SEptember 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Thanks very much Clint.

 

Thank you

 

Perry, that's too bad about the Valet. I'm glad you have an amazing go to with the G1 though

Sent from my Galaxy S6 using Tapatalk

 

Razor: AlumiGoose w/Hempel Ti
Blade: Feather Professional (6)
Brush: Mokume-Gane Carbon and Red Copper 3 Band
Soap: Route 66 High Mountain Mint
Aftershave: Fine L'Orange Noir

I decided to really relax and take extra time to see how well the Elite Razor Mokume-Gane Carbon and Red Copper 3 Band, and the Route 66 High Mountain Mint would work together. Don't get me wrong they have worked magnificently together each and every shave, however, this being a focus I determined that this would be my focus tonight as I make changes tomorrow with razor and soap. I couldn't believe how much lather I was able to build with these two products. Just spend more time made all the difference in the world.
That along with 3 passes with the AlumiGoose w/ Hempel Ti made for a perfect BBS. To follow that shave with the Fine L'Orange Noir was SLAM DUNK.
http://www.eliterazor.com/
http://www.retroshaveshop.com/

 

I'm BAAAACCCKKKK!!!!!!! Well, at least I'm excited whether anyone else is or not. After a good week of hanging out in the woods (ok, so I had cell access and it wasn't exactly the hidden wilderness) I'm back in the real world with real internet and none the worse for wear if you don't count 2,346 mosquito bites. We got back yesterday afternoon and spent the night and most of the day relaxing at home and putting everything away. I don't go back to work until Wednesday so still some time to do a whole lotta nothing! However, I'm going to be busy finally getting some things done blog-wise and organization wise here on my desk and in my shaving cabinet.

I used the 1949 Superspeed with Voskhod and Barbasol this past week. I shaved three of the four days, well evenings actually, with the last one being a two-day growth. No issues at all with the setup. Barbasol is a great product to have on hand when you don't want to carry a brush when traveling. Really nice feel and result. The two day shave was awesome and, in fact, only a one pass with touch up and still a high quality CCS if not DFS. I haven't shaved since coming home out of laziness but I plan to hit it again tomorrow morning. I'll have a 2.5 day beard and will be using the Slim and a Personna Generic blade on 3 to see how it works. I figure if 3 is supposed to be a workable number I'd give it an even tougher test. We shall see.

I'll be catching up around here as I go. As to the dare from @Drygulch I unfortunately never saw a bear or a raccoon (strange for the raccoon, not the bear), and only ran into that one badger. Never saw him again either so, I have to say, I failed miserably on that dare. Even the rocks were so dull that I didn't think one would work. And, with it being 90 degrees during the day the entire time it was entirely too hot to try and chip them sharp. In fact, the only thing that I really needed was a tent like this.



Maybe next year. Hope your week was as good as mine, even if you did have to spend it slaving for the man!

 

Thirty Days Hath SEptember!

...but I didn't shave today. Instead, finally took a full day off and enjoyed a quiet day. I will be on the injector tomorrow and hope that everyone has a great Sunday!

 

September 25, 2016
AlumiGoose V1 with Triad SS
Feather Pro (7)
Simpson CH2 Synthetic
Fine Platinum Shave Stick
Witch Hazel
Fine Platinum

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Today was the first time I have used a Fine shave soap. I got both the Platinum and L'Orange Noir soaps to go along with two of my favorite aftershaves. Since the soap does not ship with a container, I decided to make DIY shave sticks.

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I wet my face and rubbed the shave stick on to get a nice coating of soap and with a damp brush, I started lathering adding water as I went. The soap was easy to lather and the scent is a perfect match to the aftershave. I would say the scent strength is moderate but it did last throughout the shave. The slickness of the soap was very good also as I was able to do my touch ups with the residual slickness left after the last pass. I would not say that the soap is drying but I would say it does not have great post shave feel like others such as Mystic Water. This is hardly a deal breaker for me as I use Shea Butter on a regular basis. Once I dial in the water ratio, I think the performance will be even better. Overall a wonderful 3 pass drama free shave. I hope everyone has a great Sunday.

 

That is camping SE Texas style right there.

 

SEptember 25 SOTD:

Stirling Synthetic Brush
KMF Lavender and Shea
Gem Damaskeene
Stirling Unscented PSB
Florida Water AS

I almost run out of thing to say about the Damaskeene and 1914. I feel like a broken record: "I had a great shave...I had a great shave...I had a great shave." Needless to say, I did in fact have a great shave this morning. This razor is just so smooth and easy.

Shave 25 on this blade with no signs of dulling. It has been through several of the SE razors I have, and kept on going. I am determined to find out how long it can go.

I am half way working today. Actually, I am wasting time when I should be out doing some safety audits in between meetings. I'll have to get myself out of my chair and into the field. I hope everyone has a great day!

 

Sunday, September 25, 2016

El Druida
I Coloniali Mango
AlumiGoose 1 with Stork Ti
Feather Pro #1
Barrister and Mann Reserve Cool


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Nice review of the Fine soaps. I have not tried any of their products yet but they are on my list. The Snake Bite has always interested me, probably because of my affinity for snakes. And I have been bit. By real snakes. More than once. So how bad could that AS be, right?

 

Smells like a Drug Store SEptember!

September 25

Grand Blade Trials - Another experiment day

Razor - 1962 (H1) Gillette Slim (3)
Blade - (1)
Brush - Wolf Whiskers Custom Silvertip
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
Post - Alum, Old Spice

Good to be back home and recovered enough from the vacation to resume life. Ever feel that way? Loved the time away in the woods but coming back is about a 48 hour process of sleeping and being lazy to recover. Probably that load out to come back home. A short fat guy hauling camping gear uphill to a car has certain handicaps against him. Like gravity.

