather. Didn’t give it time to dry out, I had to be on the road by 7:00.

I will have to set aside a serious amount of time (and finally get some blades for my Schick injectors) if I want to get dealt in to this game. You appear to have gone “all in” and I wasn’t able to call.
 
I know I'm a day late for this, blame the name of the soap and only shaving every other day but...

My first shave with a MicroMatic, and an open comb at that.

I get it now. I get your guys cult-like devotion. This thing is awesome. In all my years of wetshaving, I don't think I've ever had such an easy and smooth shave the first go with a new razor.

I'm looking forward to using my MMOC more
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I can't tame this 1912. Is that amount of blade exposure really right? Could I have a bad razor? I'd like to learn how to use gem blades. Should I try some different models of vintage? Perhaps a modern gem holder, like a starling?
IMG_20190326_072149.jpg
 
Aaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! I’m falling down a rabbit hole!

I used a paltry MMBT + MMCP and one lonely blade for a quick DFS then out the door and off the grid.

A speck of Cremo cooling on RazoRock What the Puck Blue Barbershop gave me plenty of lather. Didn’t give it time to dry out, I had to be on the road by 7:00.

I will have to set aside a serious amount of time (and finally get some blades for my Schick injectors) if I want to get dealt in to this game. You appear to have gone “all in” and I wasn’t able to call.

It was definitely a crazy shave. I figured I would go straight for the knockout punch though. It didn't turn out bad but it was definitely not the best shave of my life, so you don't have that to worry about. To much fiddling around with blade changes to concentrate on a good shave. And cleaning that many razors to put away at the end was very time consuming. Even though I got up early I ended up running a little late. Please don't force my hand buy trying to out do this shave. I would hate to have to up the ante. The Mentholated Super GeMonday was crazy enough as it is.

I know I'm a day late for this, blame the name of the soap and only shaving every other day but...

My first shave with a MicroMatic, and an open comb at that.

I get it now. I get your guys cult-like devotion. This thing is awesome. In all my years of wetshaving, I don't think I've ever had such an easy and smooth shave the first go with a new razor.

I'm looking forward to using my MMOC more
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Glad you had a great shave right out of the gate. These are great razors. The open comb was my first SE razor also.

I can't tame this 1912. Is that amount of blade exposure really right? Could I have a bad razor? I'd like to learn how to use gem blades. Should I try some different models of vintage? Perhaps a modern gem holder, like a starling? View attachment 966685

To me the razor you have looks fine from what I can see in the picture.
In my experience the micromatic clog pruf and the micromatic bullet tip are milder razors and a good way to go. There very solidly built and to be found for a reasonable price. Many people here really like the gem featherweight, and rate it as one of the mildest, I don't have any experience with it personally though.
 
I know I'm a day late for this, blame the name of the soap and only shaving every other day but...

My first shave with a MicroMatic, and an open comb at that.

I get it now. I get your guys cult-like devotion. This thing is awesome. In all my years of wetshaving, I don't think I've ever had such an easy and smooth shave the first go with a new razor.

I'm looking forward to using my MMOC more
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:a14::a14:
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
I can't tame this 1912. Is that amount of blade exposure really right? Could I have a bad razor? I'd like to learn how to use gem blades. Should I try some different models of vintage? Perhaps a modern gem holder, like a starling? View attachment 966685
It takes a 2 or 3 attempts to dial this blade system in from my experience and the 1912 is a good head design, there is a variant that called the "quant head" that is more aggressive & some what rare and it has a highly curved cap. Why they made this is not known and is more like a Everready 1914 but even more aggressive. Your picture is not clear enough for me to tell but the chances it is the quant head is rare and for a person learning it would be to aggressive.
Here is what one looks like.Quant head 3 (2).jpg
Here is some other information if this helps.
Gem instruction manual (2).jpg The gold brass razor is my 1912 and the cap is not curved that much!Gem procedure (2).jpg Final Gem review Jan21-2019 (2).jpg
Have some great shaves!
 
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I can't tame this 1912. Is that amount of blade exposure really right? Could I have a bad razor? I'd like to learn how to use gem blades. Should I try some different models of vintage? Perhaps a modern gem holder, like a starling? View attachment 966685

Just to give you a reference for comparison, here are close-ups of the head of my 1912, blade loaded. It shaves well. I am curious about the modern Gem razors, but have yet to try one so I have no useful advice on that.
2702F449-9D11-4B69-A569-B848E01E54A3.jpeg
70C80744-B611-44C0-8DC5-BBDCCFD4E189.jpeg

275B547E-1B20-418C-9D11-E43FB24B33EA.jpeg
 
The blade exposure is crazy on these things! I'm going to join this Monday thread and also begin picking up some variety of gem blade holders.
 
The blade exposure is crazy on these things! I'm going to join this Monday thread and also begin picking up some variety of gem blade holders.
I think you're just looking at blade reveal (cap span) rather than exposure. Most of the 1912s don't have extraordinary exposure, really only the curved cap squat heads.
 

Flintstone65

Imagining solutions for imaginary problems
I think you're just looking at blade reveal (cap span) rather than exposure. Most of the 1912s don't have extraordinary exposure, really only the curved cap squat heads.
This is a really good point, and its a mistake I've made before. So please check me on this:
  1. Blade gap is that vertical distance between the blade and the comb/safety bar

  2. Blade exposure is the longitudinal distance between the blade and the comb/SB (guard). So a blade that is right even with the guard has more blade exposure than a blade that is back from the guard.
Is that right? I know in the past I've said some goofy things, like Lather Catchers have the maximum amount of blade exposure -- I was thinking that because there's no cap; but that' got nothing to do with BE. Sorry to those I've mislead....still learning.
 
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