WetShaving
This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
New subscribers welcome!
Please visit our wiki, which is always and forever a work in progress.
๐ช Check out these alternative front-ends for this server:
https://gem.wetshaving.social/ - a nice modern interface
https://old.wetshaving.social/ - designed to look like old.reddit.com
Our sister Mastodon instance is https://wetshaving.social/.
๐ช Track the uptime of our various services here:
https://uptime.splettnet.com/status/wetshaving
๐ช Community Rules
Rule 1 - Behaviour and Etiquette
-
Be Respectful. Do not bully, flame, or harass others.
-
Malicious comments are not allowed but heated discussion and salty banter is okay.
-
Low effort replies and complaints about content will be removed.
Rule 2 - Content Guidelines
-
Mail Calls, Simple Questions, and SOTD posts belong in the recurring weekly threads.
-
Posts must have sufficient content to generate a meaningful discussion.
-
Images, links, or videos must include additional text that summarizes the topic.
Rule 3 - Reviews and Disclosure
-
Use [First Impressions] in the title if your experience with the product is limited.
-
Use the [Review] in the title if you can provide comprehensive details with enough familiarity to answer follow-up questions.
-
Disclose how the product being reviewed was acquired (e.g., PIF, loan, or purchase). If the product was provided to you directly by the maker or vendor free of charge or at a discount, you must disclose this fact even if the item will later be returned to the maker or vendor.
Rule 4 - Advertising
-
Vendors are to keep marketing within the biweekly Deals/New Products threads.
-
Non-vendors may post topics about products if it will foster a compelling discussion.
-
Do not solicit donations or share fundraisers without mod approval.
Rule 5 - Inappropriate Content
-
All NSFW/L content must request mod approval and be flaired appropriately.
-
Non-shaving related NSFW/L content is not allowed.
Rule 10 - Moderator Discretion
- The rules may not apply perfectly to every situation. The mods have final discretion.
view the rest of the comments
GEM Days 3a/14: 1924 Shovelhead โ Tue 19 Nov 2024
This is shave five of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors, and I have reached the 1924 Shovelhead, the ugly duckling of the GEM family.
The 1924 Shovelhead
This is a simplified version of yesterday's 1914. It finally breaks with the visual similarity thatthe 1912 and 1914 shared and marks the first appearance of cast parts (the neck between the handle and the base plate) in GEM-style razors razors. This picture (the 1924 Shovelhead is on the bottom left, the 1914 on the top right) shows well that like the 1914, it has what looks like a deep-drawn top cap, but it is hinged at the front on either side of the safety bar, and like the 1914 is has separate springs for pushing the spine to align the edge with the blade stops (blue 1) and for clamping down the top cap (red 2). So both razors are attempts at two improvements over the 1912: 1) the top cap opens fully for convenient blade loading, 2) the actions of clamping and aligning the blade are decoupled. So what's the improvement of the 1924 Shovelhead over the 1914 when they seek the same goal? It certainly can't be the looks.
It seems to me that the reason is manufacturing cost. This profile picture shows well just how much simpler the base plate of the Shovelhead really is. Again, the 1924 is on the left and the 1914 on the right. The base plate of the 1914 is a sheet of brass, bent almost to close on itself again, and has a tapped thread for the handle, three rivets, and two hinges and requires quite involved tooling to be assembled efficiently. The Shovelhead on the other hand, has all the complicated geometry concentrated in the cast neck (where the complicated geometry doesn't matter as much at scale), and the base plate is a roughly flat sheet of brass riveted on the neck. Simple, but it left no space for the clamping spring under the base plate, so it needed to go on the top cap, and the hinge needed to move to the front. Cleverly, the clamping spring and the alignment springs are cut from the same sheet and are attached with just 2 rivets, unlike the to separate parts forming the springs in the 1914 needing 4 rivets.
The shave
I like to hike in the mountains, and Eigengrau immediately takes me to evening winter hikes in the Valaisan alps in the conifer forests just under the tree line. It's a very dry area, so the snow cover is often incomplete until well into January, and the thick layer of conifer needle humus lies there mostly exposed and fragrant. You can see the tracks of snow rabbits and chamois in the snow patches, and when the sun starts to set everything quiets down. Peaceful. Bangarang is not at all a winter fragrance, and also more lively than serene Eigengrau.
The 1924 feels similar to the 1914, with maybe a little less toast buttering. It's not surprising that they feel similar, given how they have a similar geometry and the same handle.
The handle
If I remember correctly, it was this pencil handle that felt too small for u/EldrormR, so he chopped off the head of an MMOC (Tomorrow's razor), drilled it, cemented a thread post into it, and slapped it onto a 1924 head to create what we now know and love as the MM24. I'll be using that variant for the Second Luxury Shave.
The timeline
Also the 14 and 24 are my favourite gems
I'm always surprised when someone's favourite GEM isn't one of the Micromatics. I find them to be in a league of their own.
I mean isn't the point of the MM24 that the 24 head is eld's favourite. So that's two of us.
Maybe it's Swiss efficiency vs Indo-anglo romanticism
Oh there are many of you. Old_hiker also for instance. I wasnt singling you out, you're in good company
Surely you should be finishing the run with 15 MM24 and 16 scrubty-four. If you do I'll send the scrubty-four to use
Lol, unfortunately I used the MM24 already got the SLS, but I can still end with 15 scrubtu-four
Ok. I think I've got your address. And also a random old Sheffield steel straight you can have that I got in a mixed lot in ebay