Thread: Sun April 15th - Sat April 21st

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Nice razor, is that all blued?

Yes. I thought that it would be a nice contrast to the ivory scales. Now it's ebony and ivory.

Friday Morning

Gillette Fat Boy with Feather
Semogue Owner's Club Premium Boar
Mitchell's Wool Fat
TOBS Sandalwood ASB

A basic and rather Spartan shave this morning. After not shaving all week to give the cut beside my nose some time to heal, today I whipped out the DE for a quick one. I've been having trouble getting a decent shave from the Fat Boy, but today I opened it up to 7 and that seemed to do the trick. Extra light touch, more blade exposure and a really great lather from MWF made for two passes and a great shave. This weekend will see me pick the straights back up, for sure! Happy Friday, SOTD Brothe

Simpsons DUKE 3 Best // Hofftritz 6/8 // Soap Creed Original Vetiver // Thayers // Floïd Vigoroso

Originally Posted by Optometrist

13/16 Toyo "Scheon Burg" #777, Full Hollow Ground, Square Point
Imperial Shave Pegasus III Strop
Semogue 2011 LE Finest Badger 2, #21
L'Occitane Cade Soap
Cold Water Rinse
Italian Floid Blue
Houbigant Fougere Royale

David my friend !

Dovo BQ 5/8 Half Hollow
TOBS Luxury / Shaving Shop Cream
Ogallala BR AS

I'd honed the BQ up to 12k, but it wasn't where my Geneva Henry's X is in terms of smoothness, (which I'd taken from bevel setting to 8k). IDK if the fact that the Geneva is a full hollow makes a difference or not, but I've become quite driven to produce a similar experience with the Dovo. My first attempt on the 12k met with passible results... but A) who wants to settle for passible when B) I'm a guy, and guys like to muck around with stuff, (just ask Steve Irwin... if he hadn't mucked around with sea creatures, that is. But I digress..)

Right, so I repeated my previous cycle of no pressure 2 X 40 circles / 20 "X" strokes with slurry, followed by the same with plain water, plus an additional 20 X strokes because... well... no particular reason, I just felt like it. AH had hair flying. 40 linen / 100 leather, then my normal prep.

I hadn't finished one WTG pass on a 24 hr beard when I knew I was in for it. My first weeper in weeks, and that niggling burn that said something's amiss. A XTG pass faired little better, and a final pass with the Mach III for stragglers made for an excellent coup d'grace. A cold water splash ex post facto was mearly a confimation that the AS was gonna be fun. The big reason I use the Ogallala BR AS is as a measure of performance, although I like it quite a bit. The lower Face Fire Factor I get, the more adequate I judge the blades performance.

Oh yeah... if I had stood in front of a blast furnace full of molten metal ore, it might have had more of a "run away, screaming like a 12 year old girl" reaction. Possibly. Mercifully quick though it was, it certainly had the "wake you up in the morning" aspect down cold.

Many possible reasons for this; fourth SR shave over as many days. My face might have flipped me the bird on this one as a punishment for pushing the envelope. OR, this one reminded me of others immediately after I'd received the blade, freshly honed by Lynn Abrams. It's concevable that the blade was as sharp as it was then, and my technique was the culprit. Sad, but feasible. Also, the TOBS is new to me, and areas where I hadn't passed over had a noticable sensation of discomfort. Or I could have hit the perfect storm, and had all the above rain down fire and brimstone on me last night.

So, we let the face rest until my usual Sunday evening session, where the plan is to go back to known quantities like the Proraso, and take another sample group into consideration.

Just another cobblestone on the Straight road, right?



This is for my own posterity... or posterior, take your pick. But I need to revisit this later.

Clauss 5/8 + Gem SE / TOBS Eton College / 24mm Silvertip in American Ash / OBR Sandalwood / Stetson

This shave was as good as I have ever gotten. As near to BBS as I think is possible for me!!! The Clauss is a new addition from FleaBay that arrived rusted, pitted and without scales. I worked it over good and because of the rust and pits, lost all the etching. It had a nice round gold centerpiece that had Clauss in cursive inside it. It couldn't survive because of the abuse and neglect this great razor suffered. It has no hone wear at all. It is a diamond cut spine, with a diamond cut tip. It took an edge that is simply astonishing given the abuse it suffered. I was unable to remove all the pitting, I didn't have any sandpaper that course, and I was worried about ruining the blade. It has a covered tang that has metal only going to the end where it pins, the rest is fragile plastic (or whatever material it is made of) so extra care has to be taken opening it, just in case that plastic gives out and snaps off.

The Gem was a gift from my friend John, who also supplied a set of 3 SE blades to go with it. I did 2 passes with my new Clauss, which was fantastic and smooth. I touched up the stragglers with the Gem and by golly, it was as gentle and smooth as anyone could ask for. Truly left me darn near BBS.

The Alum and OBR just left me feeling really clean and soft and smelling great! A dab or two of Stetson to top it off behing the neck and ears and MAN!@!! I am ready for this day! What a great shave this morning. I decided to take them outside and capture a pic in the wonderful sunshine, which of course shows everything!!! The stuff all looks dirty and dusty in the pics, but they aren't really. The camera just captures the slightest imperfections, but it was worth it. What a beautiful day, beautiful shave and beautiful razors. A guy just can't ask for anything better.

Have a great weekend men!! TGIF

Originally Posted by lu20vt

David my friend !

Luis......strange meeting you here!

Prep: Hot shower - followed by Lucky Tiger Molle’ brushless shave cream
SS/SC: Mitchell’s Wool Fat + Gillette “Menthol”
Brush: Vulfix “The Grosnevor” Boar/Badger
Strop: SRP Premium IV English Bridle Leather - 50 fabric; 60 leather
Razor: 11/16” Gebr. Herring
Toner: Thayers “Original” Witch Hazel w/ Aloe Vera
ASG: Visal “Dopo Barba”
AS: Floid (Spanish) “Suave”
Result: A great shave…An invigorating finish.

Another excellent round of shaves and pics over the past 24hrs, gentlemen.

Wade and Wingfield 19th century with ivory scales

Simpson's Chubby 2

Provence Sante Green Tea Shave Soap

Osage Rub

Baxter of California AS Balm

Music-Wailin' Jenny's