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GEM Days 2a/14: 1914 – Mon 18 Nov 2024
- Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts - Papa Eld with Declaration Grooming B3
- Razor: Ever-Ready 1914
- Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
- Lather: House of Mammoth – Almond Leather
- Aftershave: Declaration Grooming – Fake Yellow Light
- Fragrance: Chatillon Lux – Gratiot League Square
This is shave three of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors, and I have reached the 1914.
The 1914
This is an odd little razor, with a very small top cap compared to all other GEM-style razors. Even though it bears some similarity with the 1912 on the outside, it represents a completely different mechanism. Unlike the broad leaf spring that's bent just so that it can push on the spine of the blade and the top-cap individually (the 1912 blue print, which we will see revisited in the Jewel, the Feather Weight, Heavy Flat Top, Push Button, and both Contour and Contour II), the engineers at ASR/GEM/Ever-Ready must have felt like two separate degrees of freedom deserve two separate springs. Also, the top cap disengages fully from the clamping spring when open, which means that you don't need to exert force to keep the top cap from closing during blade changes. Very much quality of life improvements compared to the 1912.
This image shows both the two-winged spring (blue 1) pushing the spine to firmly align the blade with the blade stops at the bottom and the leaf spring (red 2) clamping down the top cap (now fully disengaged). This design would be able to compensate for a much larger blade width tolerance than the previous single spring design because the two actions of clamping and aligning the blade are no longer coupled. A downside of added complexity and almost certainly increased manufacturing costs to simplify blade loading and offset the problem of reduced blade width. A real concern in an age where customers have habit of sharpening their blades to extend their life.
Someone must have decided that this design is too complex, and we'll look at how tomorrow's 1924 "Shovelhead" gets the same two benefits with fewer pieces to assemble.
Little sub trivia: Both of these razors are favourites of u/Old_Hiker's, and he sometimes observes the patent day on march 24 for the 1914.
The shave
Almond Leather + Fake Yellow Light + Gratiot League Square is a sweetish, smooth leather progression that I keep enjoy m enjoying. It's almost like a single set in my mind by now, and while I like playing with new combinations, I keep coming back to this one. 👨🍳😘.
The 1914 is fun. With crackling loud toast buttering sounds and unmistakeable blade feel, the it's nothing complicated about it. The right angle is obvious, and the geometry makes it easy to maintain it. Ever-Ready was great at creating ergonomic products.
The timeline
1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene- 1914-1927: 1914 ← We are here
- 1924-1933: Shovelhead
- 1930-1932: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 1 (Bumpless baseplate)
- 1932-1941: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2 (double-edge Micromatic GEM blades)
- 1940-1943: Micromatic Clog-Pruf
- 1945-1946: Micromatic Clog-Pruf Peerless
- 1947-1950: Micromatic Flying Wing/Bullet Tip, with guiding eye until 1948, with plastic knob in the last year
- 1949-1953: GEM Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador (The beginning of the end IMHO)
- 1950: New GEM Feather Weight, renamed to "Slim-V Flat Top" in 1953, British version sold as "Natural Angle" by Ever-Ready
- 1955: GEM V-Slim "Heavy Flat Top" (G-Bar, shiny chrome), New V Natural Angle Heavy Flat Top (E-Bar, less shiny nickel)
- 1958-1965: Push Button
- 1965-1973: Contour
- 1973-1979: Countour II (The last GEM razor)