I zing the body eclectic

Please allow me to introduce myself:

I'm in my sixth month of liberation from the Dark Side of shaving, during which time I

1. awoke to the fact I was mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore being enslaved to McShaving!
2. googled "traditional shaving", swallowed the red pill, slipped down the google hole and discovered massively multiplayer online alternate reality wet-shaving wonderland
3. started with a classic, inexpensive double edge essentials starter kit
4. mastered that in a few weeks
5. started exploring soaps, creams, blades, other DE razors, aftershaves
6. got totally jazzed
7. minding my own business one seemingly ordinary spring day, got winked at by a nasty, grungy little straight razor which smiled at me at flea market
8. proceeded to pick me up, make me buy it, take it home, bathe and clean it, get it honed, when it was revealed to have a quality pedigree, if a bit of pitting, making it, in fact an ideal starter blade
9. got a strop, some pastes and neats foot oil
10. and now I find myself starting my second month in a strange, passionate, somewhat kinky affair with at first one, and now multiple straight razors
11. with which I've been shaving and loving it! the transition's been shockingly blood and pain free, with surprisingly good shaves from the start, which just keep improving
12. have met a lot of fun, fascinating, weird, wonderful people
13. have been having a ball writing about it all
    
14. have decided it's time that I experience a badger brush and in shopping around for the best possible badger I can get for the least possible money,
15. re-discovered that there are a slew of shaving communities: TheShaveDen, TheShaveNook, ShaveMyFace, BadgerAndBlade, StraightRazorPlace, a few more in languages other than English, and... have I missed any?!
16. which kind of made me wonder if there might be even more, diverse, weird, wild, wonderful straight razor cases here than even on BadgerAndBlade
    
17. and am wondering what exactly is the difference between them.
18. So, here I am!

Lovely to make your acquaintance! Can't wait to meet ya.
TTYS,
SingingSteel

Welcome to the forum :chapeau
Dive on in the lather is fine.
As far as the brushes go you will get as many suggestions as there are brushes they all have their fans.
Backbone, softness size and so on, what characteristics are you looking for

Yes, Singer, I remember a school play "I sing the body electric" back in about '69! really Hippy! Beginning of our fine school system! ;)
Welcome to the forum and don't worry about the 60's! We shall take you to the 1800's!
Sounds a good start.

Thanks for the Hale and Hearty Hi, pfries!

I've essentially got one good brush: an Omega boar knot on a B&B handle -- quite a delight. (Ok, I've also got a BestShave $2.50 horsehair, but that's really just for experimentation.) I'm still a badger virgin.

I'm on a very tight budget, starting up a new enterprise, so will probably not have more than one boar, badger, and horse brush for the next year or so, so I want the best badgery brush experience I can get for up to $30.

Leading candidates thus far:

• The Whipped Dog $26 Silvertip,
• The Golden Nib two-band finest badger knot on a super-affordable yet nice handle yet to be identified.
• The most alluring vision, I must confess: I discovered yesterday what I call a Chubby Manchurian -- a fat (30mm/80mm) knot from Mr. Chen on AliExpress (for all of $19 shipped) on a chubby-alike handle, yielding a 55mm loft and a tight yet beauteous blossom and what seems an excellent combo of backbone and softness and all good badgery things.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/attachm...1&d=1365624268
I'd love to find the least expensive source for a handle that would fit that knot or who'd make one like that pictured, a chubby-homage handle. Here's the hard part: my handle budget is around $15. Suggestions are very welcome.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pfries

Welcome to the forum :chapeau
Dive on in the lather is fine.
As far as the brushes go you will get as many suggestions as there are brushes they all have their fans.
Backbone, softness size and so on, what characteristics are you looking for

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Wo, that's some memory on you, Sharptonn! The 60sssss. I, too, sang that glorious American grade school history musicale arrangement, although a decade later. But, I must confess, I'm already anachronised ahead of you -- I was going back to Whitman.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

Yes, Singer, I remember a school play "I sing the body electric" back in about '69! really Hippy! Beginning of our fine school system! ;)
Welcome to the forum and don't worry about the 60's! We shall take you to the 1800's!
Sounds a good start.

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I got a Manchurian badger off eBay, was Frank's shaving. Frank's got pretty good reviews here some time ago. It had a defect of some sort which I am yet to find so was marked down, to around $30 Aust. Should have Been about $85, and I got a free stand and styptic. Their delivery was reasonable as well. Please note I am new here to and as my tagline sugests, I know everything about nothing and not too much about that :-)

Yeah, those Frank Shaving "damaged" and "or best offer" deals seem pretty sweet. I read good things about them (although mixed things, as well), and this is my fall-back, cheap-out option if I'm feeling poor (an unfortunate, but more common than I'd like to admit feeling). Not nearly the character or sense of engagement of assembling my own, possibly custom brush, but FS seems like a great value.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by edhewitt

I got a Manchurian badger off eBay, was Frank's shaving. Frank's got pretty good reviews here some time ago. It had a defect of some sort which I am yet to find so was marked down, to around $30 Aust. Should have Been about $85, and I got a free stand and styptic. Their delivery was reasonable as well. Please note I am new here to and as my tagline sugests, I know everything about nothing and not too much about that :-)

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

Yes, Singer, I remember a school play "I sing the body electric" back in about '69! really Hippy! Beginning of our fine school system! ;)
Welcome to the forum and don't worry about the 60's! We shall take you to the 1800's!
Sounds a good start.

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So Sharptonn did you have a staring role, or were you cast as a street light which I'm guessing you were.
:roflmao:roflmao:roflmao:roflmao

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tarkus

So Sharptonn did you have a staring role, or were you cast as a street light which I'm guessing you were.
:roflmao:roflmao:roflmao:roflmao

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Silly Tarkus. I said I remember the play. Wasn't in it, tho. I CAN do a fine streetlight, tho!
This is me......Really! :p


Attachment 133141

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

Silly Tarkus. I said I remember the play. Wasn't in it, tho. I CAN do a fine streetlight, tho!
This is me......Really! :p

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And the award goes too.
Sharptonn

Attachment 133143

Although the guy in your class who was cast as the rock was crushed he didn't win.
Har!!!

Thank You! I would like to thank the Academy and all the fine work you do. (:rofl2:)
I would especially like to express heartfelt thanks to Tarkus. Without his help, I cannot imagine an award of this magnitude!
Peace on Earth in our lifetime. :beer1:
I shall treasure this award forever!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

Thank You! I would like to thank the Academy and all the fine work you do. (:rofl2:)
I would especially like to express heartfelt thanks to Tarkus. Without his help, I cannot imagine an award of this magnitude!
Peace on Earth in our lifetime. :beer1:
I shall treasure this award forever!

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I'm your biggest fan!!!!!

Attachment 133188

Har!!!!

Nice Tattoo! Gotta get ME one!

Very close to the dollar amount you are looking to spend you can get a handle from TGN as well.
Setting the knot is not difficult and only a few bucks for the epoxy.

By the way it is a bit of an "honor" to have your thread hijacked by these two :p :tu

Yes, we now have a new brushmaking/restoring subforum. Some good info down there!