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Taming the gem razors, particularly the 1912s.

Lately, I have been getting very good shaves from many DE razors, yet a great shave from the Gem razors was still eluding me. I built up a small collection of Gem razors, thinking that if I get most of the gem razors. I’ll be able to get a good shave from at least one of them.
IMG_1966.JPG


I am first going to start with some of my less successful taming attempts in the order that I attempted to tame these gem razors, leading up to my greatest success.

I think I prefer the 1912s, as I kept returning to the 1912s, neglecting most of the other gems. While doing research on how to shave with the gem razors, I came upon a trick in which people place a removed spine from a gem blade and place that spine underneath the current blade’s spine. This lifts the back of the blade a bit, tilting the blade down, and taming the gem razors a bit. Instead of using a removed spine, I cut a small piece of a 1mm thick magnetic sheet, to about the same size as the gem spines. I found the magnetic sheets more convenient to use as the magnetic strip holds onto the blade and keeps their place a little better than the remove spine. Also, if I want, I could double or triple up the magnetic sheets lifting the blade 2 or 3mm.
IMG_1971.JPG

Using the magnetic sheet to lift the blade made the gem Junior usable for me but not optimal. Using the 1912 unmodified is unusable to me. I cannot get a good shave with the unmodified 1912s as it bites me and scrapes my skin raw. When shaving with the spine lifting trick, I can get a close shave, but the shave is still a little too aggressive for me as my skin ends up feeling raw in some places and ended up with a few cuts.

There is a lot of talk on the DE section of this form of blade rigidity. I initially thought that the gem razors with their thicker blades will have no rigidity problem. These 1912 razors, however, have a huge rigidity problem because the blade hangs over the open comb, supported only at its two ends. If one pushes down on these blades towards the bevel, one will realize how wobbly these gem blades are while in the 1912s.

After trying multiple ways to fill the gap, I almost succeeded by making a mold out of epoxy putty.
IMG_1973.JPG

This epoxy putty mold was not perfect and was hard to get the blade in place while using this mold. The mold caused the blade to frown where the center of the blade was higher than the ends. Yet the mold gave the blade re-rigidity and I tried a shave. The blade I tried to shave with may have been dull, and I did not get a good shave with the epoxy putty mold trick. I would say the shave was like the lifting the spine trick, but I will have to test it again to know, which I’m probably not going to do. Yet if one gets a proper mold, this mold trick might work.

The next thing I tried was sticking a stainless steel thin rod into the indentations of the guard. I have a stainless steel pet comb in which the teeth looked like it would fit perfectly into the 1912’s teeth indentation. I pulled one of the stainless rods from the dog combs out of the comb to see if this thin stainless rod can do the trick. For my first try I did not get this thin stainless rod to fit into the 1912’s, but if it perfectly into the 1914s.
IMG_1976.JPG

have not tried a complete shave with these 1914s supported with this thin metal rod, but I gave it a little test and the razor felt quite effective and aggressive, and probably bite a little less than the unmodified version but for my current taste it’s probably still a bit too aggressive.

A brilliant idea came upon me right after placing the rod into the razor. I thought, why not try to push the blade into the guard, instead of trying to fill up the guard? I took a thin magnetic strip and placed it on the blade near the clapping point of the blade and the cap. Like this, the cap will push the blade further down. If you look closely at this picture, you may notice the blade is hovering on top of the open Combs and pressed up against the blade stop.
IMG_1999.JPG


Here is a picture of how the blade looks once I closed the cap. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the blade is now forming a smile where the edges are higher than the center. The center of the blade is now pushed down against the guard and the edges are no longer pushed up against the blade stops. The higher edges of the 1912 prevent pushing the blade down further at the edges.
IMG_2002.JPG

With this setup, the blade was quite rigid and running the razor over my fingers felt like the setup might shave while being super mild, so onto the test shave. At first, the shave felt super mild but was not cutting my hair properly. Before dismissing the set up I realized I used the current blade two or three times before and tested with it as well, so the blade might be dull. I put in a fresh blade and continued to shave.

All I can say is wow, this 1912 with the fresh blade was so soft on my face that I almost can’t hurt myself unless I tried really hard. It cut through my stubble really easily, even in my tough spots. With DE razors, I’m getting extremely smooth shaves lately, but I’m still struggling to cut the stubble on my chin and part of my neck area. This mild gem set up just cut through those areas with ease, but may be a little too mild for some as I have gotten closer shaves.

