Thread: Upper Midwest Shaving Club meet

Hello guys,

It is time for another get together for guys in the Minnesota/Iowa/Wisconsin/N&S Dakota area.

When: August 15th, 2009 from 10 AM to 5 PM
Where : Mike Blues workshop in Cannon Falls, MN
Address and directions will be posted in this thread later.

Events: A honing clinic will be in a dedicated time slot of 12 noon til 2 pm. The demonstrators will be me and (I hope)
ChrisL and Utopian. There will be other catch as catch can honing stuff as requested. I will bring my stereo microscope and I hope we can get 2 more. Maybe connected to a computer? Let me know if you can bring a stereo scope.

Let me know what other things you guys have questions about and bring your shaving gear and hones.

Feel free to contact me via PM or
email [email protected], phone calls are welcome.

This is some text from the last get together at Mike Blues workshop....


Fair warning: this is a smithy. It's divided in two halves, a clean side and, for lack of a better description, a dirty side. Now the clean side is merely dusty. The dirty side is a lovely collection of tools befouled in a fashion that says, "Somebody works here."

If you are the kind of person who might be tempted to investigate fire, smoke, oil, burning steel, grinding sparks, loud noises of various kinds, please bring some protective gear of your choice. Eye and ear protection are required, gloves and a hat are good too. I have some spare safety glasses and ear plugs, if you forget. Clothing your significant others won't mind getting, um, dirty, may be a good idea too.

The sign on the door reads: Enter at your own risk. For good reason too.

But that also means you can probably talk me or Terry into showing how pattern welded steel gets that way. Grinding a blade to shape etc. Heat treatment and so forth. I don't want to try to do it all at once, but any particular curious notions can be fed quite easily if we plan ahead. Are there any things you Upper Midwesterners can't live without knowing about the steel parts of a razor?


If any vendors see this thread and would be so kind as to donate some door prizes it would be appreciated.

This is a list of SRP names I have so far. If your not on here and want to attend then let me know.

SRP Names
7thINFmusick
1863Navy
347stroker
aerodynamics
akady
aprilethereal
AxelH
Balck Adder
beckmann
bennyking
black651
bonedog
brewman
bruce
chrisl
Chuck-The Shaver
clehman67
Crichton
danstar250
danb
dkapp
dresden
DustinW
Dusty79
ewanhuzarmie
facedrum
HardBoiled
harrisonfan
hedliniv
ies0716
jfreaksho
kingspidey
kit
Knipper
maus5k
mljoshua
mnhawk8
mwyman
nicky B
nuversviller
Phil Shea
purvis
robd
saintpaultom
sandcounty
scienceguy08
scratch
ski u mah
Steve Faison
ted meissner
Thefedexpope1
utopian
utopianshaver
wisker
Turbine712
Mike Blue

I'll be there!

I'll bring my stereo scope too. I'll also bring a representative variety of hones and some razors to use for trying out the hones.

Thanks to Mike for hosting this again!

Hmmm... what a fine idea. I wonder how many dull razors I should bring for "those who must hone" to practice upon?

I could bring some weinies and potato salad. Will there be anything available to heat water?

Yes, I cleared this with my wife. Barring any emergent family issue, I'll be there. I'll bring some plain balsa flat hones, some chrome ox and oil and a strop or two. I can show those who want to see the chrome ox process how to mix, apply and use for touch ups.

****** If anyone has a razor or razors they've used recently for shaving that have seem to have "lost something". Please bring them with. We can refresh those edges *************

Thanks Mike for hosting and thanks Randy for coordinating this one.

Chris L

Originally Posted by Bruce

Hmmm... what a fine idea. I wonder how many dull razors I should bring for "those who must hone" to practice upon?

I could bring some weinies and potato salad. Will there be anything available to heat water?

Just hold the water three feet from his forge. It'll be boiling in no time!

Randy count me in. We can talk this week on if we need to bring anything.
This sounds like fun. Other than honing and discussions, is Mike going to fire up the forge??

Originally Posted by turbine712

Randy count me in. We can talk this week on if we need to bring anything.
This sounds like fun. Other than honing and discussions, is Mike going to fire up the forge??

Is Mike going to fire up the forge? Thats one of the things he like to do best!

WHERE: MIKE BLUES CANNON RIVER FORGE
>
> ADDRESS: 5847 318TH STREET WAY, CANNON FALLS, MN 55009
>
> DIRECTIONS:
>
> From the Twin Cities, get on Highway 52 and head south. Highway 52
> access I'm familiar with would be in downtown St. Paul from 94E or 35E
> (if anyone needs more specific directions to get on Hwy 52, please email
me at:
> [email protected]
>
> Approaching Cannon Falls, DON'T take the first exit. Follow Hwy 52
> until you see the FIRST STOP LIGHTS (You'll see a McDonald's
> restaurant when you look to the left at the first stop lights). If
> you pass a second set of stop lights (you'd see a Dairy Queen on the
right) you've gone too far!
>
> Turn West (Take right) at the FIRST STOP LIGHTS. Go 1/4 mile (a
> turkey farm/Ferndale market is on the north side of the road), the
> road bends to the south. Go another 1/4 mile and look for a green
> street sign 318th Street Way (where all the pine trees play out, white
> horse fence is alongside the right driveway). Turn right/west and go
> straight back into the woods. The black gravel will bend left/south
sharply and there you are.
>
> Mike should have a sign out on the roadside to mark the turn as well.
>

Synchronicity smiles upon me again! I'll do my best to be there. I was very close to contacting you, Randy, to se if you were up for a private honing class with me. My straight razor shaving experience needs a kick in the pants, right now. I was getting ready to give it up!

Don