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Fun new toy, a gem of a razor!

Just received a lovely pushbutton Gem razor from Shave4fun. Thanks! It is a lovely razor and quite unique in my experience of the Gem razor line. It is actually a mild razor! I was astonished. Even with that Ted Pella supersharp blade, I couldn't cut myself even when I tried. It's a nice addition to my micromatic and to my Gem G-bar razor, both of which are much more aggressive razors.

The thing that fascinates me about all of my gems is that when I first started doing vintage shaving, I could not for the life of me use a gem single edge razor. When I tried I would end up looking like something out of a horror film. It's an impressive and subtle sign of the learning curve of vintage shaving that now I find it easy to use my gem razor's.

Here is a picture of the razor:

http://www.shavemyface.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=261010&highlight=#261010
 
I recieved one of these as well as the one that is a tto type in some stuff I got in bulk a while back. What type of blades do you use and where would you get them?

Eddie
 
I recieved one of these as well as the one that is a tto type in some stuff I got in bulk a while back. What type of blades do you use and where would you get them?

Eddie

I sold the razor to android and got the Blue Star single edge blades from reddragon528 on ebay, but have seen them on the endcap at Wal-Mart.
 
All right we are talking GEMS! The pushbutton GEM is the only one I haven't tried. I bought one and anxiously awaited its arrival but when it came it was NOS. The GEM blade pack still in the cello. The moment was truly bittersweet. I was thrilled to have an NOS pushbutton but disappointed I couldn't shave with it. I consoled myself however by shaving with a G Bar and eating a Cadbury chocolate bar-but not at the same time! :biggrin:
Anyway blades for these are readily available in your better druggists here in the states (Walgreens, Rite-Aid, CVS, etc.). Apparently the only place you can't buy SE blades over the counter is the UK but the chemists over there would do well to stock a few.

As far as this being a mild razor that is good to know. The G bar is in this same league. The much maligned Micromatic enjoys a rather unsavoury reputation that I think is a little unfair. However I will admit that of all the SE razors I own that it is the only one that I have to be careful with as it will bite if you daydream. The older 1912 GEMS that look like thumbscrews are surprisingly mild too in spite of their frightful appearance and I highly recommend them.
The good news is that the SEs are readily affordable right now and plenty of good deals to be had. This is probably because ekress47 on Ebay hasn't discovered them yet!
 
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