First Posting: Boogered up Gem Junior Bar

[Rusted Rocket]

Hello all,

Just getting into wet shaving. I'm what is know in common parlance as financially embarrassed. This is a great cheap hobby that actually saves you money by ditching the disposable razors.

I started with a beat up Gem junior bar that shaves very rough.

I just got a beat up Damaskeene, and everything they say about them is true. A sweet, smooth, easy shave! So much fun to shave with that I took off my porkchop sideburns, so I'd have more real estate to mow. Thick bushy chops just disappeared down to smooth skin in single swipes!

Anyway, in comparing the two I discovered why the junior bar was so rough, the closed comb was bent down away from the cutting edge, unevenly.

To my discredit, I tried to fix it when I was tired and cranky after a long day at work. I marred the brass slightly at one front corner, pinched one of the blade stops shut and rather crudely got the comb in line. Not my finest hour, as I'm a pretty handy guy when I start out fresh.

I don't feel too bad as this was a beat up, rough, brassed-off razor to begin with, but I want to know if any of you have fined tuned your gem's comb? If so what was your technique and what tools did you use?

The brass is surprising hard and springy on these. Pressing on the comb fingers with a brass punch didn't do anything.

I'm thinking when I start fresh and un-rushed on this I will use a jewelers flathead and ball peen hammer to tap open the blade stop. Not sure how I will attempt to tap the comb straight. Probably need to find an appropriately sized and shaped anvil and tap it with flat tipped nail set.

Anybody been down this road before?

Cheers!
Rusted Rocket

 

[DrumZalot]

I had to straighten out a slanted ER lather catcher. The top of the razor's head (where the blade rests) was bent slightly down to the right. This caused the razor to have an unwanted slant. Of course, being that the lather catcher has a light frame it was easy to do by hand. Severely bending these old razors might cause them to break. I straightened out the lather catcher as best and safely as I could.

Rocket, if the razor is too bent out of shape you can find good deals on them in solid condition (just my 2 cents).

 

[Rusted Rocket]

Thanks for the reply DrumZalot. You may be right in that a replacement is in order. I'll bide my time until I find another as cheap as this one was. I originally picked this one up to practice nickel plating with, the plating is in pretty poor shape on it.

I'll fiddle with it once more before making the call. If it is not a user it will still look pretty hanging in the bathroom.

On this one it is not a matter of the scoop of the body being malformed (smooshed), it is that the line of the comb is cattywampus. The stamp of the comb gives it great tensile strength- it's a stubborn stretch of brass to try and straighten without damaging it worse than it is.

In the meantime I've picked up another Damaskeene for next to nothing. I'm really loving this model of SE. Who knows, if I don't catch the RAD that's going around this site, my two Damaskeenes might be all I need.

Cheers.