First shave. PAA Starling GEM razor.....

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by Str8on2, Jan 9, 2018.

  1. Str8on2

    Str8on2 Well-Known Member

    Got my shave on with it today. A 3 pass acceptable shave. It was close, but a tad bit of irritation as the blade is not held fully along its width and length. Very light and very good knurling on the handle for a great grip. I will post a few pics explaining the way the blade is held in a bit.....

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  2. PLAla

    PLAla Bit Shy of a Full Puck

    Interested to see your pictures and hear your impressions!
     
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  3. Redfisher

    Redfisher Doesn't celebrate National Donut Day

    Take your time.....but hurry up !
     
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  4. Jayaruh

    Jayaruh The Cackalacky House Pet

    Supporting Vendor
    I understand one of the plates is more "aggressive" than the other. Which one is that? I am interested in your opinion. It is a nice looking razor.
     
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  5. Jim99

    Jim99 Gold Water Shaver

    I can’t wait to hear more about it. If you have multiple plates, I would be quite interested to hear your thoughts.
     
  6. Str8on2

    Str8on2 Well-Known Member

    The shave was interesting. Not the smoothest or most comfortable shave I’ve had from a GEM razor. I used the “A” plate as when I put it together, there was quite a bit of blade gap but more importantly I felt as though quality control is a little lacking. I feel as though the blade is not supported properly. So even though I felt no blade chatter, I did get a bit of blade and razor skipping as I was making my shave passes. Eventually it stopped once I got to my third pass, but it was an adventure to say the least... As they say “A picture speaks a thousand words”. I’ll let you gents take a look and let you decide and comment on it.
    These pics are all with the “A” plate, which is the milder of the two plates. I apologize for the crappy pics...

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    “B” plate coming up.....
     
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  7. Jim99

    Jim99 Gold Water Shaver

    I now understand your issue with it.
     
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  8. Jim99

    Jim99 Gold Water Shaver

    The head is not sitting flush against the bottom plate and not holding the blade properly. It looks like the back of the head is angled off of the back of the bottom plate.
     
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  9. DLP

    DLP Well-Known Member

    Maybe it is me but from the pics the plates didn't seem to be seated properly. May not make up the whole gap but still that doesn't look right.
     
  10. Str8on2

    Str8on2 Well-Known Member

    And the “B” plate. Tolerances look a little tighter but, there is some serious gap and exposure. It is a little disconcerting but I’ve never said no to a shaving challenge, so it’s up for my next shave.....
    Again, sorry for the bad pics.....

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  11. Jayaruh

    Jayaruh The Cackalacky House Pet

    Supporting Vendor
    That blue one is seriously wacked. I was wondering if flipping the blade would help. Also wondered if you tightened it enough. Looks like a disappointment. I had one of those in the checkout and decided to continue with No Buy 2018. Now I am glad.
     
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  12. Str8on2

    Str8on2 Well-Known Member

    Trust me, I played with it for about 15-20 minutes in trying to get it to seat properly, but no joy. That was as best as I could get it. There is some serious play in the blade alignment once you set the blade in the base plate. Photo below to give you a better idea...

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    See the two pegs on either side that fit into the notches on the GEM blade? That’s some serious wiggle room if you ask me. I know that there was a video released on this razor from PAA and they stated it was an economical razor not machined to exacting tolerances. But this is something else. Maybe others got razors that are better than mine in terms of tolerances and quality control. Are sure hope they are because if not, they’re some serious issues here...
     
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  13. Redfisher

    Redfisher Doesn't celebrate National Donut Day

    It appears that the blade isn't seated against the stops. Not really secure. Hmmm. Maybe not so good. I'll check mine when it gets here.
     
  14. dustmite

    dustmite Well-Known Member

    Wow... Glad I didn't pull the trigger on one.
     
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  15. blashe

    blashe Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the pics and I'm sure lots of people can see the issue here, someone needs to tell Douglas about this issue so he can go back to the drawing board
     
  16. Str8on2

    Str8on2 Well-Known Member

    I don’t know if mine is just screwed up or not. Hopefully more users will get theirs and chime in that theirs wasn’t as bad as mine. An anomaly perhaps?
    Here is the “B” Beta plate. And it also has some spacing between the posts on the ends. Nothing tight here either...

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  17. John Ruschmeyer

    John Ruschmeyer Well-Known Member

    I was thinking that it almost looks like the handle is overtightened causing the cap to rock back slightly.

    Based on the photos, though, there are definitely some tolerance issues.
     
    PLAla likes this.
  18. twhite

    twhite Peeping Tom

    First I have seen this razor. The concept is cool. There tolerances really suck eggs.

    Is there clearance in the top plate for the 2 locating posts.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
     
  19. jimjo1031

    jimjo1031 never bloomed myself

    Looks like one razor that's going back until their QC is better.
     
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  20. Jorvaljr

    Jorvaljr Operation Daytona 8000

    It looks as if the apex of the bottom plate needs more of a point or material. This will tilt the forward. Or the blade needs to be shimmed at the spine to push it up .
     
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