First SE shave with Ever-Ready 1912

[sychodelix]

I picked up an Ever-Ready 1912 that was tarnished but in good working shape, along with a gold 46 Aristocrat for $16 at a local antique store a few days ago. I finally gave the 1912 a shot today, using the Gem stainless steel blades. The blade fit nicely and lined up perfectly. Took me a bit of work with the angle, since I've only ever used DE's but once I got it, it pretty much shaved my cheeks and sideburns DFS in one pass only.

It shaves very similar to what a shavette does, but severely more forgiving. Then again, I had the same issues with it as I did the shavette too. The chin and upper lip got quite a few little nicks and irritation, and I also noticed on the chin especially, the blade did seemed to jump and skip a whole lot, which made it very awkward and irritating. The cheeks on the other hand were no problem. Any suggestions on technique, blade choice, etc?

 

[Niles]

I've enjoyed using my Ever-Ready but don't have any specific advice for you yet. One of our SE experts should be along shortly with more help than I can give.

 

[fcdiscus]

Simple- light touch- correct angle. Practise makes perfect.

 

[willyb]

Use your free hand for skin stretching. SE shaving for many has a bit of a learning curve, but when mastered gives results that a DE can only dream of. Stick with it!

 

[Axebreaker]

Make sure you've got the blade centered in the stops, then lift up the spine like 30-40 degrees then drop it. Then close your razor. When doing the areas around the mounth, doing some facial contortions to get the skin taut helps a lot. Open your mouth, curl your lips around your teeth. It's kinda like a straight or shavette like you said

 

[sychodelix]

Didn't know to lift and drop the blade after in the stops. Maybe it wasn't placed absolutely perfectly.

 

[sychodelix]

Second shave with the 1912 was a whole lot better. Not perfect, but better. The angle was the worst issue, and too much pressure was too. Still got one weeper and a few little nicks, but I think that's the closest I've ever shaved my chin. Extremely effective, but requires a very gentle touch.

 

[Niles]

Glad you got a better second shave!

 

[cryhavoc]

Glad to hear you had a better second shave. I found with the 1912 once you find the right angle and use no pressure, I get the best shaves of any razor I use. Looking forward to hearing how your shaves progess with the 1912.

 

[Sledgehammer39]

The 1912 models are great razors!

 

[sychodelix]

Just shaved my face and head with it today. I'm REALLY starting to like this razor, and SEs in general. Its very much like a straight with training wheels. I had a very smooth shave with little to no irritation...except for one really nasty cut on the back left of my head. Skin stretching required in certain spots!

 

[g-flyer]

To me, the 1912 SE is like a DE slant as far as efficiency goes. I remember the first time I ran my Ever-Ready down my cheek--it was nearly BBS, and much better than my Techs, SuperSpeeds, Merkur 23 or Schick Krona. I love the noisy feedback, and find the razor to be close shaving, but quite forgiving, especially on the ATG neck pass.

 

[sychodelix]

Yeah, I like my Gillettes, but this baby is a whole different animal. Blade exposure is good if you know what you are doing.

 

[kcb5150]

I used my gem junior for the first time in a long time yesterday and it gave an outstanding shave. Only gem/er I am not big on is the 24.

 

[woodfluter]

Skin stretching, facial contortions...well sure, with any gear.

I say this with some trepidation, having remarked on it before and knowing it's not the norm:

I find a very low angle like that recommended for the Micromatic, with head flat against the skin or nearly so, to work best with the 1912 type. This requires some pressure - not zero pressure. As if no pressure were a viable option with XTG and ATG!

The good news is that, with a low angle, changes in pressure are much less fraught than when applying a higher angle of attack. So I get little or no burn. But others find differently, and we can't see what we're doing exactly. So who knows? All I could recommend is experimenting freely.

 

[sychodelix]

Yeah, I've had very little issues with my 1912 since getting the angle very close. It's definitely one of my favorite razors, now.