Just for thoroughness, another method that I have tested is shimming the blade with a second blade, which seems to have some positive effect as well. I also sanded down the corners of the cap, as some of my previous gem shaves I felt minor scratches I thought may come from the corner of the blade. But the scratches were more likely to have been coming from the corner of the cap. I don’t know if sanding down the corners of the cap did anything, but today’s shave felt super soft and there were no scratches.

This method of using a small thin piece of something, which I used a cut piece of a 1mm thick magnet sheet. Others may use sheet-metal or plastic. A thickness of 1 mm or less is probably ideal; thicker sheets hold the cap higher, which can affect the shave.

This trick appears to work on the old style open comb gems. This trick will not work on the newer gem razors. Most of the newer gem razors have fairly good blade support and don’t need this trick. All the gem razors after the bullettip, including the MMOC, have good blade support (the clogproof is the oddball out, which has average blade rigidity). The only way I currently know of taming the MMOC is by using the spine lifting trick. The bullettip has one extra bar of support when comparing the bullettip to the clogproof. For the clogproof, one may try to shim the blades in order to give the blade more support, but one is probably better off using the better supported bullettip. Using the spine lifting trick on these later milder gem razors seems to make the razor a little too mild where they don’t cut whiskers anymore.

Anyway, if you have any other tricks, please share. I figured I’ll share what I’ve learned in how to tame the 1912 and get a smooth, close shave from the 1912s.
 
They should not need to be tamed, at least the more modern ones. The angle of the razor should be maintained with the cap almost touching the skin. It will be an acute angle, similar to a straight razor shave. The blade is plenty rigid.

I like to start a new blade in one of the milder razors, such as a Push-Button or Micromatic Flying Wing. After a couple of shaves, I'll transfer the blade to a Micromatic Clog-pruf or Micromatic Open Comb and get quite a few more shaves from it.
 
They should not need to be tamed, at least the more modern ones. The angle of the razor should be maintained with the cap almost touching the skin. It will be an acute angle, similar to a straight razor shave. The blade is plenty rigid.

I like to start a new blade in one of the milder razors, such as a Push-Button or Micromatic Flying Wing. After a couple of shaves, I'll transfer the blade to a Micromatic Clog-pruf or Micromatic Open Comb and get quite a few more shaves from it.
I’m guessing that you haven’t read the complete post. It’s OK as it’s a really long post. I agree with you that the latter models, starting with the flying wing AKA bullet tip, are milder and may not need modification. I attribute the milder shave coming from the flying wing comparing to the nearly identical clog proof, to the extra leg of support for the blade. Yet these later models don’t seem to cut my hair right, but I haven’t given them a proper testing. The MMOC may only need a bit of blade tilting, and the clog proof and earlier models need lots of blade stabilization in order to work for me.

I saw in another thread that your favorite gem razor is the lather catcher. Looking at pictures, it looks like in the lather catcher the blade rests against the open comb. Is this the case? Does the lather catcher have better blade support? If this is the case, then the lather catcher may be the perfect gem razor, combing the advantages of the 1912 together with the advantages of the later models.
 
I’m guessing that you haven’t read the complete post. It’s OK as it’s a really long post. I agree with you that the latter models, starting with the flying wing AKA bullet tip, are milder and may not need modification. I attribute the milder shave coming from the flying wing comparing to the nearly identical clog proof, to the extra leg of support for the blade. Yet these later models don’t seem to cut my hair right, but I haven’t given them a proper testing. The MMOC may only need a bit of blade tilting, and the clog proof and earlier models need lots of blade stabilization in order to work for me.

I saw in another thread that your favorite gem razor is the lather catcher. Looking at pictures, it looks like in the lather catcher the blade rests against the open comb. Is this the case? Does the lather catcher have better blade support? If this is the case, then the lather catcher may be the perfect gem razor, combing the advantages of the 1912 together with the advantages of the later models.

Maybe you're thinking of @Ron R since he really likes the lather catcher models. I have only gone back as far as the 1912 models so far, anyway.

