Single Edge Razor Questions

I tried old school SE razors a while back and didn't care for them. About a month ago, I purchased a lot of 6 GEM razors on a lark. Lo and behold, that's all I've been using for the past month. I love them! I have 3 questions...

Exactly what models are these? The only thing I know is that they're all Gems.
What would you recommend I try next?
What the heck is a Valet Autostrop, how does it work, and is it worth getting?

Here are the pics of my SE's.

Nice collection! The 4 on the right hand side all have the same head. The ones with the yellow and olive colored handles are the "flip top" version of the GEM Featherweight. The gold and black one is the "push button" Featherweight, one of my favorite razors. The one on the end is a GEM Contour which is on my wishlist. It was the last razor that GEM ever made (60s-70s). The fat handled ones are GEM Juniors, I think. I would suggest trying the Micromatic Bullet Tip or Clog-Pruf next. They are also excellent SE razors.

Nice score nachum

Nachum,

A very nice collection.

I find all GEMS are very close in the quality of their shaves. I have 11 of them and use them in rotation.
I would match them with any of today's 3,4 or 5 edge cartridge blades and I think they would win.

Three of my favourites are the Micromatic Open Comb,  the Featherweight and the Maskereene --- but -----! ! !
Oh. It's no use. They are all so close that I like them all.

I have 4 Valet Autostrop models, VC1,VC2, VC3 and VC4.  I do not care for any of them. Just trying to get a blade to match any given model can be difficult.  When I can find an unused matching blade it is only good for one shave. Perhaps because it is old.
The Original razors came with a strop and the razor with its rather ugly gears is designed to use that strop. I think if I could find some really good blades the strop would probably do a good job extending its life. But I have not yet been that lucky.
If you do get one with a leather strop it will probably be folded and very hard and stiff. Do not try to unfold it until you have treated it  repeatedly with something like unscented Lubriderm. Go slowly and gently. It will soften up and become pliable again.
Be careful loading the blade into the razors. It can be tricky and a little bloody.
They are ingenious. Perhaps slightly too ingenious.

But those incredible GEMS are - well,  true gems.

I would post some pictures but my Mac is giving me grief.

Mickey

P.S.
In the morning I will be trying a new Feather blade in a VC4. The first shave with it was not impressive but often a blade's second shave is better. I will report.
M.O.


Saturday, September 10, 2016

The second shave was better than the first but after an very extensive touch up only rated an OK.

Tomorrow I will strop according to instructions.
I am not optimistic but will keep an open mind.

Mickey


Sunday, September 11, 2016.

Three strike outs. I am beaten. I surrender. I am Humbled. Valet has defeated me.
My third shave with the Feather blade was executed after I stropped according to Valet's instructions.
No improvement.
So I am humbly bowing out of the Valet arena and going back to my true and faithful friends, Rolls, Schick and GEM.

The once again Happy Shaver,
Mickey  

L to R: Junior, Junior, Featherweight, Pushbutton, Featherweight, Contour 2.

The Juniors, being 1912's, are generally considered to be somewhat more aggressive than the others. The second Featherweight with its matte finish and dark green handle is quite a bit less common than the cream handle/gold or chrome finish models like the first one.

The Valet Auto-Strops are interesting razors, albeit more from a novelty/collector viewpoint, although they can be good shavers.

[Image: JllL4Q0.jpg]

Above is a VB1 and a VC1. These early models can use a de-spined Gem blade, and all models can use the Feather FHS blades or NOS Valet blades. The NOS Valet blades are very hit or miss, as they are from the pre-stainless steel blade era and even rust-free blades can have a deteriorated edge.

The Feather blade is the blade that is now used in the OneBlade razor, and lately they can be difficult to find at a reasonable price.

The early models tend to be quite aggressive, especially when loaded with the modified Gem blade.

The self stropping feature is a novelty unless you plan to use NOS blades, as modern blades generally do not respond well to stropping.

I find the Auto-Strops to be rather attractive in a Rube Goldberg sort of way (yeah, I'm dating myself).

I like to leave one in the shaving stand when we have houseguests, which inevitably provokes a "What on earth is that thing?" followed by "You mean you actually shave with it?"

Bob, not all models of Valet can use the Feather SE blade. Some cut outs in the Valet head don't allow for it. But most do.

That's why I suggest to folks that if they want to use a Valet just to steer clear of the Valets with cut out heads. The heads you've pictured will take the despined GEM or Feather blades 100%.

Yup, it's the Rube Goldberg thing that's the attraction. Same attraction here, though I don't use mine very often.

On the now defunct TOST site where we did SE razors exclusively, no one there ever reported getting a good shave from a Valet stropped blade or a modern blade for that matter. Yup, stropping a modern blade is the best way I can think of to ruin one.

Bob, not all models of Valet can use the Feather SE blade. Some cut outs in the Valet head don't allow for it. But most do.

That's why I suggest to folks that if they want to use a Valet just to steer clear of the Valets with cut out heads. The heads you've pictured will take the despined GEM or Feather blades 100%.

Yup, it's the Rube Goldberg thing that's the attraction. Same attraction here, though I don't use mine very often.

On the now defunct TOST site where we did SE razors exclusively, no one there ever reported getting a good shave from a Valet stropped blade or a modern blade for that matter. Yup, stropping a modern blade is the best way I can think of to ruin one.

Agreed on the stropping. Stropping modern blades tend to just make things worse, with all the coatings and what not.
As far as vintage blades go, only success i have heard of are when people treat them like a straight and effectively hone them first and then strop them to maintain the edge, which is the purpose of stropping anyways. I think some think stropping will resurrect an old blade, but that is not the case. And I'm no edge expert at all, but some say the stropping mechanisms on the valets and other similar razors apply too much pressure on the edge for it to be effective anyways.

On a side note, I love the valet vc1 with a modified gem blade, smooth close shave every time

I think that the Feather blade will fit 99% of the VC2's, VC3's and VC4's, and of course all of the earlier models. Unfortunately there is usually no way to know if you're getting one of the oddball ones prior to purchasing it. I've been lucky - all of mine will take the Feathers. I've heard of people taking a Dremel tool to the offending tabs, but I've never tried it and I'm not sure how securely the blade would be held afterwards.

I think that Feather was actually pretty clever in coming up with a cut out pattern that would accommodate nearly all of the Valets without infringing on Auto-Strop's trademark, considering that there are literally thousands of tab/pin possibilities.

I have a fairly large stock of NOS vintage Auto-Strop blades. Looking through them with a microscope I found a few with edges that didn't look too bad. They definitely needed to be stropped before the first shave and every subsequent shave, and after a thorough stropping the shave was . . . mediocre at best.

I never tried honing one.