March '16 - 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix and Discussion Thread

Late Post - Shave 74
13 March 2016 - Shave Den Sunday!



Whipped Dog 5/8


www.theshavedenshop.com

 

March into Artist Club Blades

March 14​

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Woke up on a foggy Monday morning with things to do and decided that six days on the Kai Captain Original was enough. It's a great blade, smooth, effective, a bit more dangerous and harsh than the Kai Mild but one I could easily use on a regular basis. Today was a NO-SHAVE day so we'll start the Feather Pro off tomorrow with two days growth. Should be a good test for its first day back in the Feather SS.

Lease is signed on the new domicile so the packing and cleaning will begin in earnest now. I told the boys to make sure all cartel items and records were packed and ready to go starting with a weapons inspection.......

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To be followed by cleaning up around the old place to avoid losing the deposit.........

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Have to work on some new decorating ideas for the new place..........

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And....I'm happy to say we found Ivan after sending out a search party...........

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Hope your Monday is going well!

 

Menthol Monday, March 14, 2016

Krampert’s Frostbite
BSB-2 Vie Long Two Band
The One Blade
GEM Stainless Coated #1
Witch Hazel, Gold Bond Green Lotion, Krampert’s Frostbite Aftershave



Today’s had to be rescued. The GEM blade I used failed to perform adequately. After two passes I was left with considerable stubble that required extra clean up with another razor. After inspecting the razor I noticed that one corner of the blade had slipped back. This is the first time that has happened but not a total surprise since the GEM blades do not lock in. Krampert’s easy, slick and medium cold lather felt luxurious today. Gold Bond green Lotion is an excellent cooling moisturizer. Finished with a nice splash of Krampert’s Frostbite aftershave Menthol Monday Heaven.

Today was the Maiden Voyage for my BSB-2 Brush “Sancho Panza”. It took quite a while to get rid of Sancho’s barnyard scent. The obviously handmade Vie Long two band fan measured 25mm out of the hole with a loft of 48mm. It had a post bloom spread of 53mm. The crown of the knot, one Vie Long’s first fans, was slightly misshapen, which had zero effect on the brush’s performance. The Two Band knot has very soft tips, reasonable density, and no detectable glue bump. It splayed rather well, had good scrub and some (surprise) slight scritch when wet. My preference would have been for the two band knots to have the same (shorter) loft as the BSB-2 Silver Tip knots. The BSB-2 brush has excellent flow through, released a large amount of lather quickly, and held enough lather for more than a few passes. The brush lends itself to paint brush strokes and has a luxurious full face feel.

Have a great week guys!

 

Mark! Good to see you!

 

Beautiful photo Mark!

 

Thanks guys. Missin' the '30 Day Crew'.

 

Shave Secret & PUUR Blacksmith
Omega Pro #98 & suribachi bowl
Simmons 6/8 The King & P.C.S.E

Took a shave off yesterday. Back to my S.R. focus today. PUUR Blacksmith soap is carbon infused and doesn't bowl lather well for me. Load up a boar brush and face lathering using @Norcalnewb 's Baseball Pattern© is the ticket. Square tipped straights might not be recommended for newbies first shaves. Glad I'm not feeling too newb anymore. Alum block did show me some irritation on my neck. That's what I get for letting the FatBoy have it's way with me Saturday. I was feeling good about my straight shaves. Guess I backslid using the DE. Splash of Special Edition for a smooth finish.

 

CJB painstick
Kai MG
Route 66 Black Pearl
Semogue Boar
Floid Amber

Last night's shave was not as smooth as the first one. I'm not sure if it was the guard blade or my steel wire beard. I ended just shy of a DFS but the Floid didn't burn so I got that much right. The first pass WTG went about as well as the first one but the 2nd ATG pass pulled a bit and wasn't an effortless smooth pass like the first shave. I hope I get more use out of the unguarded blades. I'll give the Kai MG tonight to redeem it's self. If it is draggy again then its getting binned and I'll move on to the Kai mild.

The route 66 is great. I'm going to use my WD synthetic tonight and try the RazoRock Plissoft before I run out of my sample.

 

I am back! Returned from my trip to the motherland and to the 30 Day Thread.