I'm puzzled by your emphasis on 'blade support'. The GEM blade is double the thickness of a DE blade with reinforced spine. They are very rigid just as they are. Used at a steep angle as intended, there is little bending force being applied, most of the force is from the edge towards the spine of the blade. Basically, the GEM blade is made to emulate a straight razor, which has no external support. The 'frame' of the GEM razors is made to hold the blade firmly and guard against accidental nicks and cuts.

If you are hearing the 'scraping burned toast' sound, this is just a microphonic effect, it does not mean the blade is chattering in a way to impact the shave quality. If the blade rested directly on the comb, the razor would cut stripes in your whiskers.

Don't you think the original designers did a good job? I mean, millions of people used the GEM family razors and got good results without having to modify them. Maybe it's more a matter of practicing with them and adapting to their design, so you get the results you want.
 
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I just put in a blade and shave. Also, it’s a Clog-pruf not clog proof.
I figured some people would say, “These razors are perfect as they are.” as many people seem to love these razors as is. Yet there is a large group of people who can’t get a good shave from the 1912s as is. There is a reason gem sat in the shadows of Gillette, when gem had some basic things that should have pushed the tide into their favor. Yet, if people get a rough shave, they tend not to think further and buy the razor that gives them a comfortable shave. They may never realize that a gem razor has the potential to shave better than the best DE flimsy blade razors. Yet a straight razor and a wedge blade can give the best shave to a skilled wielder.
 
Maybe you're thinking of @Ron R since he really likes the lather catcher models. I have only gone back as far as the 1912 models so far, anyway.
I think you’re right; it was @Ron R that I was thinking of.

I'm puzzled by your emphasis on 'blade support'. The GEM blade is double the thickness of a DE blade with reinforced spine. They are very rigid just as they are.
That’s what I thought at first as well, yet if one pushes down on the gem blade while it’s in a 1912 razor, one will realize how little support the blade has in a downward direction. The razor can get away with such flimsy support because of most of the force going directly into the point. Yet there is downward pressure from the skin, and there is loading and unloading forces which ends up translating in to a very dangerous shave for many. The wedge blades were sturdy, a straight razor are sturdy, a gem blade at over twice the thickness of a DE blade is still flimsy.

Used at a steep angle as intended
I think when you say steep angle you really mean shallow angle as a shallow angle (riding the cap) is what is how gems shave.

If the blade rested directly on the comb, the razor would cut stripes in your whiskers.
If this statement was correct, then the Fatip OC, Gillette new/old, Lambda Athena, and many other most loved razors would-be cutting strips in people’s whiskers. One of the bigger reasons an open comb razor has the potential of being so much smoother and gentler than the close comb is because of the near perfect base support. The design with the blade resting on the comb works really well when one uses a shallow angle while riding the cap.
 
That’s what I thought at first as well, yet if one pushes down on the gem blade while it’s in a 1912 razor, one will realize how little support the blade has in a downward direction. The razor can get away with such flimsy support because of most of the force going directly into the point. Yet there is downward pressure from the skin, and there is loading and unloading forces which ends up translating in to a very dangerous shave for many. The wedge blades were sturdy, a straight razor are sturdy, a gem blade at over twice the thickness of a DE blade is still flimsy.

I think when you say steep angle you really mean shallow angle as a shallow angle (riding the cap) is what is how gems shave.

If this statement was correct, then the Fatip OC, Gillette new/old, Lambda Athena, and many other most loved razors would-be cutting strips in people’s whiskers. One of the bigger reasons an open comb razor has the potential of being so much smoother and gentler than the close comb is because of the near perfect base support. The design with the blade resting on the comb works really well when one uses a shallow angle while riding the cap.

Correct, I did mean shallow angle or as I prefer to say 'acute angle'.

The main component of shaving force is in towards the spine. A small component force tends to pull the blade up towards the cap, not push it down. Sure, you could push it down slightly with a tool or something, but this is not representative of actual shaving conditions. Compared to a DE blade, the GEM blade isn't flimsy. Doubling the thickness alone makes it at least eight times stiffer, not to mention the reinforced spine.

A very small amount of flexibility in the blade isn't dangerous (at least, I haven't found it to be dangerous). It allows the blade to more easily follow an imperfect surface. Since your face is not made up of small planar surfaces, this can be an advantage.

