View attachment 165642
I believe Fuzzy
@wchnu and other regular users of Gem/EverReady SE razors describe the EverReady 1914 and 1924 models as smooth and fairly mild shavers. I found that my 1912 models work very well for me "as is", but my 1914 and my 1924s gave me weepers galore. When I shimmed the blades, they settled down somewhat but still were not pleasant shavers. (Fuzzy says shims should be totally unnecessary in them.)
Yesterday I did my MAYhem annual qualification course to be recertified for another year as a Genuine Shaving Idiot. I was going to return to Just Shaving with my Supply Co injector. Then I realized I had a perfectly good Gem PTFE blade just sitting there with a single shave on it. So I decided to spend the weekend revisiting my 1914 and 1924 EverReady razors and see if I could now get a bloodfree shave from them unshimmed.
Today, the 1914 (on the right in the photo):
1914 EverReady / Gem PTFE ( 2 )
JR #267 birdseye maple and boar brush
Vitos Eucalyptus shaving cream
Alum and Osage Rub
The result? In all honesty, not bad at all. My usual 2.5 passes brought me to my usual DFS, very near BBS today. No nicks or weepers and the alum just sparked a tiny bit in a couple spots. The shave was reasonably smooth and the result was good.
Since I last used this razor, I have another six months in the Crew, including some use of a Parker SRX shavette and trying out a straight razor. My understanding of ride the cap, skin stretch and especially no pressure seems to have improved considerably. Fuzzy is right -- the 1914 doesn't require a blade shim to tame it.
I must admit I totally didn't expect today's result -- I anticipated adding the styptic pencil to the list of items used. Is the 1914 now one of my favourite razors? No. But if I had to use it every day, I expect I now could. Tomorrow the 1924 will take its turn. Since I found the 1914 the harsher of the two, I now expect an equally decent result from the unshimmed 1924.
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