So I picked up a few new (read: old) SEs over the last few weeks to enhance my appreciation of and expertise with SE razors.
This post will be comparing and contrasting the (from left to right) Gem Junior, Gem Damaskeene, Ever-Ready 1910 Lather-Catcher, Gem 1912 "Brooklyn", and Ever-Ready 1924 "Shovelhead".
Of course, after using all of them enough to get comfortable with all of them, one notices that they offer very different shaves.
I used each razor with a stainless ptfe-coated GEM blade that was between 3 and 5 shaves old, inclusive. Each with two days' of stubble, using Proraso green, face-lathered with an Omega Pro. Each razor had been used at least four times to develop skill with its specific usage techniques, weights and angles. Each shave was a two-pass WTG-XTG following a hot shower.
In order of aggressiveness, starting with the least:
- Damaskeene
- Junior
- 1912
- 1924
- Lather-catcher
This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Damaskeenes, with their long combs and tight blade clearance leave a very narrow angle which will still shave stubble. In contrast, the 1924, which is noted to be very aggressive, gives a wide range of angles where the edge is still contacting skin. This gives the user more of a chance to cut himself and develop razor burn. The 1912 and the Junior, despite having superficially similar heads, do offer a different shave because they have different comb lengths and blade clearances. The Junior actually feels like a slightly more aggressive Damaskeene. The Lather-catcher is, of course, the most aggressive, having no blade guide-cap and virtually no safety comb.
This picture shows how different their heads are, despite the similarities:
(Damaskeene, 1912, 1924, Lather-catcher, Junior)
Ranking them in order of shave closeness, starting with the closest shave:
- Lather-catcher
- Damaskeene
- 1924
- Junior (tie)
- 1912 (tie)
The only real surprise here should be how high the Damaskeene ended up. I believe this is due to the Damaskeene exposing tons of blade, but keeping it all tucked within a narrow user angle. The rest of the list is essentially the reverse of the aggressiveness list. It is important to note, of course, that all of these razors offered a shave much closer than any Gillette Tech or Superspeed (which I'm sure most everyone has tried at some point). The Lather-cather and the 1924 have tons of blade exposed, whereas the Junior and the 1912 exposed more or less the same amount of blade, but the 1912 had a larger blade gap between the edge and the comb.
The conclusion of this comparison would be that the Damaskeene really does reign supreme among vintage GEMs but that the GEM Junior was the real surprise in offering a far more Damaskeene-like shave and a far less 1912-like shave than a lot of people would expect. The performance of the Lather-catcher and the Shovelhead should come as no surprise: lethally aggressive, incredibly close in trained hands.
Notes on each individual razor's performance follow:
The Damaskeene:
I love it. It is as perfect as an SE can be. While I'm not given to hyperbole, this is the best SE ever made. It's closeness is outstanding and its ease of use rivals that of an Injector. In the same way that an Injector will protect the user from himself and stop working when the angle is off, the Damaskeene does as well. I have a cherry Damaskeene and I live in fear of its blade retaining spring dying on me. (It's happened to me before and is apparently common to the breed.) I'm thinking of hoarding them.
The Junior:
This was the surprise of the lot. Firstly, that black plastic (Bakelite, actually) handle is really nice, as it turns out. It's nice and chunky, it gives good grip, it allows for a lot of different hand positions, and doesn't make the balance feel off. The head itself is like a slightly more aggressive Damaskeene. It's still got a pretty narrow angle, but you can't quite use it in your sleep like the Damaskeene. It won't necessarily cut you, but it will miss some spots. If I couldn't use a Damaskeene, I'd use this.
The 1912:
Everyone's used one of these, but not a lot of people have really taken the time and practice to get handy with one to get to know why this was such an enduring design. It's an aggressive razor. Rather, it's the least aggressive razor of razors that I would call aggressive. This razor will bite back if you give it too much leash, whereas cutting yourself with the Damaskeene or the Junior is basically impossible unless you do something stupid.
The 1924 "Shovelhead":
I don't want to say it's an unpleasant shave, but my face always feels "hot" after using it. The head is actually really nifty. I like the design a lot, but the blade cap doesn't give you much of an idea where the blade is or offers a reference angle like the 1912-style head, and that's the problem. It's almost like shaving in the dark and that means you're constantly checking and adjusting the angle, leading to a lot of sub-optimal angles. I could get a close, clean, blood-free shave out of it, but my face was always hot afterwards and I always was slightly surprised that I wasn't bleeding.
The 1910 Lather-catcher:
It's a small straight-shave. Simple as that. A good shave with it is perfect. However, you need to know blade angle at every part of your face. Getting good with it will make your shaving with anything else, even DEs, even carts, more effective. That said, it requires total concentration to effectively use. A lapse in technique will draw blood without exception. As a consolation, though, you can always see exactly where the blade is, so you have more control with it than with the 1924. It's worthwhile getting good with it, but I think it's too stressful to use all the time.