You can demonstrate for yourself there is a small gap under the blade in razors such as Fatip OC, Gillette New SC, etc. Just insert a slip of paper between the blade and comb. It will go in a little ways and then stop. This shows the blade is supported fairly close to the edge, yet there is still a small gap under the blade. The teeth of the comb curve away from the blade edge slightly.

The open comb is simply another style of guard that predates the safety bar style. The main advantage is lather and whiskers can flow through more easily so it is less likely to clog. Some open comb razors do offer more blade exposure but you can have safety bar razors with large blade exposure, too.

I don't usually ride the cap with razors like the Fatip or New SC, preferring a more neutral angle. The razors work fine this way.

The safety bar GEM Micromatic Clog-pruf shaves about as close as the Micromatic Open Comb with practice. Some consider it be an improvement because it can feel more comfortable to use.

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Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
Lately, I have been getting very good shaves from many DE razors, yet a great shave from the Gem razors was still eluding me. I built up a small collection of Gem razors, thinking that if I get most of the gem razors. I’ll be able to get a good shave from at least one of them.
View attachment 1970375

I am first going to start with some of my less successful taming attempts in the order that I attempted to tame these gem razors, leading up to my greatest success.

I think I prefer the 1912s, as I kept returning to the 1912s, neglecting most of the other gems. While doing research on how to shave with the gem razors, I came upon a trick in which people place a removed spine from a gem blade and place that spine underneath the current blade’s spine. This lifts the back of the blade a bit, tilting the blade down, and taming the gem razors a bit. Instead of using a removed spine, I cut a small piece of a 1mm thick magnetic sheet, to about the same size as the gem spines. I found the magnetic sheets more convenient to use as the magnetic strip holds onto the blade and keeps their place a little better than the remove spine. Also, if I want, I could double or triple up the magnetic sheets lifting the blade 2 or 3mm.
View attachment 1970376
Using the magnetic sheet to lift the blade made the gem Junior usable for me but not optimal. Using the 1912 unmodified is unusable to me. I cannot get a good shave with the unmodified 1912s as it bites me and scrapes my skin raw. When shaving with the spine lifting trick, I can get a close shave, but the shave is still a little too aggressive for me as my skin ends up feeling raw in some places and ended up with a few cuts.

There is a lot of talk on the DE section of this form of blade rigidity. I initially thought that the gem razors with their thicker blades will have no rigidity problem. These 1912 razors, however, have a huge rigidity problem because the blade hangs over the open comb, supported only at its two ends. If one pushes down on these blades towards the bevel, one will realize how wobbly these gem blades are while in the 1912s.

After trying multiple ways to fill the gap, I almost succeeded by making a mold out of epoxy putty.
View attachment 1970378
This epoxy putty mold was not perfect and was hard to get the blade in place while using this mold. The mold caused the blade to frown where the center of the blade was higher than the ends. Yet the mold gave the blade re-rigidity and I tried a shave. The blade I tried to shave with may have been dull, and I did not get a good shave with the epoxy putty mold trick. I would say the shave was like the lifting the spine trick, but I will have to test it again to know, which I’m probably not going to do. Yet if one gets a proper mold, this mold trick might work.

The next thing I tried was sticking a stainless steel thin rod into the indentations of the guard. I have a stainless steel pet comb in which the teeth looked like it would fit perfectly into the 1912’s teeth indentation. I pulled one of the stainless rods from the dog combs out of the comb to see if this thin stainless rod can do the trick. For my first try I did not get this thin stainless rod to fit into the 1912’s, but if it perfectly into the 1914s.
View attachment 1970379
have not tried a complete shave with these 1914s supported with this thin metal rod, but I gave it a little test and the razor felt quite effective and aggressive, and probably bite a little less than the unmodified version but for my current taste it’s probably still a bit too aggressive.

A brilliant idea came upon me right after placing the rod into the razor. I thought, why not try to push the blade into the guard, instead of trying to fill up the guard? I took a thin magnetic strip and placed it on the blade near the clapping point of the blade and the cap. Like this, the cap will push the blade further down. If you look closely at this picture, you may notice the blade is hovering on top of the open Combs and pressed up against the blade stop.
View attachment 1970382

Here is a picture of how the blade looks once I closed the cap. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the blade is now forming a smile where the edges are higher than the center. The center of the blade is now pushed down against the guard and the edges are no longer pushed up against the blade stops. The higher edges of the 1912 prevent pushing the blade down further at the edges.
View attachment 1970383
With this setup, the blade was quite rigid and running the razor over my fingers felt like the setup might shave while being super mild, so onto the test shave. At first, the shave felt super mild but was not cutting my hair properly. Before dismissing the set up I realized I used the current blade two or three times before and tested with it as well, so the blade might be dull. I put in a fresh blade and continued to shave.

