Gem/Pal Blade Tests

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by Jayaruh, Jan 29, 2018.

  1. Jayaruh

    Jayaruh The Cackalacky House Pet

    Supporting Vendor
    I received four blades for testing from Andrew of Andrew's Shave Shop: two Personna Gem CS blades and two Pal by Personna CS blades. Both brands are 3-facet blades and carbon steel. I will be testing them this week in Gem Micromatic razors.

    gem-pal-blades.jpg

    Monday:
    sod180129.JPG

    The plan was to use the Gem CS blade for the first pass and then change over to the Pal CS for the second pass. That is exactly what I did. I used my Micromatic Open Comb razor for today's shave. The GEM blade worked well on the first pass. It was more audible than the Pal probably because it was encountering thicker beard. I followed up with the Pal on the second pass. It did a great job of finishing off this excellent shave. I got no nicks, cuts or irritation from the blades. After rinsing the blades thoroughly and drying them off, I put them aside for tomorrows shave. I will reverse the order for that shave and use my Micromatic Clog-pruf.

    Thanks, Andrew, for the opportunity to try these blades out.
     
    sdguero, Keithmax, jtspartan and 5 others like this.
  2. Linuxguile

    Linuxguile dating an unusual aristocrat

    Thanks for the input, Jim! I will continue to follow along.
     
    Jayaruh, AGHisBBS and PLAla like this.
  3. urrlord

    urrlord Well-Known Member

    i may break out my Contour and slap in a Gem blade
     
    Jayaruh likes this.
  4. jar

    jar Well-Known Member

    They are everywhere. I think I have some here so I'll try one of the carbon steel in my Autostrop and see how it goes.

    Found a Treet blade, an original GEM Micromatic blade and a modern GEM blade. To keep things uniform I'll try all three in a GEM Heavyweight.

     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2018
    Keithmax and Linuxguile like this.
  5. jar

    jar Well-Known Member

    Well first results in. GEM Micromatic carbon steel blade in a GEM Heavyweight (AkA G-Bar) razor. The blade is beautiful with a ripples appearance unlike anything seen today. And it sucketh big time. Pretty is not as pretty does it seems. Tug, pull very Shakesperian (full of sound a fury, cutting nothing). Will try stropping and see if there is any improvement but had to redo this shave with a modern blade.
     
  6. PLAla

    PLAla Bit Shy of a Full Puck

    I had the same result. I tried both the GEM and PAL carbon blades with no luck. Couldn't even complete one full stroke. Tuggy and very uncomfortable.
     
    Keithmax, Linuxguile and Jayaruh like this.
  7. wchnu

    wchnu Duck Season!

    I just noticed my blades came in. I am very keen to try the PAL. That will be this afternoon. I will use a favorite set up and razor so I am only checking the blade.
     
    Keithmax, PLAla and Linuxguile like this.
  8. Jayaruh

    Jayaruh The Cackalacky House Pet

    Supporting Vendor
    [​IMG]
    Tabac Tuesday's Shave
    [​IMG]

    Proraso Pre Shave
    Tabac
    JR#257 Synthetic
    Micromatic Clog Pruf
    Personna Gem CS
    Personna Pal CS
    CWR
    Thayer's Lemon WH
    Florida Water

    Today is day two of the blade test. Up for the first pass will be the Pal CS blade followed by the GEM CS blade for the second pass. These are the same blades as yesterday, just reverse order.

    I started off with Proraso Pre Shave. The Ingram Shaving Cream face-lathered well with the JR #257 Synthetic brush. I did two passes with the Micromatic Clog Pruf Razor using a Personna Gem and Pal CS SE blades and ended up with a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, I finished off with Thayer's Lemon WH and then Florida Water AS. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

    Both blades performed very well today. I got a very close shave with no issues. Audible feedback was there with both blades. I remember getting a CS blade that was junk once. I just tossed it. These blades are certainly shave worthy. I have gotten two shaves out of them, but technically only two passes each. I will continue with these blades tomorrow.
     
    sdguero, Keithmax, jtspartan and 3 others like this.
  9. jar

    jar Well-Known Member

    Remember, I was not using modern carbon steel blades but rather some that were made most likely in the 1950s.
     
    PLAla likes this.
  10. PLAla

    PLAla Bit Shy of a Full Puck

    Ah, my mistake.
     
  11. ordinaryshaver

    ordinaryshaver Well-Known Member

    I'm anxious to try mine out. Our main usps processing center is in Houston, and is still having issues, so I have not received mine yet, however when I do I'll report back on them.
     
    MR41 likes this.
  12. Jayaruh

    Jayaruh The Cackalacky House Pet

    Supporting Vendor
    The Pal blade had PAL stamped on the spine. After two shave with the same two blades, I have to rate them as near equals. The Pal was a bit smoother for the first shave, but on the second shave they both functioned with no discernible difference. Got a good shave both times. So each blade has had two passes each. Tomorrow will be day three of the test, and I will be using my Bullet Tip Micromatic.
    gem-pal.JPG
     
    sdguero, Keithmax, jtspartan and 2 others like this.
  13. wchnu

    wchnu Duck Season!