As I was perusing the posts during the week occasionally I ran onto a post from @John Ruschmeyer concerning the issue of Israeli Personnas and the mild 2 setting on the Slim. We discovered that something about that blade/razor combination creates faulty results when using as a mild stand in. He had run into a discussion about the 3 setting being more representative. So, today, I went back to the Generic Personna (since it performs exactly like its branded brother) and cranked the Slim to 3. To add a level of difficulty I did this after not shaving for about 60 hours so there was a bit of beard hanging around. I figured if it could handle that on 3 then it would be a good proof of concept. Rather than go back to Arko just yet I also chose to go to Mitchell's Wool Fat. Been missing that a bit and since I usually have great lather with it as I do Arko it shouldn't skew anything.

Well, that is if I can still lather the Fat. Started with the brush far too wet and scattered bubbles all over the bath room. Should have had a video of that. Shook it a bit more and went ahead and loaded and got a decent lather. Nothing fantastic and below my usual standard but it will work. And, again, if the shave turns out well it's more proof of concept.

First pass I felt a bit of tug and drag but not bad. And it was to be expected after that long between shaves. The result of the pass was actually quite nice. Still more left than normal but, the extra hours added that. Second pass XTG was smooth and effective. In fact, it left a pretty normal ATG and Slide pass to finish. And the finish? A very nice high level DFS. I can feel two small spots that I'm saying don't make it BBS, but it's close. Overall a very nice shave and the alum was quiet. Old Spice added the drug store scent for the day and I feel like I'm back in civilization for good.

So, the question then is what to make of the result difference from the 2 on the Slim. Not every blade has had an issue with that setting but the Israeli Personnas certainly do. By moving up one click the problem is solved. It's a difference of 0.002 in the gap, from .024 to .026. But that difference is huge with this blade. Since I didn't have the same experience with other blades I don't think it would be helpful to repeat all of the blades so far at 3 on the Slim. But......for future trials I will be alert to this potential difference if the blade fails at 2 then shaves great at 6 as the Personnas have done. It adds a potential additional shave to the trial for each blade but that's fine. I'm going to change the format and slow it down a bit anyway so there will be time for that.

The other possible change would be to just avoid the Slim for the first shave and use a Flare Tip as it's just .001 different from the Slim at 2. I think, however, I'll stay with the Slim and be ready to add a 3 shave for problem solving when needed.

One quick heads up....we're six days away from October. Someone may have already mentioned it but if not then here's your first heads up that October is officialy OCtober!! Open Comb month on the 30 Day thread for those who want to join in. As always you should feel no obligation to use the monthly theme if you are working on something else or just aren't interested in that, but for those who are interested it is usually as much fun and as interesting as SEptember. This month we saw some fantastic single edge razors. OCtober brings out the open combs that we don't always get to see.

 

Thank you Neal. I really enjoy the Fine Platinum and L'Orange Noir aftershaves so when I got an email with free shipping I had to give them a try.

 

September 25, 2016

Razor: F2 Gillette FatBoy (3)
Blade: Treet Platinum (3)
Brush: VdH Boar
Soap: NeutroMarvy

Ended up skipping yesterday and, so, back to it today with two days of growth. The combo of the Fatboy and the Treet Platinum seems to be efficient enough that I decided to dial it down one and go for a nice, mild shave. The result ended up being exactly what I was hoping for in terms of smoothness and closeness for a very nice DFS.

Tomorrow, I'll probably go back to the Injectors to finish the month. I'm definite in for next month, though it will likely just be a couple of Thick Cap OT's and a New LC-based Goodwill.

 

Razor: AlumiGoose (Black) w/Timeless TRH2 Pineapple Handle
Blade: Feather Professional (5)
Brush: Oscar 11, w/Omega 10049 Boar
Soap: Eufros Brisa de Oriente
Aftershave: Myrsol Blue
An amazing near BBS shave tonight.

 

Great picture Doug. What do you think of the soap?

 

Great picture, Doug! That looks like a great shave.

 

Sunday Shave

Brush- AOS Fine Badger
Razor- PAL Adjustable / Ever-Ready 1914
Blade- Chinese Schick/ GEM
Soap- Stirling Ozark Mountain
Post Care- Crystal Alum
Thayers Witch Hazel
Bombed Aqua Velva

First day of head to head injector vs single edge razors. The winner of the injector shave off was my PAL adjustable and the SE winner was my Ever-Ready 1914. I decided to use my Stirling Ozark Mountain today and the AOS brush whipped up a wonderful lather. I think the scent of this soap is fantastic. I used the Ever-Ready on my right side and the PAL on the left. First pass the Ever-Ready is loud, you can hear every hair being cut. Not only is it loud it's smooth. The PAL is not as loud and I think it isn't quite as smooth however it's very close. After three passes I was dolphin smooth and the alum was silent on both sides. It's been 12 hours since I've shaved and the Ever-Ready narrowly beat out the PAL, I'm smoother on my right side. I'll switch sides for the next shave. Have a great day folks!

 

Thanks very much Clint. I like this soap very much. Very easy to whip up a thick rich lather with a excellent scent. Excellent container also.

 

Love it! The old timer beat the Pal, which is, of course, a bit of an old timer as well, but a young old timer. Or younger old.....younger older.....well, you know what I mean. Nice!