This post will be comparing and contrasting the (from left to right) Gem Junior, Gem Damaskeene, Ever-Ready 1910 Lather-Catcher, Gem 1912 "Brooklyn", and Ever-Ready 1924 "Shovelhead".
Of course, after using all of them enough to get comfortable with all of them, one notices that they offer very different shaves.
I used each razor with a stainless ptfe-coated GEM blade that was between 3 and 5 shaves old, inclusive. Each with two days' of stubble, using Proraso green, face-lathered with an Omega Pro. Each razor had been used at least four times to develop skill with its specific usage techniques, weights and angles. Each shave was a two-pass WTG-XTG following a hot shower.
In order of aggressiveness, starting with the least:
- Damaskeene
- Junior
- 1912
- 1924
- Lather-catcher
This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Damaskeenes, with their long combs and tight blade clearance leave a very narrow angle which will still shave stubble. In contrast, the 1924, which is noted to be very aggressive, gives a wide range of angles where the edge is still contacting skin. This gives the user more of a chance to cut himself and develop razor burn. The 1912 and the Junior, despite having superficially similar heads, do offer a different shave because they have different comb lengths and blade clearances. The Junior actually feels like a slightly more aggressive Damaskeene. The Lather-catcher is, of course, the most aggressive, having no blade guide-cap and virtually no safety comb.
This picture shows how different their heads are, despite the similarities:
(Damaskeene, 1912, 1924, Lather-catcher, Junior)
Ranking them in order of shave closeness, starting with the closest shave:
- Lather-catcher
- Damaskeene
- 1924
- Junior (tie)
- 1912 (tie)
The only real surprise here should be how high the Damaskeene ended up. I believe this is due to the Damaskeene exposing tons of blade, but keeping it all tucked within a narrow user angle. The rest of the list is essentially the reverse of the aggressiveness list. It is important to note, of course, that all of these razors offered a shave much closer than any Gillette Tech or Superspeed (which I'm sure most everyone has tried at some point). The Lather-cather and the 1924 have tons of blade exposed, whereas the Junior and the 1912 exposed more or less the same amount of blade, but the 1912 had a larger blade gap between the edge and the comb.
The conclusion of this comparison would be that the Damaskeene really does reign supreme among vintage GEMs but that the GEM Junior was the real surprise in offering a far more Damaskeene-like shave and a far less 1912-like shave than a lot of people would expect. The performance of the Lather-catcher and the Shovelhead should come as no surprise: lethally aggressive, incredibly close in trained hands.
Notes on each individual razor's performance follow:
The Damaskeene:
I love it. It is as perfect as an SE can be. While I'm not given to hyperbole, this is the best SE ever made. It's closeness is outstanding and its ease of use rivals that of an Injector. In the same way that an Injector will protect the user from himself and stop working when the angle is off, the Damaskeene does as well. I have a cherry Damaskeene and I live in fear of its blade retaining spring dying on me. (It's happened to me before and is apparently common to the breed.) I'm thinking of hoarding them.
The Junior:
This was the surprise of the lot. Firstly, that black plastic (Bakelite, actually) handle is really nice, as it turns out. It's nice and chunky, it gives good grip, it allows for a lot of different hand positions, and doesn't make the balance feel off. The head itself is like a slightly more aggressive Damaskeene. It's still got a pretty narrow angle, but you can't quite use it in your sleep like the Damaskeene. It won't necessarily cut you, but it will miss some spots. If I couldn't use a Damaskeene, I'd use this.
The 1912:
Everyone's used one of these, but not a lot of people have really taken the time and practice to get handy with one to get to know why this was such an enduring design. It's an aggressive razor. Rather, it's the least aggressive razor of razors that I would call aggressive. This razor will bite back if you give it too much leash, whereas cutting yourself with the Damaskeene or the Junior is basically impossible unless you do something stupid.
The 1924 "Shovelhead":
I don't want to say it's an unpleasant shave, but my face always feels "hot" after using it. The head is actually really nifty. I like the design a lot, but the blade cap doesn't give you much of an idea where the blade is or offers a reference angle like the 1912-style head, and that's the problem. It's almost like shaving in the dark and that means you're constantly checking and adjusting the angle, leading to a lot of sub-optimal angles. I could get a close, clean, blood-free shave out of it, but my face was always hot afterwards and I always was slightly surprised that I wasn't bleeding.
The 1910 Lather-catcher:
It's a small straight-shave. Simple as that. A good shave with it is perfect. However, you need to know blade angle at every part of your face. Getting good with it will make your shaving with anything else, even DEs, even carts, more effective. That said, it requires total concentration to effectively use. A lapse in technique will draw blood without exception. As a consolation, though, you can always see exactly where the blade is, so you have more control with it than with the 1924. It's worthwhile getting good with it, but I think it's too stressful to use all the time.
