mrconklin
Lather Catcher
First to Break One
Posts: 725
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Post by mrconklin on Nov 10, 2019 16:47:35 GMT -6
Good grief! As mlb549 said, look at Connaught Shaving: connaughtshaving.com/gemss.htmlThey are based in the UK, but their shipping to the US is reasonable. My minimum supply of 400 GEMs is from there. The owner is a nice guy as well. Highly recommended. Put some British soap samples in the basket while you're there. Good price, thanks. I don't think of looking at UK sites for stuff sent to US, but that is a very good price. The question for me is why the heck can I get USA made blades cheaper from the UK than the US? I'll wait on them until I can get a large enough order to garner the free shipping.
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riverrun
Lather Catcher
sɐǝɹpu∀
Posts: 888
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Post by riverrun on Nov 10, 2019 17:28:43 GMT -6
Good grief! As mlb549 said, look at Connaught Shaving: connaughtshaving.com/gemss.htmlThey are based in the UK, but their shipping to the US is reasonable. My minimum supply of 400 GEMs is from there. The owner is a nice guy as well. Highly recommended. Put some British soap samples in the basket while you're there. Good price, thanks. I don't think of looking at UK sites for stuff sent to US, but that is a very good price. The question for me is why the heck can I get USA made blades cheaper from the UK than the US? I'll wait on them until I can get a large enough order to garner the free shipping. In that case it's probably a good idea to join www.theshavingroom.co.uk/ or atgshaving.com/ forums and look at the "vendor offers" sections for a 10% discount code as well (for orders over £50 or £41.66 without value added tax - which should be US orders AFAIK).
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rayr
Blade King
Posts: 427
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Post by rayr on Nov 10, 2019 17:54:00 GMT -6
Connaught Shaving----200 Gems $22.00 fast service and reasonable shipping. (can buy 100 @ $11.00) I can't afford Calif vendors because of Sharps Shipping Tax (state tax). That's £22.00 for 200 blades + shipping. I just checked, right now for 200 PTFE blades it's $33.41 delivered to the U.S. Best price around for a bulk buy, Kind of strange that you have to go to the UK to get a price like that for a product made in the USA. They must purchase a very large quantity from Accutec or something.
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TobyC
Gem Star
Old stick in the mud.
Posts: 2,400
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Post by TobyC on Nov 10, 2019 18:35:27 GMT -6
They do make uncoated GEM stainless steel 3 facet edge blades. I've used them a few times in the past. They worked fine, just not quite as smooth as the Teflon coated blades. tryablade.com sells singles of the uncoated as well as the PTFE coated GEM stainless blades. I would be interested to see factory packaging that says uncoated.
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TobyC
Gem Star
Old stick in the mud.
Posts: 2,400
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Post by TobyC on Nov 10, 2019 18:38:29 GMT -6
Good grief! As mlb549 said, look at Connaught Shaving: connaughtshaving.com/gemss.htmlThey are based in the UK, but their shipping to the US is reasonable. My minimum supply of 400 GEMs is from there. The owner is a nice guy as well. Highly recommended. Put some British soap samples in the basket while you're there. And some boar brushes. connaughtshaving.com/omegapure.html
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rayr
Blade King
Posts: 427
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Post by rayr on Nov 10, 2019 20:11:29 GMT -6
They do make uncoated GEM stainless steel 3 facet edge blades. I've used them a few times in the past. They worked fine, just not quite as smooth as the Teflon coated blades. tryablade.com sells singles of the uncoated as well as the PTFE coated GEM stainless blades. I would be interested to see factory packaging that says uncoated. Like this? atblades.com/products/single-edge/009-single-edge-blade-15/
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TobyC
Gem Star
Old stick in the mud.
Posts: 2,400
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Post by TobyC on Nov 10, 2019 20:37:13 GMT -6
Yes, like that! I can only assume that those were not intended for shaving, but for medical tissue slicing, where comfort wasn't a requirement.
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rayr
Blade King
Posts: 427
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Post by rayr on Nov 11, 2019 8:34:01 GMT -6
Yes, like that! I can only assume that those were not intended for shaving, but for medical tissue slicing, where comfort wasn't a requirement. They don't specifically mention shaving anywhere on any of their GEM SE blades, SS or Carbon even though the GEM style blade was originally invented for shaving over 100 years ago. We're still on the fringe of the shaving world these days whether we use vintage or modern SE hardware, so they don't cater specifically to the shaving market. I think if it wasn't for the fact that the GEM style SE blade has found so many uses in so many industries we wouldn't have any blades to use in our razors today. A suitable blade for shaving needs to be extra sharp, so the modern 3 facet edge blades that they produce works perfectly for that as it works for other applications where precision cutting is required. Comfort is a matter of opinion, some guys here will swear carbon steel blades are more comfortable and like to "feel the blade". I don't, even though I also use carbon steel blades, the stainless steel blades are much smoother for me and of course they hold their edge much longer. I don't buy into the claim that you can't shave with a SS blade unless it's coated in a polymer like Teflon. Stainless blades are typically coated in multiple steps to smooth the blade edge, there is an electroplated coating to harden the edge and fill in some of the microscopic valleys from honing. Personna shaving blades have been traditionally plated with their Platinum Chrome finish before the PTFE coating is sprayed on. I don't know if they also do that with the GEM style blades or not, they don't say. No doubt that a coated SS blade is going to be more comfortable for most guys than an uncoated blade, but I guarantee there are other guys who say they prefer the uncoated blades.
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