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3 Attachment(s)
Bluesman Blades
I met Victor Creazzi (Bluesman) at the Wisconsin shave meet. After seeing one of his razors and observing his skills, I wanted to obtain one of his razors. I talked my wife into getting me one for Christmas. It just arrived in the mail this evening. I won't have an opportunity to shave with it until Christmas, my wife will see to that, but the appearance is stunning. Vic's workmanship and attention to detail is top notch. I am most honored to have one of his creations in my collection.
The razor is a 7/8" shoulderless blade with a slightly smiling edge. The blade is a modified three-lay San Mai construction. The patter on the spine and body is quite interesting, but the edge is plain steel. At my request, Vic scaled the blade in what he calls Plum Twisted micarta with a bone wedge.. lovely. The edge is a full hollow bellied grind that should be perfect for my tough beard.
I know everyone loves pictures, so here are a few.
The first two pictures show the blade presented along with a tub of Ariana & Evans Asia Plum shave soap and a custom Stephen's Woodworking 26 mm overstuffed finest badger knot set in purple heart handle.
Attachment 297610
Attachment 297611
I am not skilled at taking end on photos showing the blade grind, so I linked a photo from the BluesmanBlades web site of the blade I purchased. I hope Vic won't mind.
Attachment 297612
It is going to be a long wait until Christmas. I will update the thread after I shave with the blade.
:)
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Another fine blade Vic. And congrads on a great gift Ray! Hard to beat the gifts you pick yourself. Ha.
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Congratulations Ray!
That's one heck of a nice Christmas present.
I guarantee it will be well worth the wait.
Pete <:-}
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Congrat's on the razor Ray.. It is gorgeous. I am a very recent purchaser of a Bluesman and Victor is a master at this craft!!... As a matter of fact I shaved with it 12hrs ago and my medium/heavy whiskers could pass for a fresh shave still... They are that good.. Looking forward to your 1st shave and subsequent review.. Scott W
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Your wife is a keeper! Congratulations on a beautiful blade.
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A larger shoulderless blade with slight smile sounds about like my ideal blade. Haven't used a full bellied razor though. Never owned a custom, but I've only heard good thing about Bluesman's work and everything I've seen has been beautiful.
Too bad you have to wait until Christmas!
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I would love to have one of his blades but I have been trying to get rid of ones that sit unused but can’t seem to find a buyer
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Christmas has finally arrived and this is the day I get to use the razor so lovingly crafted by Vic.
I unwrapped the blade from its treated paper, dipped it in Barbacide and then wiped it off, being careful not to damage the edge in any way.
My lather was from a new soap- Barrister and Mann Excelsior base Vespers scent. While I still have not formed an opinion of the scent, the performance of the new Excelsior base is slightly better than the Glissant base and at as good or better than the Reserve base. It was easy to load, easy to lather, had excellent slickness, excellent cushion, and excellent post shave skin conditioning. It is definitely a top tier soap, worthy of use with one of Victor's creations.
The shave with the Bluseman Blades razor was very good, but I believe it has the potential for greatness. I believe the edge would have been considered "shave ready" by most people's standard. I am very particular about my edges; I like them very keen to deal with my tough beard, yet be very smooth to please my sensitive face. Thus, most of the razors I have purchased needed some refinement to the edges before they met my standards.Some have needed to be rehoned from scratch. I do not think Victor's blade needs to be rehoned or even refreshed on a finishing stone, but I do plan to strop the blade on pasted strops using 0.5, 0.25 and 0.125 micron CBN and then give it my usual 75 laps on cotton and linen strops and 100 laps on various leather strops. If my evaluation is correct, that should bring the edge up to my standards and yield a wonderful shave.
Thanks, Victor for making this Christmas very special in my house.
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I concur.. Love my Bluesman..
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As I have said I would love to have one of his Damascus blades but I have several that are for sale that just won’t sell so I’m guessing I need to lower my asking prices come the first of the year.
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Ray, I'm really looking forward to hearing about the refinement with the pasted strops.
I've never used any and am curious to know if they take your razors edge to the next level.
Pete <:-}
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For me, the pasted strops seem to work well. I know they may not work for some people. I know some people say they can shave off an 8K synthetic or a Coticule, but my tough beard just scoffs at those edges. I consider a 12K edge to be a bare minimum. I have a 12 K Naniwa SS and an edge off that synthetic is keen enough, but too harsh for my sensitive face.Thus, I have used a variety of things in an attempt to tame the edge.
After using your SG 16K at Dave's Wisconson meet, I purchased one of my own. I love the keenness, but if I tried shaving directly off the SG, it would be too harsh. I have tried a variety of pasted strops to tame the edge: CrOx, Cerium oxide, Mother's polish, etc. I settled on using Cubic Boron Nitride (CBN). Initially, I used 0.5 and 0.25 micron pastes and got good edges. Then I learned of Ken Schwarz 0.125 CBN sprays. I purchased a bottle of the spray along with a kangaroo leather on glass strop from CKTG. I was getting good edges off the 0.25 micron CBN paste, so I really doubted that I would see a significant improvement adding the 0.125 micron spray. However, my face immediately noticed the edges were both keener and smoother. Since CBN is not as aggressive as diamond, I use about 25 laps on each of my pasted strops without issue. I strop until I start to feel and hear the edge smooth out.
I have refined the edge of Vic's blade and plan to use it later today for my shave.
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The verdict is in. Victor (AKA Bluesman) make one fine razor, but I guess you all knew that.
After polishing the edge with a combination of pasted strops, fabric strops and leather strops, I was able to achieve a BBS shave with minimal irritation. I normally go for a close, comfortable shave as my skin is usually too sensitive to withstand the strokes needed for a BBS shave.
Now to see how long Vic's steel will hold up to my beard. On most of my razors 5-6 shaves is the limit before a refresh is needed.
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Congrats on a beautiful gift and razor.