(11-23-2021, 02:59 AM)Old Sarge Wrote:

(11-23-2021, 02:28 AM)GAW9576 Wrote: My 8 year old son picked me up a Gem Featherweight for my birthday at an antique store with the money he gets from doing chores.

Here's what it looked like when he gave it to me. 




He hung out with me while I cleaned it up today. The top cap was a a little bit pitted plus I'm a bit jealous of Old Sarge and the bare brass top cap on his 1914 little lather catcher. The combination caused me to spend an inordinate amount of time hand sanding the top cap of the Featherweight down to bare brass. Here are the results.



BTW Old Sarge I never did ask how you got your top cap to bare brass. The finish doesn't look sanded.

That's a sweet looking razor, Greg! How great you and your son could bond over that. In two of the shots I can see subtle sanding texture, which adds personality! Sounds like wishing you a Happy Birthday is in order...so, Happy Birthday! (birthday emoji here)

When I  purchased both the Little Lather Catcher (future steampunkified) and a Damaskeene, they looked in rough shape in the Ebay photos. I spent a lot of time researching the interwebs for tips on cleaning them up. There was some discussion of using Bar Keeper's Friend to clean a razor, but most folks pushed back sayin it was too corrosive. As I started cleaning the 1914 with soapy water and then scrubbing bubbles, it became apparent that the plating was too damaged to survive. We use BKF to clean our sink, so I mixed it into a paste and used a toothbrush/brass brush. Here's my post with the before shots.

(11-23-2021, 03:00 AM)GAW9576 Wrote:

(11-23-2021, 02:50 AM)Dave in KY Wrote: Been wanting aother one of these as I sold one years ago. It had a starting bid of $10 or best offer. I offered them $15 and they said they had 5 watchers and wanted to let the auction play out. I bid $15 on it but had it at the opening bid at $10. NO one else bid on it and I got it for $10   Just ended and I paid. Off to bed...........

I have one and really wish there were better blades for them BECAUSE they are such a sweet looking razor. But those are double sided unmentionables aren't they?
You paid a fair bit less than I did BTW.

(11-23-2021, 11:26 AM)Dave in KY Wrote:

(11-23-2021, 03:00 AM)GAW9576 Wrote: I have one and really wish there were better blades for them BECAUSE they are such a sweet looking razor. But those are double sided unmentionables aren't they?
You paid a fair bit less than I did BTW.

You are correct and thanks for catching me. I deleted the post with pic. Blame it on a long day and sleep deprived. I think of it as a Single edge as I read about using an AC style SE blade in it which is what caused me to want one again. Unfortunately it is still an unmentionable razor as you pointed out and it was my mistake. Dang I gotta think better.............

(11-23-2021, 02:21 PM)GAW9576 Wrote:  
  I just have to get the motivation to find a way to notch the back of the blade accurately. 
 

(11-23-2021, 02:28 AM)GAW9576 Wrote: My 8 year old son picked me up a Gem Featherweight for my birthday at an antique store with the money he gets from doing chores.

Here's what it looked like when he gave it to me. 




He hung out with me while I cleaned it up today. The top cap was a a little bit pitted plus I'm a bit jealous of Old Sarge and the bare brass top cap on his 1914 little lather catcher. The combination caused me to spend an inordinate amount of time hand sanding the top cap of the Featherweight down to bare brass. Here are the results.



BTW Old Sarge I never did ask how you got your top cap to bare brass. The finish doesn't look sanded.

(11-23-2021, 02:33 PM)Dave in KY Wrote:

(11-23-2021, 02:21 PM)GAW9576 Wrote:  
  I just have to get the motivation to find a way to notch the back of the blade accurately. 
 

I have that problem covered and will give this a go when it arrives. Not sure what the exposure of the blade would have to do whether it is approved or not but King Fuzzy obviously has the final say. I never saw any benefit to the back side of the blade anyway as the angle was all off to use well. Only really stuck with using 1 side like a single edge. What say you Wchnu ?

(11-23-2021, 02:33 PM)Dave in KY Wrote:

(11-23-2021, 02:21 PM)GAW9576 Wrote:  
  I just have to get the motivation to find a way to notch the back of the blade accurately. 
 

