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Ever Ready 1914...Wild find...

Had to drop someone off yesterday. I had to choose my direction to my next destination. After committing to my course, I was thinking I may have went the longer way. I kept making course corrections and low and behold, an Antique store that I didn't know was there. So I went in and looked around.

There it was, an Ever Ready 1914 for $35. Immediately I said that's way too much. Saw a 3 piece NEW Deluxe set for $30, it was nice except for one badly bent corner tooth, it looked silver and was filthy, had the short handle.

There were several other DE razors, and an Eish type all gold(handle also) Schick for $18.

My eye was on the Ever Ready though.

My daughter found a few books and my wife found a few things. Upon checking out, I asked if the prices were final and the lady said no and asked what I was looking at. I showed her and she called the guy over who's case it was. He dropped the price from $35 to $25. I thought for a few seconds and said thanks and started to walk off. I ended up getting it for $23. Left the other razors.

I have too many excellent razor choices. I cleaned it up and will probably use it today. I'm really starting to (((HATE))) the GEM blade for being so good!

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I'll post a few more pictures and shave results later. It had a Pal blade in it.
 

jar_

Too Fugly For Free.
The GEM is certainly worth of such hate. Even my $0.39 cent GEM Parades are fantastic. And the $0.39 Parade version included a pack of blades. Need to get a picture of it today if possible.
 
Wow, that looks like a great find. If you ever find yourself with too many like this, you know how to find me. :)

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Nice find. Nice razor. Congrats.

I wonder: Was there ever any other razor produced with "operating instructions" imprinted on the razor like that? The closest I can think of is the Gem "Guiding Eye" Micromatic with the little dot to remind the operator to use a shallow angle.

Today they probably would have put a sticker on it saying, "Lift here" then figured the owner would not need to be reminded after that.
 
Talk about a mandoline slicer!

The razor weighed in at 51 grams.

I used a fresh GEM SS PTFE blade, loaded it up and went all in, face and head shave.

The angle was easy to find, went in shallow, engaged the blade and got right to work. This is one smooth, efficient razor. Effortless BBS face and head shave.

Found a bump on my head, it's gone now, didn't know it was there. I'm right-handed and was shaving the left side from front to back and probably was a little heavy on pressure. Other than that, the shave was perfect.
 
Nice razor. The 1914 is one of the models I don't have. I've toyed with getting one but always talk myself out of it, since I have plenty of razors that don't get much use.
 
It is one of my favorite razors, and I used mine today actually. I would have ideally waited another 12 hours for the shave as the previous one was very very close - but it ended up just fine with zero irritation.
It is a bit more aggressive/less forgiving than the 1912 but is not a bad thing - you just needs to be a bit more conscious of the blade angle and direction and the shave is as good as the blade.

I am not a big fan of the little handle. The thread used in these models, same as the Damaskeene razors and older Lather Catchers has not been in standard production for many years. It means that unless you can fabricate a screw, you getting a custom handle is a challenge. I actually have a fluted long handle from an old Star razor which just works well.
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The original 1914 (which yours looks like) I have a constant love-hate relationship with. The blade loading is not easy and I need to watch that the blade edges are resting in the small bumps at the end while trying to close the cap which snaps like a turtle. I put up with it mostly because it gives the best shave of all the Gem blade razors, and one of the best shaves of any of my razors. spidey9 then told me about the later version which had hooks to secure the blade edge like the 1912s and when I found one, it made the 1914 the perfect razor. As stated above though, I didn't like the short handle and so I bored mine out and put a 5mm set screw in it so I can use a regular handle of my choice., just making perfection pure bliss.
 
Many on this board and others claim that the 1914 is more aggressive than the MMOC. < rabidus > what are your thoughts on this?
 
@Galhatz @gvw755

I didn't have a issue with the handle! I found it to be well balanced. The overall length from the end of the handle to the blade edge is slightly shorter than others.

I know what you mean about opening and closing it though. I make sure the blade is on the stops before I put razor to face.

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Many on this board and others claim that the 1914 is more aggressive than the MMOC. < rabidus > what are your thoughts on this?

That's a tough one!

The shave today was great, I shaved with this razor as though I shaved with it a thousand times and only leveled the one bump.

Had I not started using the MMOC at an extreme shallow angle, I would have said the 1914 was more efficient.

The 1914 has a mild like smoothness and is extremely efficient. I felt like the razor could do no harm, much like my postwar Tech, but way more efficient.

The MMOC the other hand is not as forgiving and I can't shave as freely as I can with the 1914. The MMOC has more blade gap than the 1914 and that's what can cause issues if you don't maintain your angle.

The 1914 sliced through my stubble as effortlessly as the MMOC, but the MMOC has more blade gap and the BBS results will probably last a little longer. I haven't done a side by side to test it though.

With these two, it basically comes down to how long the shave will last. Getting to BBS results, I would say they are equal at this time.
 
Is it the pictures or has the 1914 more in common with a lather catcher than the 1912?
Which lather catcher are you referring to? Technically, the 1912 and 1914 are considered lather catchers because they both have that "bowl" underneath the base plate to catch lather. Maybe not as large as the Star Kampfe or Gem Jr LC, but it is still there, unlike the 1924 and all subsequent Gem/ER razors.
 
Judging from the pictures I thought the bowl of this 1914 had more in common with a Star Kampfe or Gem Jr LC than the "bowl" of the 1912.
(But I know pictures can sometimes be misleading, because the razors look huge on the screen, but tiny when you hold them in your hands...)
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I didn't like the short handle and so I bored mine out and put a 5mm set screw in it so I can use a regular handle of my choice.

If you don't like the short handle of the 1914 (L in the photo below), you'd hate the handle of the "Shovelhead" (R in the photo below). Actually, the handles are about the same length, but on the 1914, it attaches so much lower, giving a longer "virtual length".

Note the little lather catcher feature of the 1914.

But before other folks start boring out the heads on their vintage Gem razors, remember that 2 piece Gem handles are (all?) interchangeable, so you could just get a longer one off another Gem.

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