All I can say is wow, this 1912 with the fresh blade was so soft on my face that I almost can’t hurt myself unless I tried really hard. It cut through my stubble really easily, even in my tough spots. With DE razors, I’m getting extremely smooth shaves lately, but I’m still struggling to cut the stubble on my chin and part of my neck area. This mild gem set up just cut through those areas with ease, but may be a little too mild for some as I have gotten closer shaves.

Just for thoroughness, another method that I have tested is shimming the blade with a second blade, which seems to have some positive effect as well. I also sanded down the corners of the cap, as some of my previous gem shaves I felt minor scratches I thought may come from the corner of the blade. But the scratches were more likely to have been coming from the corner of the cap. I don’t know if sanding down the corners of the cap did anything, but today’s shave felt super soft and there were no scratches.

This method of using a small thin piece of something, which I used a cut piece of a 1mm thick magnet sheet. Others may use sheet-metal or plastic. A thickness of 1 mm or less is probably ideal; thicker sheets hold the cap higher, which can affect the shave.

This trick appears to work on the old style open comb gems. This trick will not work on the newer gem razors. Most of the newer gem razors have fairly good blade support and don’t need this trick. All the gem razors after the bullettip, including the MMOC, have good blade support (the clogproof is the oddball out, which has average blade rigidity). The only way I currently know of taming the MMOC is by using the spine lifting trick. The bullettip has one extra bar of support when comparing the bullettip to the clogproof. For the clogproof, one may try to shim the blades in order to give the blade more support, but one is probably better off using the better supported bullettip. Using the spine lifting trick on these later milder gem razors seems to make the razor a little too mild where they don’t cut whiskers anymore.

Anyway, if you have any other tricks, please share. I figured I’ll share what I’ve learned in how to tame the 1912 and get a smooth, close shave from the 1912s.
My first Gem razor i used was the G-Bar, that is a great razor IMO. As I used a lot of different ASR razors I kind of forgot my G-Bar and then I started using it again more often a couple of years ago and found it easy to use and gives a almost perfect shave every time.
My beard must be getting more tougher now as I age because the 1912 models seem milder to me over the years of use than when I first used it.
If you want a slightly smoother shave the only thing you can do is slip a spent blade spline under the new modern blade and it will tilt blade downward slightly more(@esee you already have discovered that already using a magnetic strip:thumbup:). I have a few razors I use that simple shim hack on a only a few ASR razors that where designed for the thicker spline of the 1910's - 40's.
(Some old archived photo's that kind of explain what I used and the evolution of ASR blades over the decades of time.)

Eveready spline shimmed (RIGS) for a smoother shave..jpg


Old blades that where used by Star, Ever-Ready + Gem brands and they merged to become American Safety Razor "ASR" as you can see they started out with a wedge blade and progress to splined blades to our modern Gem Personna SS PTFE on the far left.

Comparing spline thickness 1.jpg


The best way to use a ASR razor is use it like a straight razor for a Shallow angle(riding the cap) because it is how it was designed to be used IMO.
This wedge blade came with my Star bar #4 (Mfg 1919-20) lather catcher razor when I purchased it. I believe they just chopped off a straight razor when experimenting back in the 1880's for proto type razors. Star(Kampfe brothers of Brooklyn NY) made the first safety razor on a mass scale in USA and world "pioneers of first safety razor"!
This photo shows the Star bar #4 lather catcher with a Wedge blade, try to use ASR razors similarly to a straight razor to find the sweet spot angle and they will work wonderfully.
Star bar 1.4.jpg

Have some great shaves!
 
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@Ron R if I'm understanding correctly, the shim could smooth out the shave on the older ASR razors, but would not be needed for the Micromatic razors with 'bumps' or later razors like the Push-Button.

