An Ever Ready 1912?????

CV. Heljestrand Lather Catcher..:p
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Another shot..:)
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Well...Lets bring in the King Tiger me lads...There is no Gem Blade SE that can look near this Bad Boy..:D

Billy
 
Thanks chaps, first test run tomorrow, will check in with results.

Historical based question: I know these were patented by a US based firm, but who actually made them in Britain, and were these a luxury item for their time or a tool for the common man?

Bearing in mind the sheer quantity of good quality ( ie before the final, desperate marketing rush ) British made SEs which remain available at reasonable cost I'm guessing that they may not have been luxuries. Probably more middle of the range items which a middle aged clerk or office worker with a settled income and job for life could afford. But even I can't claim to have been around nearly long enough to know !

JohnnyO. o/
 
Bearing in mind the sheer quantity of good quality ( ie before the final, desperate marketing rush ) British made SEs which remain available at reasonable cost I'm guessing that they may not have been luxuries. Probably more middle of the range items which a middle aged clerk or office worker with a settled income and job for life could afford. But even I can't claim to have been around nearly long enough to know !

JohnnyO. o/
Just about every Gem blade SE & Hollow ground blade Lather Catcher that has been expounded about is in my collection..The C.V Heljestrand is in a Class of its own...Like the Highlander Dictum ...There can only be One..This is the One...I didn't know what I had myself until I got into shaving with a Hollow Ground Blade..It blows every other Lather Catcher right out the window as well...It shaves as close and smooth as a Schick Type E 2 injector for me...With more style though...:D

Billy
 
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16 hours after my 1912 shave and my skin still feels mostly smooth, with hair just starting to break the surface in a couple of areas. I've never been so smooth for so long after a shave.

Without doubt, it's the closest shave I've had to date.
 
16 hours after my 1912 shave and my skin still feels mostly smooth, with hair just starting to break the surface in a couple of areas. I've never been so smooth for so long after a shave.

Without doubt, it's the closest shave I've had to date.
Yeah..That's that's what Hooks Ya into the SE Rabbit Hole..The 1912 is great taster..No harm to the 1912 but there are far more aggressive SEs out there with a lot more Finesse ...That's a lovely early Gem example you have there though..I would hold on to that one as they are getting rarer..o_O

Billy
 
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I'm a big fan of the aggression of the '30s British 1912s (generally, ones with the "chain link" handles) and find the later British (into the '50s and often with the handle as shown by Tman10 tonight) to have smoothed that aggression without losing the efficiency. It's all in the minute detail, of course, but those minute details do seem to make a world of difference.

I concur with Billy over the US made razors. They're okay, but they're not the best. The earlier ones were of a much better quality and give a smoother shave, but I still prefer the '30s Brit over all of them.

I've seen Star mentioned ...

Star were also made in the US and GB. Generally, and this is a big generalisation, the ones marked "Made in USA" were made in the US (no, never!) and the ones marked "Safety Razor" were made in GB largely for the French market. Quality and shave is akin to the British 1912. If you want some real weirdness, there were some "Made in England" GEM 1912s. These are rare and I think were for the Australian market, a guess based on how few of them you see come up for sale and how often those are from Aus. It's a guess.
They made these into the 50's? That seems an incredible run.

First shave this morning at 05:30 hrs was a success, I have only my DE89 to compare to, but I was pleasantly surprised to find how much more efficiently the 1912 dealt with two days worth of growth. More aggressive in so far as I experienced a tiny bit of irritation around my chin, and the dreaded under nose are was more awkward but I put that down to inexperience. I watched GeoFatboy's video demo with the Gem 1912, quite good actually.
 
I have two ER 1912, both made in England.
1. Aluminium handle weighs 13g, brass head weighs 22g. Handle has a simple dotted pattern
2. Brass head 22g and handle 39g. Handle has curly decorations

The aluminium version I believe to be a 5/32|24 thread
The all brass version seems to me to be 10|32

Can anyone confirm?
 
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