SoS: August 14, 2017 - August 20, 2017

That shave is color coordinated. Very nice.

 

I have recently gotten some vintage Blue Blades. I must give them a try. I'm liking that razor.

 

Friday's Shave


Proraso Pre Shave
Col. Conk Lime Shaving Soap
Jayaruh #144
Schick L
Personna Stainless
CWR
Thayer's Peach WH
Barbasol AS

I started off with Proraso Pre Shave. The Col. Conk Lime Shave Soap face-lathered well with the Jayaruh #144 finest badger brush. I did the two passes with the Schick L and Personna Stainless blade and ended up with a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, I finished off with Thayer's Peach WH and then Barbasol AS. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

 

Dipped into the Stirling Soap Co. inventory for this morning's excellent shave.

Razor - Gillette Ball-End Tech
Blade - Feather Hi-Stainless Platinum Coated
Soap - Stirling Baker Street
Brush - Stirling Boar 24mm
Aftershave - Stirling Spice

​

 

Friday Planned SOTD



Razor: Schick Repeating Razor C2
Blade: Schick Injector (D11)
Brush: Korn D7 W Epsilon 27mm Two-Band 27mm
Scuttle: TheMudPlace Big Daddy Oiled Mahogany
Pre-Shave scrub: Ginger Garden Aventus
Pre-Shave Balm: Vitos
Shave Cream Antica Barbieria Colla
Post: Viking Soaps Old Norse
Aftershave: Floid Amber
​

 

Thank you Jim!

 

Lucky me. The light restore and new scales lovingly done by @HolyRollah arrived a day early. No need to wait for three days of beard, my W&B arrived just in time to take on my usual two.

One way to describe the shave would be to simply say it shaves as good as it looks. The edge was fantastic, the falling of the whiskers was accompanied by a light scraping sound as the blade moved effortlessly through the stubble. It was equally smooth, the first stroke told me I was in for a treat. And the scales were perfect, never noticeable and just right for the razor. It's a stunner and will be happily showing up again in the SOTDs.

Hot water preparation
AOS Lavender PSO
Mike's Natural Soaps Hungarian Lavender
Savile Row 3824 Silvertip Badger
Wade & Butcher 6/8
Osma Bloc d'Alun
Thayers Witch Hazel Rose Petal



Happy shaving - Karl

 

Honestly, that W&B was one of the smoothest-feeling razors I've used in some time!
Glad you enjoyed that initial shave and hope it was worth the wait!

 

08/18/17 Shave of the Day
Face Wash with Sterling Soap Company Honey Oatmeal Shea Butter Bath Soap
Sterling Soap Company Gatlinburg Shave Soap
Cremo Vie-Long Spanish Horsehair Shave Brush
Creative Flame Pottery Stoneware Shaving Scuttle
Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements Ox Blood Bakelite Alpha Ecliptic Slant Razor
Gillette 7 O'Clock Russian Green Pack Super Stainless Blade - 2nd Shave
RazoRock Alum Stick
Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel Toner
Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements Genuine Creosote Seasonal & Limited Aftershave Splash
NIVEA Men Sensitive Cooling Post Shave Balm​

 

Tonight's shave was with a freshly acquired, restored, and honed razor. I has a buttery smooth 2 pass shave, that left me BBS. Zero issues. Wonderful razor.

Razor- Wade and Butcher "Bow Razor".
Brush- Semogue 1800 Boar
Soap- Stirling Ozark Mountain
Aftershave- Pinaud Clubman

 

Love the antique ABC razor. I own one myself that I paid ridiculous money to restore and it's my most prized razor. I also love Safari cologne's scent. It's my 2nd favorite scent out of my 32 bottle fragrance collection. Ironically, Geo F Trumpers Sandalwood soap smells extremely close to Safari IMO. I don't know if that shave cream you have there is the Sandalwood, but for a future purchase I recommend you get GFT's Sandalwood shave cream to match your Safari after you run out of that current stuff.

 

Adjustable (Arko) August!!!

August 17 - Grand Blade Trials

Razor - 1959 (E4) Gillette Fatboy (3)
Blade - (1)
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
Brush - 30 DC LE
Post - Alum

Well, here we are. In all its glory, the STD-301 from Dorco. The Dollar Store blade. Available at Dollar General or Family Dollar, this is the el-cheapo blade from Dorco. The blade is made in Vietnam, though all Dorcos appear to be made there now as well. There is documentation naming both South Korea and Vietnam on different blades, but the most recent seem to indicate production of the blades is done in Vietnam, while all corporate activities are carried out in South Korea. And DorcoUSA as well.

The first thing I noticed about this blade is the really cheap plastic dispenser. This isn't the same as the dispenser with the old Gillettes or even the modern Israeli drug store blades. Quite cheap and a bit sticky to get a blade out. The second thing I noticed is that the blade definitely appears thinner than a normal Dorco. The feel of the ends of the blade when loading the razor also feel thinner. I have no way of measuring them, but the thumb feel and eye test say thinner. The third thing I noticed is, on the 3 setting on the Fatboy, you have to work to get a good shave. I tried my usual two passes and touch ups and the touch ups took forever. The end result was a DFS but not a great one, with two weepers from trying to work my neck down to DFS. And the alum? Burn, baby burn. I really hit some irritation trying to get a decent shave with this blade.

Clearly this is not the same blade as the ST-301, Prime or Titan. Now, it may be the "seconds" off of the line, or perhaps where they run their second-rate material to use it up. I am interested to see if it will improve and how much as I open the Fatty up. I'm expecting some improvement, but how much is questionable. Especially if it is as dull as I think it is. Not a sharp blade at all.

Now, back to my calling it the "el-cheapo" Dorco. Yep, you can walk into Dollar General just like I did and throw down one whole dollar plus a few pennies in tax and own a package of 5 of these things. Sounds good, right? Well, that makes each of these blades cost 20 cents. You can buy a 100 pack of Dorco ST-301 on the bay for $7.91 shipped, which would be 7.9 cents. Or how about a thousand for $54.47 for just over a nickel a blade. Primes go for 8.9 to 9.7 cents each. And Titans - 15 cents. Suddenly the bargain doesn't seem like a great bargain at all. Especially if they can't produce any better shave than I just got. We can always hope until we know.

 

Thanks! I try to get them to be color coordinated however possible. It's not easy to pull it off.

 

Just arrived in Thailand and really needed a shave:
*Black Mamba/Voskhod
*Paladin Sherlock
*L&L Catalán Prarie
*Lea AS



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

That is an interesting looking bottle of aftershave!

 

I've never seen the Barbasol aftershave in a spray bottle before. I'll have to check that out!

 

Good Morning Everyone SOTD 08/18/17

Schick Adjustable (set on 5)
Schick (5)
Boar
Col. Conk Bay Rum
Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block
Stephan Bay Rum A/S

A Fine Friday Shave

Have A Great Day Everyone TGIF!

 

BV Friday
I just felt like Bon Vivant today and it did not disappoint. Top notch lather and skincare from L&L and CL. This brush is quickly becoming a favorite.
Prep: Chatillon Lux butter
Soap: L&L Bon Vivant
Brush: Wild West Go Green
Razor: Rockwell 6s R6
Blade: voskhod
AS: Chatillon Lux Bon Vivant Toner

 

Great setup and photograph.

Sent from my STV100-3 using Tapatalk

 

Good write up, picture, and brush.

Sent from my STV100-3 using Tapatalk