I'm a little unsure on the 1912 razors because weren't some of those were made after the thinner GEM blades were introduced? I think my 1912s were made in the 1940s, probably. Did the maker change the 1912 razors to suit the thinner blades?
 
Ha, the smiling blade likes the clog-pruf as well.
IMG_2009.JPG


I was about to shave with the 1912, but at the last second checked if the smiling blade works with the clog-pruf, and as I already said it did. The smile is a little more subtle on the clog-pruf, but it’s still there and the blade rigidity increased a lot. This is my first great shave from a clog-pruf, and this shave was a little more aggressive/ effective than the smiling blade in the 1912. The smiling blade in the clog-prof gave me a great shave comparable to my better DE razors. I got an easy near BBS with only a moderate amount of aftershave sting around my lips and neck. The rest of my face got no sting.
 
Correct, I did mean shallow angle or as I prefer to say 'acute angle'.

The main component of shaving force is in towards the spine. A small component force tends to pull the blade up towards the cap, not push it down. Sure, you could push it down slightly with a tool or something, but this is not representative of actual shaving conditions. Compared to a DE blade, the GEM blade isn't flimsy. Doubling the thickness alone makes it at least eight times stiffer, not to mention the reinforced spine.

A very small amount of flexibility in the blade isn't dangerous (at least, I haven't found it to be dangerous). It allows the blade to more easily follow an imperfect surface. Since your face is not made up of small planar surfaces, this can be an advantage.

You can demonstrate for yourself there is a small gap under the blade in razors such as Fatip OC, Gillette New SC, etc. Just insert a slip of paper between the blade and comb. It will go in a little ways and then stop. This shows the blade is supported fairly close to the edge, yet there is still a small gap under the blade. The teeth of the comb curve away from the blade edge slightly.

The open comb is simply another style of guard that predates the safety bar style. The main advantage is lather and whiskers can flow through more easily so it is less likely to clog. Some open comb razors do offer more blade exposure but you can have safety bar razors with large blade exposure, too.

I don't usually ride the cap with razors like the Fatip or New SC, preferring a more neutral angle. The razors work fine this way.

The safety bar GEM Micromatic Clog-pruf shaves about as close as the Micromatic Open Comb with practice. Some consider it be an improvement because it can feel more comfortable to use.

View attachment 1970590 View attachment 1970591
you are right that the tip of the point does not rest on the open comb, yet in practicality, I consider the Fatip OC blade to be resting on the open comb.

Maybe for some, having a slightly flimsy blade does not affect them. For me, the flimsy blade in the 1912 is fine around my sideburns areas. When I get my chin area or try to go ATG at my neck, the flimsy blade comes into play. My hair is tough around my chin and the flimsy blade gives instead of cutting through smoothly, which ends up translating into a dangerous shave. when I use a rigid blade, I can easily go through the whiskers at my chin and go ATG on my neck. People have debated whether a flimsy blade affects the shave, and this debate will probably continue throughout this forum. So for now I think we can leave the argument whether the 1912’s bendable blade affects the shave.
 
@Ron R if I'm understanding correctly, the shim could smooth out the shave on the older ASR razors, but would not be needed for the Micromatic razors with 'bumps' or later razors like the Push-Button.

I'm a little unsure on the 1912 razors because weren't some of those were made after the thinner GEM blades were introduced? I think my 1912s were made in the 1940s, probably. Did the maker change the 1912 razors to suit the thinner blades?
I know you asked @Ron R, but I figured I’ll give you what my experiments showed and @Ron R may say what he knows.

Lifting the back of the blade in order to smooth the shave works on the MMOC but appears to be counterproductive to the clog-pruf. Moving on to the G bar and flying wings, lifting the back of the blade to tip the blade forward once again appears to make the shave smoother, yet with these later models the smoother shaves can also translate into horribly inefficient shave, so it might be best to leave the later models alone.

My smiling blade trick appears to affect the dynamics of the shave in a few ways. First, it raises the cap a bit by stopping the cap from closing all the way down. This raised cap decreases the effective exposure. The blade is also pushed down towards the guard, further decreasing the blade exposure. Next, by taking out any slack in the blade, and pushing down the center of the blade against a rigid support increases the blade rigidity dramatically. Finally, by changing the shape of the blade and making the blade smile may change the shave as well. I know some may fear using a smiling blade, but in my two shaving experiences, with this smiling blade felt incredibly safe and effective. The only thing that concerned me is that with the clog-prof, the blade wanted to stick to the cap after opening and having to force the blade off the cap can be tricky.

