There probably are but I could not say for sure not having bought any in quite a while. You have to make sure you are getting blades made for razor use and not scrapers.
Bob
Gem Razor Blades?????
- Thread starter Chaz
- Start date
Bob
Lord Fatboy
Forgo Mud !
Thanks for the reply.
Indeed, yeah. The first time I bought SE blades they were not the PTFE blades. That would be ten years ago now, at least. I think it was because someone on the big forums said "The scraper blades are the same, you just need to pass them through cork" or something stupid like that. At the time forums seemed to win over common sense.
Well, that lasted one stroke of one pass and I immediately got the proper ones which, as I said, I just cannot seem to get along with (Wayne said something similar, I think).
I've got dozens of the old thick spine ones, which Billy taught me to sharpen, and they suit me fine, but wonder if anyone else makes them still, for shaving (in the way that Feather - oddly - make auto-stopr blades, for example).
Going back about 10 years, I remember driving across the border to the US for a day trip to a small town about 2 hours away. While there I did buy blades for GEM razors sold in their drugstores. These were not Personna brand blades and did work but not as well as the Personna PTFE coated ones, I later ordered in. You won't find blades for GEM razors sold in drugstores in Canada.
I have never used vintage GEM blades made for razors, so I do not know what you mean by "the old thick spine ones".
Bob
Twelvefret
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Masamune
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There are a few variations mostly PTFE, uncoated and carbon steel like the elusive Treets. Some like PAL and Bluestar may well be unbranded Personna blades. And of course vintage GEM blades like Corrux (much thicker blade that can be honed) and Duridium etc.
I gather the carbon steel rusts easily and doesn't last as long.
I mostly use GEM blades, sometimes I reach for AC for a change.
chazt
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Twelvefret
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There were Micromatics with and without blade bumps. The former being the original version from what information I have read. Some think the bumps were an improvement. Some think the ones without bumps are more "aggressive".
Anyone who approaches shaving as a hobby might consider a Micromatic. Get the PTFE blades and enjoy shaving as they did in 1930.
I read history and a tool from a particular era always causes my imagination to consider what was going on in the world when that tool was being sold and used. Any tool from the 1930's has at times caused me to shudder.
Anyone who approaches shaving as a hobby might consider a Micromatic. Get the PTFE blades and enjoy shaving as they did in 1930.
I read history and a tool from a particular era always causes my imagination to consider what was going on in the world when that tool was being sold and used. Any tool from the 1930's has at times caused me to shudder.
Lord Fatboy
Forgo Mud !
Yes, there is always that, in the background. There are quite a few straight razor guys that like old Soviet razors (don't really care for them myself, a curio really) and you sometimes wonder who mined that iron and coal, and how and where they "lived".
Having said that, I'm sure life in Sheffield was pretty awful for the average person in the smokestack era: poor health, bad food, predatory landlords and outdoor toilets, periodic unemployment with no protections, dangerous working conditions. "Road to Wigan Pier" stuff.
Obviously though, that's not the same as forced labour camps, etc, that we see in "Gulag Archipelago".
Twelvefret
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I’ve read that “keeping your head/nose on the grind stone” was originally those that sharpened tools laying down with dogs laying on them for warmth. Notice no eye protection, gloves, or hearing protections.
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Yes, the common connection between both is that there was no choice under what conditions you worked and possibly the only difference was the severity of those work conditions.
Bob
sɐǝɹpu∀
riverrun
I wasn't complaining about the price of them, but you did have a discount for nutters like me buying several hundred.
Not to give you any ideas, but as long as the blades are available you can charge whatever you want
(But I'm sorted for quite a while. Having bought several hundred
- just give me advance warning if they stop making them 
)
Twelvefret
Forum GOD!
@s
You need this!I wasn't complaining about the price of them, but you did have a discount for nutters like me buying several hundred.
Not to give you any ideas, but as long as the blades are available you can charge whatever you want
(But I'm sorted for quite a while. Having bought several hundred
chazt
Forum !
Excellent post, @Twelvefret.