The Association of Lather Catchers: TALC

[Ron R]

This is my favorite Lather Catcher in a 1914. I like the small Hex handle.

View attachment 1486800

View attachment 1486803

The Ever-Ready 1914 little lather catcher(AKA LLC) is a great mid range razor and it is also one of my most enjoyable for audio feedback & with excellent shave results. My model has just the knurled handle but it still performs well. I have a 1912 Ever-ready with the hexagon chain link art design with the raised corners and that has a awesome handle grip-ness.

Have some great shaves!

 

[shave/brush]

I had an Ever-Ready 1912 with the chain-link handle. It's a nice mild razor.

 

[GAW9576]

Hey, I recognize that one. I saw the listing for it on eBay when I was looking for lather catchers. I had considered buying it, but the teeth looked a bit too crooked on top of the plating loss.

I can see why it would get passed by but many of my razors are user grade to lower user grade. Fortunately for my budget I actually love the look of some wear and patina. As long as it's still safe to shave with I'll take it.

Hear are some pictures of today's shave after sanitizing.

Micromatic Monday

Micromatic Mon 11 SOTD And we're off!! New day, new blade. Nice setup! I am agonizing (well, more like idly musing) over whether to try to get another shave out of my Blue Star. I feel the pull of the fresh PTFE.

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[GAW9576]

I had a wonderful shave today with the Eagle Improved razor on a modified Gem MMOC handle. The LaToja lathered up well with cold water and the Olive handled RazoRock boar brush and Lucky Tiger was a great finishing touch.

 

[Itazuramono]

This shave was pretty rough. Carbon steel blades seemed to work fine in my MMOC but in every other razor they're just way too rough.

 

[GAW9576]

I had an exceptional shave today with the Pat. 1901 Gem with custom acrylic handle.
The Rubber set 400 with Zenith Boar knot didn't disappoint either. And Cella is a great soap every time. Clubman Pinaud aftershave lotion finished things off very well.

 

[Matthewlawson3]

Hi, I am new to lather catchers and have just bought a Gem Junior Bar from Etsy. I’ll post some pictures below for everyone to see. I’ve been told it is fully functional and the blade stops look good to me. Hope everything works. I’ve have some Gem Junior 1912s.

1. Can I clean it as normal with dish soap and a toothbrush and warm water/hot? Can I dip it in 90% isopropyl alcohol after shaving?

2. Anything else I should do to get it more polished up?

3. Anything else I should know as a new lather catcher owner? Can anyone more precisely date it between 1907-11?

Thank you for your help.

 

[Ron R]

As for cleaning you can use dish soap and water with a tooth brush and afterwards use the 90% isopropyl alcohol to use as disinfectant.
The metals used are Brass as main base metal with a Nickel coating on lather catchers (?)on those lather catchers I understand from my limited research. Using Isopropyl will not hurt the razor when just dipped in it and let to dry. Gem did go to Chrome on later models like the 1912 models and Micromatics......

 

[Whiterook]

Razor: Kampfe Bros. Star HR-14B Lather Catcher
Blade: Personna GEM PTFE Stainless Steel Blade
Brush: Rudy Vey 2022 B & B Contributor Brush
Pre-Shave: Proraso White
Lather: Caswell-Massey Number Six
Aftershave: Proraso Green Splash
Additional Care:
Thayers Facial Tonic Witch Hazel Unscented
Imperial Leather Talcum Powder

 

[GAW9576]

Today's shave.

 

[Tanuki]

Road trip find

THE IMPROVED "Griffon" SAFETY RAZOR
-AND-
AUTOMATIC STROPPING MACHINE

 

[GAW9576]

Road trip find
View attachment 1523606
View attachment 1523605

THE IMPROVED "Griffon" SAFETY RAZOR
-AND-
AUTOMATIC STROPPING MACHINE

Dang, that's a Fantastic find. Looks like an interesting setup for adjusting. I'd like to see some. Pictures of how that works. Will it take modern Gem blades or wedges only?

 

[Tanuki]

Dang, that's a Fantastic find. Looks like an interesting setup for adjusting. I'd like to see some. Pictures of how that works. Will it take modern Gem blades or wedges only?

I was blown away when I opened the little, well-preserved tin box and found the complete razor, a corroded hand-stropping/honing attachment, the thin paper instruction sheet, and two spare spring/brackets!

I expect it will take a Gem blade with no problem beyond a shim or adapter.

The adjustment guide:

Safety Adjustable Shoulders (blade stops) and Screws (yellow):

Note the owner kept the Double Action Spring Clamp stored untensioned (red).

Automatic Self-Adjustable Spring Clamp from the side. Solid attachment point (red) and captured spring extension (yellow):

Safety Adjustable Shoulders (red to blue spring bar) and Screws (yellow) from the side:

 

[GAW9576]

That is absolutely awesome. What a fantastic find. And a very interesting method of being adjustable for sure. Thanks for the detailed pictures.

 

[Whiterook]

Razor: Ever-Ready 1905 Lather Catcher 24 Blade Set
Blade: Personna GEM PTFE Stainless Steel Blade
Brush: Rick Montalvo Grade A Silvertip Badger
Pre-Shave: Proraso White
Lather: Seaforth! Heather
Aftershave: Seaforth! Heather Aftershave Toner
Additional Care:
Thayers Facial Tonic Witch Hazel Unscented

 

[Itazuramono]

Road trip find
View attachment 1523606
View attachment 1523605

THE IMPROVED "Griffon" SAFETY RAZOR
-AND-
AUTOMATIC STROPPING MACHINE

That's amazing! How do you guys manage to just find these out in the wild?

 

[Tanuki]

That's amazing! How do you guys manage to just find these out in the wild?

Spending too much time in vintage stores. And swearing off things like browsing ebay. In my case, it helps to be retired.

 

[Whiterook]

Razor: VIC Lather Catcher
Blade: Personna GEM PTFE Stainless Steel Blade
Brush: Rudy Vey 2020 B & B Group Buy
Pre-Shave: Proraso White
Lather: Shannon's Soaps Barbershop
Aftershave: Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue
Additional Care:
Thayers Facial Tonic Witch Hazel Unscented

 

[Ron R]

Razor: VIC Lather Catcher
Blade: Personna GEM PTFE Stainless Steel Blade
Brush: Rudy Vey 2020 B & B Group Buy
Pre-Shave: Proraso White
Lather: Shannon's Soaps Barbershop
Aftershave: Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue
Additional Care:
Thayers Facial Tonic Witch Hazel Unscented
View attachment 1527149

Looks like a nice one, never heard of that brand before. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Tanuki]

First run out for the 'new' Griffon! (see above and on the SE acquisition thread)

I never expected to have a small collection of lather catchers. The Kampfe Star and Ever-Ready handle threads are too narrow for the Griffon, but could do the job in a pinch.

The Griffon is highly audible, as I expected. The blade stops were fully forward, at max aggression, when I found it. Kind of a SEvette was my experience today. Technique provided much of the safety (bloodshed avoidance). I will move the stops back a bit before the next flight of the Griffon.

The two cork spacers under the blade spine served to keep the hinged comb from wobbling away from the blade edge. The blade was held quite firmly in place by the strong retaining spring. Loading a GEM blade was very fiddly, but a well designed adapter should resolve that problem.

I reduced the 4.5 day stubble with an SR. The Griffon SEvette LC then delivered an extremely close shave, in both senses of the phrase. 6 hours post-shave my worst neck maelstrom has yet to start swirling.

It was not very good at edging/detailing, a typical issue for me with lather catchers.