Anyway, I will highly recommend anybody struggling to get great shaves from their gem razors to experiment with lifting the back of the blade with a shim, and the smiling blade trick. Between these two mods, anybody is bound to find a way of getting great shaves from these gems.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
@Ron R if I'm understanding correctly, the shim could smooth out the shave on the older ASR razors, but would not be needed for the Micromatic razors with 'bumps' or later razors like the Push-Button.

I'm a little unsure on the 1912 razors because weren't some of those were made after the thinner GEM blades were introduced? I think my 1912s were made in the 1940s, probably. Did the maker change the 1912 razors to suit the thinner blades?
You can use a shim in all the ASR razors if you like, I just use them in razors that do not have bumps or the tensioning system needs more height to make sure blade is more secure(The spring indicator tip on the top should not be all the way forward touching the front of slot!) Very rare to find them like this but the older blades with thicker splines where the standard then.
Some old archived photos when learning about ASR razors over the years.
I have tested Schick injector razors shimmed also with a few layers of electric taped on the back of of a blade & it confirmed my thoughts on a smoother shave, it just works!
(L) razor is a 1912 bought on E Bay years ago........................ (R)Ever-Ready Streamline 2nd Generation proper spring load.

Comparing Gem 1912 to a Everready streamline razor blade to safety bar.(2).jpg



(Below photo)This is what happens when you shim underneath the blade was my conclusion through testing, it tilts the front edge downwards giving a slight glancing of the blade effect + less gap thus giving a slightly better smoother shave is what I have concluded. Most ASR razors do not need a riser shim but regardless if you use one it will smooth out a aggressive razor slightly IMO.
Gem blade gap decreases as blade tilt increases is my conclusion by simple observation 3..jpg


Have some great shaves!
 
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I know you asked @Ron R, but I figured I’ll give you what my experiments showed and @Ron R may say what he knows.

Lifting the back of the blade in order to smooth the shave works on the MMOC but appears to be counterproductive to the clog-pruf. Moving on to the G bar and flying wings, lifting the back of the blade to tip the blade forward once again appears to make the shave smoother, yet with these later models the smoother shaves can also translate into horribly inefficient shave, so it might be best to leave the later models alone.,,

The idea of shimming the blade is just to compensate for the older razors being designed for the thicker blades. So, this small change would be bringing the razor closer to what the designers intended.

My original question was a little different, though. I wanted to know if the 1912 razors stayed the same since the 1920s era, or if they were updated for the thinner blades at some point. In other words, it might not be necessary to shim the later 1912 razors.

I don't feel it's necessary to modify the razors beyond the blade shim. If these GEM razors worked for millions of people, they can work for me just the same. I might have to learn how to use them through practice and experimentation, but I would expect them to work well for me pretty much as they came from the factory. It seems the GEM razors are able to handle tough beards without any concern about 'flimsy' blades. The blades are rigid enough to plow right through very tough whiskers. That's one of the main reasons I like the GEM razors.

When you say you can't get good shave results with some of the GEM razors, what exactly are you experiencing that makes you think the razors won't work as designed? You are not happy, but why exactly?
 
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You know, @esee, the later MMOC (with bumps) seems like it would be a natural match with what you seem to be looking for with the GEMs. It does take some time to learn it, but it's very solid and well made, with the thick metal base plate to support the blade. Plus, the TTO mechanism holds the blade very securely.
 
The idea of shimming the blade is just to compensate for the older razors being designed for the thicker blades. So, this small change would be bringing the razor closer to what the designers intended.

My original question was a little different, though. I wanted to know if the 1912 razors stayed the same since the 1920s era, or if they were updated for the thinner blades at some point. In other words, it might not be necessary to shim the later 1912 razors.

I don't feel it's necessary to modify the razors beyond the blade shim. If these GEM razors worked for millions of people, they can work for me just the same. I might have to learn how to use them through practice and experimentation, but I would expect them to work well for me pretty much as they came from the factory. It seems the GEM razors are able to handle tough beards without any concern about 'flimsy' blades. The blades are rigid enough to plow right through very tough whiskers. That's one of the main reasons I like the GEM razors.

