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SE wedge razor users say hello

The bump is much appreciated.

Although I now have a Rolls, Kampfe Bros Star, a Henckels Rapide, & now a Wilkinson Empire that all take "wedge" blades, I know little about them & have never shaved with one.

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Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge.

You're welcome KentA, the wedge blades razor are truly a delight to shave with IMO. I own quite a few now and have really enjoyed each and every one of them. I think the HENCKELS and FRENCH HOE(AIGLON) razors I own are my favorites. I use the both with wedge blades and occasionally I use a NOS Gem and Ever-Ready blade with the HENCKELS.

The Wilkinson Empire has its own proprietary blades but I have managed to hone several of them and also used a pasted strop to bring a few back to life providing a very good shave.

I would love to hear your opinion when you get those lovely razor up and going.
 
CV. Heljestrand Lather Catcher..
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Another shot..
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Four Shaving Pass Routine..
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Hot Water prep & massage with Coconut Oil
CV. Heljestrand Lather Catcher
NOS Heljestrand Hollow Ground Blade x 4
Semogue Boar Brush
Test Trial Tallow Shaving Soap
Organic Aloe Vera Gel
LOGONA Mann Aftershave Balm (From Germany)

I just had the most wonderful shave this morning with my CV. Heljestrand Lather Catcher & Hollow Ground Blade...An Old Gent from the USA once warned about the Dangers of going down the Hollow Ground Blade Rabbit Hole...He told me that I would be soon selling all my other SEs...Well ..I now know what this Old Timer was talkin about...Well with the exception of my Injectors of course...
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Anybody that's even thinking about going down this path...Get a CV. Heljestrand Lather Catcher Now...This Swedish work of Art are just the Dogs Danglies...Its a deceptively Aggressive Razor & offered me an all over BBS Result that I would expect from an Early Schick Type E 2 Injector & no bones about it..The CV. Heljestrand Lather Catcher is quite aggressive but ever so smooth & forgiving...My blade was ever so sharp and smooth today...There is not much more to say except the CV. Heljestrand Lather Catcher has just taken the Crown from the Gem Crowned Lather Catcher..
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Billy

Looking at the Gem Crowned Lather Catcher and the CV Heljestrand my question is who copied who? The blade holding systems on the two razors are identical so the only difference is the comb location, on the front surface for the Gem and on the bottom surface and pointing forward for the CVH. I have both razors, the Gem with the two piece tubular handle. An earlier generation CVH is hopefully due today though I also have multiple copies of the last model which I consider to be an outstanding shaver even with the Gem blade. I have not used my Gem Crowned yet but a visual comparison with the CVH shows many design similarities.
 
Looking at a bunch of the old French wedge blade razors they look so similar in design I wonder if they came out of the same factory. I just got a French Louis wedge blade razor and the head looks identical to a Le Francais and similar to the Le Coq. Amazing how the first two appear to be identical based on limited photos.
 
Looking at a bunch of the old French wedge blade razors they look so similar in design I wonder if they came out of the same factory. I just got a French Louis wedge blade razor and the head looks identical to a Le Francais and similar to the Le Coq. Amazing how the first two appear to be identical based on limited photos.

I agree they are very similar in design. The ones I have all have the open comb. I'm in search of one with a safety bar.

Have you shaved with your Louis yet?
 
I agree they are very similar in design. The ones I have all have the open comb. I'm in search of one with a safety bar.

Have you shaved with your Louis yet?

The safety bar seems to be a relatively late development for many manufacturers. Based on patent dates I suspect that Gem / ASR may have been one of the earliest adopters based on Gem and Ever-Ready lather catchers in my collection, some pre 1910. Bars are far enough back on the early Gem bar comb razors so not sure they did much other than keeping comb teeth straight. Remember that Gillette did not have any closed comb razors until the mid to late 1930s and they seem to have been the company everyone imitated.

Going to use the Louis today or tomorrow.
 
Here are photos of an early bar comb razor, a Kampfe intended for Gem style blades. Note how far back the bar is. Why I suspect it's only intended purpose was to add rigidity to the comb teeth.


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Flintstone65

Imagining solutions for imaginary problems
I own several lather catchers and hoe type razors, and find it hard to locate other users, experiences etc. I do own other SE's and DE's, but my daily shave comes from a SE wedge blade.

Thanks!
Greetings -- I've recently picked up a L'Essor wedge razor, and I've started a club for Lather Catcher users and collectors. This is a pretty old thread, but I wanted to invite you to check out this thread (The Association of Lather Catchers: TALC) in case you were still interested and wanted to help grow out the knowledge base on these razors.
 
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