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  • djundjilaMA
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    4 days ago

    GEM Days 12a/14: Push That Button – One Last Hurrah – Thu 28 Nov 2024

    • Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm × 51 mm Manchurian badger)
    • Razor: GEM Push-Button
    • Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
    • Lather: Abbate Y La Mantia – Koké
    • Post Shave: Abbate Y La Mantia – Koké
    • Fragrance: House of Mammoth/Noble Otter/Declaration Grooming – Cerberus

    This is shave 23 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors, and I have reached the Push-Button, one more attempt at doing something clever.

    The Push-Button

    One word: “plastics”. The loss of the Micromatic mechanism seems to have sat wrong with ASR’s engineers, and with the Push-Button they brought out one more mechanism that keeps your fingers away from any sharp edges as you open and close the top cap.

    So, did GEM catch lightning in a bottle again like they did with the Micromatic? Well, the overall usability is similar, but the plastic sliding button does not look as durable as the venerable Micromatic mechanism, in particular the minuscule contact line where a short arc of a plastic cylinder pushes the back of the brass head in a sliding contact.

    In terms of geometry, the Push-Button remains very close to the G/E-Bar and the Ever-Ready Featherweight (not the GEM Featherweight). The similarities with the G-Bar extend also to the handle shape.

    And the base plate seems to have retained the same geometry as well, but they have changed the grooves of the safety bar from vertical to horizontal “to set up tough whiskers for closer shaving”.

    Given the historical context, a then modern plastic mechanism possibly didn’t have the negative connotation low-cost plastic parts have nowadays, or this was supposed to be a low-cost razor. It’s interesting to note that this Push-Button and the 11 years older Flying Wing were both sold at USD 1, which adjusted for inflation is a price reduction of about 24%.

    The shave

    Like all the GEM razors with the Flying Wing head shape, the Push-Button is a good shaver. The cheap-looking mechanism doesn’t impact the shave and once the top cap is closed, the blade is clamped as well as with the previous GEMs. I really enjoy the hard soap base that Koké comes in, and I had a comfy and close shave without any issues. Cerberus is always a nice finish for this scent.

    Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends!

    The timeline

    1. 1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene
    2. 1914-1927: 1914
    3. 1924-1933: 1924 Shovelhead
    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 ButtonWe are here
    13. 1965-1973: Contour
    14. 1973-1979: Contour II (The last GEM razor)
    • gcgallant
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      4 days ago

      Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends!

      Thank you!