When you say you can't get good shave results with some of the GEM razors, what exactly are you experiencing that makes you think the razors won't work as designed? You are not happy, but why exactly?
About two months ago, when I first started shaving, I bought a mixture of DE razors and gem razors. After committing myself to DE razors, but right before my razors arrived, I decided I wanted to try gem razors as well. Gem made ticker stainless uncoated blades, which was something that appealed to me. When I saw that the gem razors are solid brass for a very affordable price, I figured I’ll give the gems a try as well.

For my first few shaves, I switched off between DE razors and the gem junior. believe it or not, I was getting better shaves in my early shaves from the gem junior. During my first DE shave, I mistakenly believed I should hold the razor, with my face simultaneously contacts the guard and the cap. The steep angle shaves were a huge tugging fest where I practically pulled out all my hair from the roots and ended up with weird pimples the next day. I learned a huge lesson from that shave to never pull through if the razor is tugging.

For my 3rd shave, I used a gem Junior with a double spine. This gem shave cut my hair way better than the first two DE shaves, and I thought I might just stick with the gem razors. yet the gem razors ended up scraping some parts of my skin raw and I got a few cuts.

I have a rule that if I irritate my skin or get any kind of shaving injuries; I have to stop shaving for a few days or switch to a really gentle razor that won’t further irritate the skin. So, after taking a nearly a week break from shaving and purchasing some extremely mild razors, I ended up shaving with DE razors for a while because of injury avoidance.

Once my technique improved a bit in DE shaving, I learned about shaving prep, shallow angle shaving, and a bunch of other things. So I figured it was time to give the gems another try. I thought my technique improved so much that I did not need to tame the 1912 and did not shim the blade this time around. Boy, was I mistaken, this 1912 shave was worse than my first gem shaves. The shave was really close, but my skin felt awful and I also got a few cuts, particularly under my nose and on my neck. At this point I realized the shim is really important but I still switch back to DE shaving again.

Cutting the story short as this post is already getting long. I believe that if I understand the variables of shaving correctly, I would be able to, through technique modification or razor modification, be able to get a great shave from nearly all my razors. If I can’t get a great shave from a particular razor, I should at least I understand why I can’t get a great shave from that razor, as if I don’t understand why I can’t get the great shave, then my understanding of the variables is wrong.

So now that I’m able to predict nearly perfectly which DE razors I can get great shaves from, I turned my attention back to the gems. It’s probably because I started with the 1912 that I have not properly tested the newer varieties. In the one test that I tested the newer varieties, there is a 50% chance that the blade was dull, and on that test I found the razor to be too inefficient.

Anyway, the smiling blade on the 1912 makes 1912 into an almost mindless razor where one can do whatever they want with it and not hurt himself, but still snips the whiskers remarkably well. With the smiling blade, the 1912s turns into a very locked angle shaver with a tiny effective shaving angle range. My magnetic strip I used to leverage the center of the blade down is 1mm thick. If one used something that is less than 1mm thick, in order to push the bevel down, the cap will close a little further and open up a slightly larger range of angles. On the clog pruf, the smiling blade also made the shave much more carefree, but the angle was not as locked.
 
You know, @esee, the later MMOC (with bumps) seems like it would be a natural match with what you seem to be looking for with the GEMs. It does take some time to learn it, but it's very solid and well made, with the thick metal base plate to support the blade. Plus, the TTO mechanism holds the blade very securely.
You might be right, but the MMOC is a little too aggressive for me using as is. Tilting the blade down seems to tame the MMOC a bit. Lifting the cap a bit by using the smiling blade trick seems to mellow the MMOC even more than tilting. I have not done full shaving tests with the MMOC yet, but running the blade along the palm surface of my fingers as if I am shaving my fingers usually gives me a fairly good impression on how the razor will shave.
 
Maybe give it a fair trial. The key with the MMOC is keep it almost flat to the face and little pressure. Good prep and lather is helpful, as you'd expect. The MMOC does have more blade feel than some of the other GEMS, but it works really well and with practice there's no irritation. You just have to be a little careful with it.

I wouldn't want to use a completely fresh GEM blade in the MMOC. IMHO, it's better to use the blade a couple of times in a milder razor first.
 
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