GEM Blue Star Blade

DO NOT read this post if you are any kind of 'germ freak' you will LOSE IT!

For everybody else, I hope that you will find this post to be of interest. Some time ago I purchased a GEM 1912 on Ebay because the price was a joke and it had the handle that I was 'missing' and is my favorite, along with the 'ornate' handle:

Nice deal, right? Well yes ... but sometimes when you buy 'used', you get more than you bargained for. Have a look at what was inside when I lifted the lid:

Still with me? USE CAUTION when you receive a used razor! Plenty are shipped with blades inside, but this fucker is on an entirely more horrific level. Top was pretty nasty, right? try the BOTTOM:

HAHAHAHA!

Well, I swapped out that handle that I wanted, and gave the razor to a comrade (Jesus, YES I cleaned the HELL out of it first). The GEM Blue Star blade I kept... I knew it would be an incredible challenge to get it shave ready, but what an achievement! I do believe that I get to say that the EXTREMITY of my CHEAPNESS cannot be questioned, just based on the rehab of this blade.

I have a 'stropping handle' scavenged from a Damaskene boxed set. The razor, although very shiny and gorgeous was fucked because it had a SHA-VE-ZEE blade in it for 90+ years, and because those blades are longer, that spring never had a chance. Thing about the stropping handle though, if you protect the contact area with electrical tape, you can actually use it to HONE SE blades as well. Modern SE blades require 2 pieces of tape for a tight fit in the handle, blades like this Blue Star or the Shamrock one piece, and obviously ER Radio or GEM Damaskeene blades require no tape on the spine to fit tightly in the handle.

Once the blade is honed, it requires only stropping on leather before the shave to produce a couple dozen incredibly satisfying, top quality, off the grid shaves before you will need to touch up. There is very little love out on the boards for the GEM Blue Star, and I agree that out of the box, they, and basically ALL SE blades kind of suck. The good news is you can pretty much hone and strop ANY SE blade to a level of sharpness that makes for awesome shaves!

DE Blade Hack for Shovelhead

Some of you may recall the DE blade hack for the GEM 1912 - I made a few of the things and damned if the way the spring is set up in the 1912 makes wearing it out pretty inevitable. The good news is that the way the spring and head are set up on the ER 1924 will NOT wear out your holder, and the resulting shave is pretty sick! Even if you have the pre-snapped 'saloon blades', you will still need to snap off the little tabs at the ends - in the interest of safety: "if you would a DE blade be snapping, it is wise to leave on the wrapping."