GEM Days 3b/14: MM24 – Tue 19 Nov 2024

• Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts - Papa Eld with Declaration Grooming B3
• Razor: EldrormR Industries GEM Division - MM24
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Barrister and Mann – Frankly My Pear
• Post Shave: Pitralon – Swiss version

Second luxury shave with the sub (and personal) favourite, the MM24. The 1924 Shovelhead mod by u/EldrormrR. The legend has it that he didn’t like the golf-pencil handle, but loved the head. So he got to tinkering and chopped off the head of an MMOC to harvest its great handle. The resulting Frankenrazor is a great shaver and a joy to use.

Frankly my Pear is a happy gourmand, great for a tipsy evening shave after I stuffed myself in a local fondue place 🫕

This was shave six of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors:

1. 1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene
   • FLS
   • SLS
2. 1914-1927: 1914
   • FLS
   • SLS
3. 1924-1933: 1924 Shovelhead ← We are here
   • FLS
4. 1930-1932: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 1 (Bumpless baseplate)
5. 1932-1941: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2 (double-edge Micromatic GEM blades)
6. 1940-1943: Micromatic Clog-Pruf
7. 1945-1946: Micromatic Clog-Pruf Peerless
8. 1947-1950: Micromatic Flying Wing/Bullet Tip, with guiding eye until 1948, with plastic knob in the last year
9. 1949-1953: GEM Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador (The beginning of the end IMHO)
10. 1950: New GEM Feather Weight, renamed to “Slim-V Flat Top” in 1953, British version sold as “Natural Angle” by Ever-Ready
11. 1955-1958: GEM V-Slim “Heavy Flat Top” (G-Bar, shiny chrome), New V Natural Angle Heavy Flat Top (E-Bar, less shiny nickel)
12. 1958-1965: Push Button
13. 1965-1973: Contour
14. 1973-1979: Countour II (The last GEM razor)