Day 3- Tuesday Hot Shower 1908 Ever Ready Lather Catcher VDH Deluxe Dickinson's WH (Aloefied) M&L's Rose Cologne Another fantastic shave. OK so I cheated and did 4 passes. My face wasn't this smooth when I was 6! The siize and shape of the head of this razor gives it excellent audible feedback (sounds like velcro being pulled apart.) The only gig I really have on this razor is the handle. It seems rather small especially in wet or soapy hands but alas, I knit pick.
Day 4 Wednesday Hot Shower (w/ Spearmint and Eucalyptus soap) 1908 Gillette Single Ring TSD Wheat Cream Iced Subzero Dickinson's WH (aloefied) Osage Rub Pinaud Lime Sec EDC That's all I've got of the Iced Subzero Cream. In fact after the first pass, I looked down into the shaving bowl going for the second pass and discovered my cream had been inadvertently over watered (swamped). Apparently, when I left the bowl in the sink and put the brush in the bowl, there was just enough list to bring the bowl just slightly below the water level. Thus my cream was diluted to unusable. Thinking quickly, I quickly squirted some Osage Rub in my shaving bowl, lathered up some VDH Glycerin and continued for 3 more passes. While I do totally prefer Iced Subzero to this improvisation, it wasn't bad and kept me in my menthol nirvana for the balance of the shave. Hopefully, my iced subzero soap will be here before menthol Wednesday next week. Again the razor delivered a BBS shave. I really like this razor. That's saying alot for its quality because relative to DE razors Meh... is what most of them get from me. Unlike its more modern DE relatives, this razor is Uber aggressive but strangely very comfortable at the same time. It's like taking the best qualities of a Micromatic and the best qualities of a Tech and combining them in one razor.
Day 5 Hot Shower 1908 Ever Ready Lather Catcher TSD Magnolia Dickinson's WH (aloefied) Corn Husker's Lotion Aqua Velva Musk AS Another great shave, love this soap. This was the first time I had tried the aloefied WH with the CHL and it was nice. It had been a while since I used Aqua Velva Musk too, very nice shave it's becoming increasingly apparent that neither one of these razors will emerge clearly victorious. Rather like trying to choose the best looking model on Deal or No Deal you just can't pick one because they're all so great looking.
As I recall, the general consensus on the boards is that the Double and Single Ring Gillette were the most aggressive and then each 3 piece model got milder Old Style, New Improved, NEW, then tech. Overtime the tech's got milder as well...
For me the NDC (no date code) techs aren't too bad (when paired with a sharp blade); however, the later aluminum ones and the ones with the corner nibs intead of the slots are very mild. I haven't tried a bakelite handled one... but I would have thought it would be like the NDC techs that I have used. But then again.. I haven't used any tech in a LONG time.
I guess that men at the time(early 1900s) were switching from straight shaving into DE shaving so theyre were already adjust to get a kind of aggressive shave(with the straights) and with time DEs were made less agressive.Now I really wanna try a single/double ring Gillette.Thanks for enabling me guys!
Thats the logic that I have followed. However, now I want to get an even older single ring... (Mine is a 1912) to see if even they mellowed over time... But I think I would rather get a 1908 lather catcher first.
Yeah mine is a NDC, it's not a bad shave but it's pretty casual. Update: Got my hair did tonight, clippered it down and ran the Tech over my spud, great dome razor!
Day 6 Friday Hot Shower 1908 Gillette Single Ring VDH Deluxe Osage Rub Aqua Velva Blue Great menthol stack. The Osage Rub seems to burn much less when applied on top of WH. The Aqua Velva was added on top of the Osage Rub and produced a fantastic menthol effect.
Hot Shower 1908 Ever Ready Lather Catcher Omega Boar Brush VDH Deluxe Dickinson's WH (aloefied) Corn Husker's Lotion Clubman Pinaud AS I don't think another week of testing will be required. Strictly from a performance standpoint the two razors are virtually identical and a definitive winner cannot be determined. Both seem to simultaneously be super aggressive and very gentle. It's difficult to describe but shave with either of these razors and it will make perfect sense and certainly render consistently exceptional shaves. The lather catcher is everything I had been lead to believe and more (in fact as I write this a 1910 Gem Lather Catcher is inbound to casa GI). And the Single Ring, this is the amazing discovery of the month for sure. If three months ago anyone had told me there was a DE that could shave on par with any SE (let alone a lather catcher) I would have told them they were insane. The Single Ring pulls it off in fine fashion though. Had any other DE (except perhaps a double ring) been used in the test, I'm quite sure the result would have been a resounding victory for the Lather Catcher but the Single Ring held its own and then some. Performance: Draw As far as ergonomics goes, I will say that both razors had some ergomic issues. There were lots of times, the handle on the lather catcher seemed too small for the gargantuan head it was attached to (or perhaps the sausage sized fingers attempting to wield it ). Not sure if a custom (bull mastiff) type handle would be a good fix for this or not. I myself would probably lean toward keeping it original. That said though, I'm now very keen to try a wooden handle lather catcher if I can find one for less than half a paycheck that is. Just for fun, I was going to try to use my fat handle out of the 1912 but unfortunately the threaded portion of the handle seems to be too large a diameter to fit on the lather catcher. Although the size of the handle on the Single Ring was much better, it did seem a bit out of proportion compared to a relatively thin head. What's more, I found it a bit slippery and difficult to grasp when wet. Again, I'm not convinced I would change this handle and compromise it's original design even for an ergonomic improvement. Things this old deserve deference and respect and the mere mention of ergonomics on something this old seems rather obscene but had I omitted this, someone would have asked, how did they feel in your hands? So there's your answer. Ergonomics: Draw Overall style and cool points, if there will be a definitive winner, this is where in my opinion one razor starts to pull away. One must afford both of these razors a large number of overall style and cool points just because of their age (I know this doesn't generally apply to grandparents but razors are a separate issue entirely.) You see, my logic goes like this: There are modern razors that look similar to the single ring (Merkur 1904 and Parker makes one too). The lather catcher conversely is something distinctly and recognizably very old. There is no modern version of a lather catcher; there is nothing made like this now nor has there been for quite a while. This breaks the gridlock between two razors that are very similar in every way and equally capable shavers. Overall Style and Cool Points: Lather Catcher Winner, Lather Catcher
Are those short handled lather catchers pretty rare? Mine's similar, but a GEM, and has a handle extension. http://pict.com/album/19246/d9f9133fb1
This thread have been one of the most interesting ones that I have read on the last few months.Thanks for the review of both razors.
I've got one of these also, I also don't like the little handle, so I used a bigger 1912 Gem handle and it works great!
Trust me! The Gem will kick butt. I have three. A 1912, A featherweight and a Brass micromatic. I can't believe them.
No doubt!! I've got about 10 and all work great. The only one I've heard bad things about is the Micromatic open comb, but I don't have one to verify. The lather catcher looks pretty scary with the blade just sitting there out in the open but shaves really well.
No doubt, I'm totally a Gemocrat, my current 9 razor rotation contains 5 Gems, two 1912 Gem Jrs, two open comb bullet tip Micromatics, and as of this afternoon a 1910 Gem Jr. Lather Catcher. These are indeed great shavers. PS: Ever Ready and Gem are the same company so I guess I'm 6 of 9.
