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Tuesday SOTD Thread - November 26th, 2024 (#534)
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GEM Days 10a/14: The Featherweight – A Great Buy For A Great Guy – Tue 26 Nov 2024
This is shave 19 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors, and I have reached u/Semaj3000's favourite GEM, the Featherweight, or the return to making razors as cheaply as possible.
The Featherweight
This little razor comes just one year after yesterday's Streamline, and similarly picks up the mechanism of the 1912, but with the base plate of the Micromatic Flying Wing. Similarly to the 1912, the razor is mostly made of bent sheet metal, and has a hollow plastic handle. Clearly, keeping manufacturing cost low was a principal driving force here.
This razor marks the beginning of the final stage of GEM razors: The head geometry won't change much anymore (which means they will all be excellent but mild shavers like the Flying Wing), and neither will the base plate. The cleverness of the Micromatic TTO mechanism is a thing of the past, and handles will never again be detachable like they were with the 1912, 1914, 1924 Shovelhead, and the Streamlines.
Apparently, the Featherweight give the "closest, most comfortable shave" because of "GEM's built-in Barber's Stroke".
The shave
The low profile of the head (like the Flying Wing) invites a low angle, and the cheap looking, but ergonomic grip is comfy. This thing reminds me of the plastic Wilkinson Sword Classic razor: cheap and good. The very light weight of the razor is not an issue for me like it is with the very light Henson.
The timeline
Ugh. Can't imagine how disgusted the designer of the TTO mechanism had to be about this. He (probably a he/him) might have been long gone at that point. This is now post WWII.
Another comment. The marketing miracle of plastic is starting to gain momentum in the 50's.
It's like if Mercedes produced a car with an aircooled two-stroke engine.
funny enough, this is the first GEM with plastic, but the next one will be full metal again :)