Shaving wth an original blade in a 1912

[Fergiebilly]

I decided that I wanted to have an authentic shaving experience with an original Ever Ready blade in an English made 1912........ :angel:

I used an Old Stock brand New 1912 razor Old stock brand New razor blade,,

I knew that it was going to be a different shaving experience because the original blades have a thicker blade and spine than the modern GEM blades which dramatically alters the dynamics of the angle and the distance between the comb and the blade....... I have checked this with feeler gauges and the differences in tolerances is obvious......even to the naked eye !

I am also aware that modern GEM SE blades do tend to flex, somewhat, when loaded into the razor........Remember we are talking of small tolerance's.. here.....The old blades are thicker....Panzer tank steel .....

I have a new perspective on the shaving abilities of a 1912 and that these old SEs are magnificently designed and some of these perfections are lost when using modern blades designed for later models.

The results were astounding !

The first thing I noticed was that the audible noise was totally different in that there was less noise coming up through the razor, but more of a cutting noise from my bristle's.......The razor was distinctively more aggressive, that is being more efficient on cutting down the whiskers while at the same time offering an incredibly smooth and close shave.......I had no sense of the blade being anywhere near my face........Cant explain that one........But what a clean shave !

In my humble opinion it totally transforms the shaving experience with a 1912

I am now on a mission to at least attempt to modify modern GEM blades as so far as the limitations of a modern blade will allow me more towards the correct dynamics of the angle and the distance between the comb and the blade as an original blade.........:idea:

I have, thus far, tried an Old spine on a modern GEM blade....I couldn't get this to work as the new blades seem to sit deeper into the old spines.....MMMMmmmm!

I have observed, however. that its only the bottom of the spine that I need to be concerned with as this is the part of the spine that is altering the shaving angle of the blade.......:idea:

I am going to experiment with shimming the lower half of the spine to raise it to the same shaving angle of the original blades.....

I was wondering if anybody has any experience of attempting to replicate the shaving angles of older blades in any of the older SE razors with modern GEM blades ? :huh:

Your knowledge and guidance would be appreciated .......:angel:

Billy

 

[Norfolkdick]

Greetings

Your experiences just could not be more different from mine, I have tried shaving with very many different types of NOS carbon SE blades most of them in (what appears to the naked eye) pristine condition and I have found every last one of them without exception absolutely awful and I use modern carbon blades virtually daily.

I also conducted an experiment over several weeks trying to improve both vintage and modern carbon blades by stropping on different mediums with different pastes and failed to improve a single blade.

You are quite right the old blades are thicker and the spines were mostly steel and not aluminium as are all modern shaving SE blades( both carbon and stainless) and they do sit at a different angle in the razors.

Regards
Dick.

 

[pjgh]

Across all the vintage blades I've had in packs, only one has truly been "safe" enough to hone and strop and it was okay, not a total disaster ... until the Ever Ready c.1906 lather catcher, which had a perfectly preserved blade and it gave a fantastic shave! Very sharp, biting straight into the test area on the top of my thumb and scything through the shave.

I'd not thought about removing the spine from a vintage to put onto a modern blade. I'll certainly look into that as I have a number of styles of blade spine, some curved, some straight.

Oh, vintage Valet was a complete disaster! Hateful shave. Feather FHS all the way on them ... and while we're on complete failures, if you ever see Feather FAS blades (Blue/Yellow pack and grey/black papers inside) avoid them like the plague! They are so dull, they could not cut their way out of a paper bag! Drumzalot, who we both know over on TOST, concurred. We both had to give up mid-first pass.