    Great reports @Jayaruh .
    @Linuxguile I am going to use one blade at a time with my regular routine. Since I am really wanting the PAL to work I started with it. Using my favorite 1912, Williams,JR #176 Omega boar,and The Veg. First impression of this blade is that it feels like the first shave on a PTFE coated Stainless blade. It is not as smooth as the PAL in the box. That being said, it did shave good and I got my normal DFS for work with no issues. We will see how the next few shaves go. I expect this blade to be smoother the next time.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2018
  14. blashe

    blashe Well-Known Member

    nothing tops the PTFE blade that can reach up to 8-12 shaves per blade, the only blade that compares to it is the Blue star but this one is good for 6 shaves only and it tends to rust. Cant deal with blades that rust because my skin outbreaks from the decomposed metal particles, that's why I have 400 PTFE blades for life lol
     
    Keithmax and PLAla like this.
  15. wchnu

    wchnu Duck Season!

    Humm my blades don't rust... Not until I finish with them anyway. I like the smoothness of a carbon steel blade too.
     
    Zykris and Keithmax like this.
  16. Jayaruh

    Jayaruh The Cackalacky House Pet

    Supporting Vendor
    [​IMG]
    Williams Wednesday's Shave
    [​IMG]

    Proraso Pre Shave
    Williams
    JR #257 Synthetic
    Microbatic Bullet Tip
    Personna Gem CS
    Personna Pal CS
    CWR
    Thayer's Lemon WH
    Florida Water

    I started off with Proraso Pre Shave. The Ingram Shaving Cream face-lathered well with the JR #257 Synthetic brush. I did two passes with the Micromatic Bullet Tip Razor using a Personna Gem and Pal CS SE blades and ended up with a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, I finished off with Thayer's Lemon WH and then Florida Water AS. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

    This was the third day of the GEM/Pal blade testing. Both blades worked smoothly with no issues. Like Fuzzy said, "My blades don't rust." I wash them with hot water and dry them off. I guess after I stick them in my "blade bank" they will begin to rust, but that is to be expected.
     
  17. jar

    jar Well-Known Member

    Today was the modern Treet blade and it was better than the 50+ year old GEM blade but not by much.
     
    Jayaruh, Keithmax and Linuxguile like this.
  18. GarnerPW

    GarnerPW Well-Known Member

    Hopefully Jim doesn't mind me adding my results from the @Linuxguile blade trails to his thread.

    I got my blades in the mail Saturday. I was thinking about saving them until I got my bathroom back after the remodel but I know Andrew is wanting the feed back. Yesterday I also received a ER 1914 from @pisces_0 to evaluate. Now I know that using two variables is not the best method to do a evaluation but most of my shaving gear is boxed up for the remodel and the razor I left out was not available to use this morning. It was the '14 or not shave at all and I already skipped yesterdays shave so that was not an option.

    I went with the PAL blade this morning. I really like the Super PAL blades I can pick locally in the 5 blade pack. I can not say why I like them over the GEM blades other than the colour, I just do. Now I know that has nothing to do with their performance, it just all me.

    Pre-Shave: Hot Shower
    Brush: Brush XIV, GarnerPW, 25mm Fan Synthetic
    Soap: Sharp Dressed Man, Stirling Soap Co
    Razor: Ever Ready 1914 (@pisces_0)
    Blade: PAL (1)
    Post-Shave: Cold Water rinse and Stetson Aftershave

    The shave was not the smoothest shave I have had by a long shot. What it was though was a decent enough, that turned out to be a two pass acceptable shave. Now was it the razor or the blade that made it a little rough. I can't say but will try again Friday morning with a known performance razor.

    The Ever Ready 1914 looked to be in pretty good shape with a little plate loss on the cap. The thing I did notice this morning was the blade stops were quite small. When closing the top cap I had to hold the blade against the razor to keep it from moving. I have an ER '14 that is boxed up. I will have to see if I can find it to compare the two razors and how they shave.

    I would like to thank @Linuxguile for giving me the chance to be a beta tester of some possibly new blades that he may be bring to his shop. I would also like to thank @pisces_0 for the '14 to try. Finally I would like to thank @Jayaruh for making this thread to give me a kick in the butt to review the blades. Thank you Gentlemen.
     
    sdguero, Jayaruh, Keithmax and 3 others like this.
  19. pisces_0

    pisces_0 Well-Known Member

    Watching this one with interest.

    I'd love to have a source for good CS single edge blades in bulk, as opposed to scavenging multiple 5-packs and 10-packs.
     
    Jayaruh likes this.
  20. ordinaryshaver

    ordinaryshaver Well-Known Member

    I have switched back to my Featherweight, and my 1912 for February. I will start with the 1912 first testing both until they become unusable, and then switch to the FW.
    I will post my results as they happen.

    I sincerly appreciate the blades to test. It gives me a direction to travel in regards to the normal CVS blades that I had been using.
     
    Linuxguile and Jayaruh like this.

Share This Page