ground off Gillette - why?

[bjm]

You have nothing to fear but fear itself...just do it!

I believe the first time I used the razor without the guard was the night before a three-day weekend. I figured if things went horribly wrong, I would have a few days for my wounds to heal. Instead, removing the safety bar forced me to concentrate on my technique and focus on the task at hand. I walked away with a very satisfying shave and it was one of the most rewarding lessons of my short shaving career.

 

[rreynoso]

Those shavers used to appear on Ripley's "Believe it or Not!"



The cheater used a GEM blade...

Cheers

 

[kingfisher]

Earlier posters were quite correct. The original idea was to get rid of all the teeth except for the sturdy ones on the corner. This allowed more protection and also more stiffness of the blade.

There were apparently a few guys who treated their razors like that back in the day and shaved with them that way for years and years. The name "DEvette" is very recently coined, on this very site no less. There was also a company that marketed and sold a DEvette of sorts for a few years, but I haven't seen one of them in a long time.

The iKon Teck is pretty similar, as is the Yaqi Knight Helmet. I mean, they have a guard, but there is so much blade exposure that you can't really use it.

 

[kingfisher]

I’ve been looking for a cheap GEM Micro Matic open comb that already has some broken or bent teeth so I can remove them all and create a SEvette.

A SEvette would be a lot less dangerous than a DEvette simply because of the greater structural integrity of the SE blade. You should give it a try and report back to us.

 

[Jim99]

I used a DEvette for two weeks straight in a pass-around and loved it. It takes a considerable amount of focus to get a good shave, but it’s not hard. Get it right and the shaves are unbelievably good!

 

[Quaznoid]

Why?

 

[THall]

I landed a Double Ring last year and many decades ago, probably the original owner or his son based on the patina, ground the baseplate down to resemble the Gillette New baseplate.

The temptation to have it “repaired” has left me and I honor the intention it as it was intended. That and it gives me the option of having it replated with zero guilt.

 

[Atlantic59]

Why?

Probably it started as a way to salvage a razor with bent teeth. This could have been useful for barbers trimming the hairline for their customers, edging beards, etc.

In the old days, people had more of a mentality to use what they already had and fix it up, instead of throwing it away.

 

[Tanuki]

I’ve been looking for a cheap GEM Micro Matic open comb that already has some broken or bent teeth so I can remove them all and create a SEvette.

$5 to $10 seems to be the normal price for a brassy, ugly MMOC around here. I hope you can find one in a vintage store in your part of the world. The asking price for decent MMOCs seldom rises above $20, even if there is a case.

I definitely volunteer you to make the test!

I have seen a few vintage devettes in my hunts in the wild. Most are dual 'comb', comb on one side, devette on the other. I'v never seen one with the corner guards left in place.

 

[Cal]

Steep angle shaver as well, that’s why I couldn’t imagine how to make this work...

Here's my "No Guard" aka "The Coach":

It's a post war Gillette Tech with the guards removed from the baseplate.

Great for keeping steep-anglers up-to-speed with their technique.

Those light-touch cap riders shouldn't mind it. Me, I like a comb or safety bar to stretch my skin and use a steep angle with some pressure.

+1
Cap riders can use No-Guards/DEvettes no problem at all. They don't use the guard so why would they need one?

There is a fine detail that should be pointed out. The original idea was to take the teeth off an open comb razor. BUT, the outer teeth are not supposed to be ground off, to protect the user from the corners of the blade. Those corners could dig into the skin quite easily which would be pretty bad.

TMK... Single Edge razors have stops to prevent user contact with the blade ends. Most DE razors don't. There is no need for stops on DE razors as all four blade corners are muted:

 

[FloppyJoe]

Your face your choice. For me, that is a whole lot of nope especially with a GEM.

 

[Multum in parvo]

First outing with the Shavette Focus R22 went well - a half head shave WTG, XTG

 

[Rob72]

I purchased one of the early Supply injector razors, and modified all 3 plates, one becoming a SEvette. Angle is everything. It is fearsome, but gives an incredible shave.

I lowered the bladestops on the other plates to ~1/10,000th over the top of the blade, and ground the guard down significantly. Vast improvement! The shave is much more like the repeating razors(more blade feel, closer shave) than the later series. Don't get me wrong, Schicks are boringly efficient, but "more" was definitely better in this case.

 

[schmalgausen]

 

[schmalgausen]

Pedicure razor

 

[Multum in parvo]

Looks like a ähh permanent solution....