I have that problem covered and will give this a go when it arrives. Not sure what the exposure of the blade would have to do whether it is approved or not but King Fuzzy obviously has the final say. I never saw any benefit to the back side of the blade anyway as the angle was all off to use well. Only really stuck with using 1 side like a single edge. What say you Wchnu ?

(11-24-2021, 12:54 AM)Wchnu Wrote:

(11-23-2021, 02:28 AM)GAW9576 Wrote: My 8 year old son picked me up a Gem Featherweight for my birthday at an antique store with the money he gets from doing chores.

Here's what it looked like when he gave it to me. 




He hung out with me while I cleaned it up today. The top cap was a a little bit pitted plus I'm a bit jealous of Old Sarge and the bare brass top cap on his 1914 little lather catcher. The combination caused me to spend an inordinate amount of time hand sanding the top cap of the Featherweight down to bare brass. Here are the results.



BTW Old Sarge I never did ask how you got your top cap to bare brass. The finish doesn't look sanded.

Beautiful FW. And good times with the son!! Happy Birthday Too!!

(11-23-2021, 02:33 PM)Dave in KY Wrote: I have that problem covered and will give this a go when it arrives. Not sure what the exposure of the blade would have to do whether it is approved or not but King Fuzzy obviously has the final say. I never saw any benefit to the back side of the blade anyway as the angle was all off to use well. Only really stuck with using 1 side like a single edge. What say you Wchnu ?

Nope…..

(11-24-2021, 01:51 PM)Old Sarge Wrote: Well, I've been a very bad boy...again! 

I just closed on a British Gem 1912. I've had a thing for the styling of this particular handle since the first time I saw it and then Dave in KY went and documented his shave with a British ER 1912 with this handle...which didn't help the urges.  I've also had good shaves recently with some of my lightest razors; Triceratops 3D, Gem Jr. w/baton handle...another contributing factor. One of my saved Etsy vendors added this razor four days ago, you get notifications with some images when a saved vendor adds items...this razor was one of the images. I showed restraint by sleeping on it for two days, in a way hoping it would sell. And, when it didn't, I took it as a sign from the shaving gods. It was priced more than I really wanted to pay ($35 plus shipping/tax), but I thought the razor looks to be in great condition and perhaps an unusual specimen. I know, a razor is a razor...a blade is a blade...but why not have another nice razor! 

I've not seen much online about British 1912s with this aluminum handle. Over the two days of waiting, I dug around the interwebs and there's really not much at all about British Gem 1912s. Where Dave's ER version says "Made in England" on the back and "Ever-Ready British Made" on the blade tray, the Gem version says "GEM Made in England" on the back and on the blade tray. My hunch is that they are the same razor with different branding.

I'd be interested if anyone else has ideas or information about this razor!

Here is the Etsy listing containing additional images.

(11-24-2021, 01:51 PM)Old Sarge Wrote: Well, I've been a very bad boy...again! 

I just closed on a British Gem 1912. I've had a thing for the styling of this particular handle since the first time I saw it and then Dave in KY went and documented his shave with a British ER 1912 with this handle...which didn't help the urges.  I've also had good shaves recently with some of my lightest razors; Triceratops 3D, Gem Jr. w/baton handle...another contributing factor. One of my saved Etsy vendors added this razor four days ago, you get notifications with some images when a saved vendor adds items...this razor was one of the images. I showed restraint by sleeping on it for two days, in a way hoping it would sell. And, when it didn't, I took it as a sign from the shaving gods. It was priced more than I really wanted to pay ($35 plus shipping/tax), but I thought the razor looks to be in great condition and perhaps an unusual specimen. I know, a razor is a razor...a blade is a blade...but why not have another nice razor! 

I've not seen much online about British 1912s with this aluminum handle. Over the two days of waiting, I dug around the interwebs and there's really not much at all about British Gem 1912s. Where Dave's ER version says "Made in England" on the back and "Ever-Ready British Made" on the blade tray, the Gem version says "GEM Made in England" on the back and on the blade tray. My hunch is that they are the same razor with different branding.

I'd be interested if anyone else has ideas or information about this razor!

Here is the Etsy listing containing additional images.