I'm considering and looking for one of the GEM Damaskeene razors. If you after one, what blades work in these razors and is the angle required the same as the 1912 GEM and Micromatic?
Your Use of a GEM Demaskeene Razor
- Thread starter Twelvefret
- Start date
The Damaskene is a 1912 model.
The damaskeene takes the usual SE blade and you use it at the same angle ad the other Gem razors.
I’ve had several damaskeene razors over the years and am hanging on to a curved top and an open comb. They are my favorite SEs.
I’ve had several damaskeene razors over the years and am hanging on to a curved top and an open comb. They are my favorite SEs.
- Thread starter
- #4
Would you please provide a photo of the one you kept?
- Thread starter
- #5
Over the years I've found that most SE razors are pretty similar in performance.
It is more personal preference in how they look and what they weigh.
They take the same blade
Make sure you use shaving blades NOT box cutter blades. One is ground for sharpness (shallow angle) the other is ground for durability (deep angle)
As with DE blades search out PTFE coated for the smoothest performance.
It is more personal preference in how they look and what they weigh.
They take the same blade
Make sure you use shaving blades NOT box cutter blades. One is ground for sharpness (shallow angle) the other is ground for durability (deep angle)
As with DE blades search out PTFE coated for the smoothest performance.
Here are my Gem Damaskeene razors. Note that I find the open comb to be quite mild, but still provides a great shave. The blade tray is flat on the open comb. I think the later closed comb curved top model provides the more efficient shave between the two of them. I had a beveled head model at one point that shaved virtually the same as the curved top closed comb.
The differences between the 1912 and the Damaskeene are mostly cosmetic; they say "use only Damaskeene blades".
But under the head is stamped "1912".
This Damaskeene was actually made in 1919 but look on the lower right at the model patent date.
- Thread starter
- #9
Thank you.The differences between the 1912 and the Damaskeene are mostly cosmetic; they say "use only Damaskeene blades".
But under the head is stamped "1912".
This Damaskeene was actually made in 1919 but look on the lower right at the model patent date.
- Thread starter
- #10
Would love to find an open comb. Thank you for posting .
- Thread starter
- #11
What about the Kampfe razors? What blades? Anyone use one?
The open comb does have a different blade tray than the later Damaskeenes and might be attributable to the difference in shaves for me.The differences between the 1912 and the Damaskeene are mostly cosmetic; they say "use only Damaskeene blades".
But under the head is stamped "1912".
This Damaskeene was actually made in 1919 but look on the lower right at the model patent date.
I believe that the Damaskeenes stamped with “Gem Cutlery Company” were made between the period of 1912 and 1915. The Damaskeenes stamped with “Gem Razor” were from 1915-16 through 1919. There are early Damaskeenes that have “Patent Pending” stamped on them. I’ve only seen them online and I believe they’re quite rare.
I have a couple of Kampfe razors with one with an 1899 stamp and another with a 1901 stamp (awards dates). The razor heads are like little cages. I have a couple of wedge blades that came with them and they do make for interesting shaves.
As others have stated, a Damaskeene is just an early "1912".
There are lots of permutation combinations: open comb or tooth comb, flat cap, curved cap, very curved cap, hollow long handle, normal handle with diamond knurling, travel handle with diamond knurling, late model normal handle with vertical grooves, GEM Cutlery Co, GEM Safety Razor Corp, Use Only With GEM Damaskeene Blades, Use GEM Damaskeene Blades, the different spring configurations, and the elusive Pat'd 1902.
Have fun tracking them all down.
My favorite is the early tooth comb Damaskeene, GEM CUTLERY CO on the back, very curved top cap, heart shaped spring, and the hollow long handle off my open-comb Damaskeene.
Most aggressive is the mid-20s Damaskeene that only says GEM on the back (no Cutlery or Safety Razor), and the inside that says "Use GEM Damaskeene Blades" (no "Only With")
Early and late models:
Three cap profiles:
Heart shaped spring:
- Thread starter
- #15
Why the extended long handle on the Kampfe/Star type razors?
On the long handled Damaskeene OC that I have, the handle end is a hollow pentagonal receptacle and is meant to accept a stropping attachment. The attachment is long gone, but you can see the long-handled sets in Waits with the stropper included.
- Thread starter
- #17
Okay and not meant to be used in shaving?
The handle has two purposes, the razor head on one end and the stropper receiver on the other. The stropper is slotted to hold the carbon steel SE blade for stropping. I think the stropper was meant to be stored, inverted, up inside the handle.
Mine looks like this, from Waits p. 433:
- Thread starter
- #19
Yes, I use the Kampfe razors with true wedge blades and have for quite some time now. What I enjoy most with these razors is the fact that the blades last pratically indefinately with a bit of care. With that being said, honing them is an essential skill that must be learned unless one cares to send them off to someone else. These blades sharpen up beautifully just using a simple coticule with water and slurry followed by a bit of stropping on leather.
I would have to say that the Kampfe razor that always delivers that BBS shave would be the Kampfe 1901 model with the swinging guard. The 1902 model, which is the most common, never seems to cut close enough for my taste. The 1896 model with swing guard is a cut below the 1901 but still better than the 1902 in its various versions that were sold until about the early 1920's or so.
The two piece tubular handle was designed to hold the slotted stropping device that was a pressure fit into the bottom section of the tube. Normally during shaving only the top part of the tube would be attached to the razor, although you could certainly use both sections together. But the primary purpose of the two piece handle is for ease in stropping giving you something to hold onto...without that length it would be easy to accidently drop it during stropping thereby chipping the edge. And when the edge gets a chip you are in for some serious quality time on the stone to remove it...It's happened to me twice in the past by my own negligence!
Similar threads