Next on the chopping block is a BBS-1 DE. The only reason that this razor is on the chopping block is because of my move to the dark side. Now that I shave with a SR more often than a DE all but my favourite DEs must go. This is well built razor but I am not sure if it is in my top DEs. It is competing against my 2011 R41, Joris, Barbasol Floating Head and ATT razors.

It does shave very nice but it does not have as wide an effective window for the shaving angle as my top razors, i.e. it is not as aggressive as I like. I shaved last night after a long flight because I had a welcome home rendezvous. This morning's shave was only 12 hours after my last shave so it is not a fair test. All in zero irritation and BBS. I did load it with my favourite blade, Super Iridium.

Irritation A Closeness A+ Smoothness A Keenness A

Tomorrow the razor will get a full test but I am leaning towards letting this razor go.

To Date:
Definitely staying:
Genco Easy Aces SR, hard to let go of cool looking, great shaving piece of vintage American steel just because it is smaller than I like. It is also my only vintage American SR.

Leaning toward staying:
Wade and Butcher will stay in the SR stable until a much nicer specimen can be sourced.

Leaning toward releasing:
Jerry Stark 5/8 SR. Looks great, shaves great just to small a blade. I would prefer to sell this and trade up for a larger blade
BBS-1

Will be released:
Sight unseen Whipped Dog SR. This shaves great but I want to PIF it to someone who wants to get started with SR.
Merkur Vision - despite major coolness she can't compete with an aggressive Futur.

 

It's not backsliding. It is good to compare your SR shaves to your DE shaves. It helps you measure your progress. Sounds like you are picking up straight shaving quickly.

 

March 14 - Straight Shave 15
W.H. Morley & Sons Barber's Tip
PSO, hot shower
Jayaruh #40 Synthetic
Route 66 Lumberjack soap
Alum, Nivea balm, Clubman

So, I picked up a Norton 4k/8k over the weekend (used, great price). I have two razors that have been honed by skilled hands. I wanted to give it a try myself and see how I could do. So I gave this one a pyramid on the 4k/8k and finished on a Naniwa 12k. Stropped 50 on nylon and 100 on leather. Of course, being my very first one, it shaved horrible. Three passes and still had a lot of stubble. Nor really a lot of razor burn, but I didn't push it. At least I know what good and bad feel like now. I gave this and my Friedr Schlemper both some more love on the hones tonight, see what the Friedr Schlemper does in the morning. I think I did a lot better this time on both.

 

I'm glad you made it home safely and hopefully you enjoyed your vacation

 

I got into wet shaving going sideways. Bought a brand new shiny RSO from a website. Brought it to a local knife maker that hones straights. He declined to work on it for me saying it was a pocket knife.
So after a bit of googling & forum lurking at B&B I purchased a WhippedDog sight unseen & strop in late August last year. Shortly there after I got distracted by vintage Gillette DE's. Over the past six months I used the straights less and less. Didn't stop buying them, as I have a good handful.
I'd seen the focus/rule thread but was having too much fun trying all the DE's. With the new year just passed, I started seeing the NoBuy 2016 crowd. This is all still so new and exciting for me that I wasn't ready to commit to that, thank you. But the idea of setting the DE's aside and going back to the straights made sense.
So I'm not a total straight razor newbie. Just an undisciplined, easily distracted, don't think I've got my first 100 straight razor shaves in kind of newbie.
About a week after joining the focus/rule group, I choose to lay the DE's down. I was using them to do a clean up pass. That was keeping me from knowing where I still have issues. When I shaved Saturday with the Fat Boy I did get a really good shave, but just before that I was noticing my straight shaves had improved.
So with Focus Renewed, I'm going to enjoy the rest of the month. Might even continue next month. Unless I find or borrow an injector to prepare for my turn at the West Coast Bunny Pass Around.

 

I've been reading @gssixgun 's thread on SRP about using the Norton 4k/8k. It has demystified much of the process for me. I'm only 240 messages into it, but so much information is assumed by those that have been at it for years. I just figured out what pyramid means when honing!

 

Forgot to post this morning's shave. Went for menthol Monday, but didn't get nuts with it. Have two soaps that are very low, going to use them a bunch until they are gone. This is one of them. Second time using this razor since I got it back. A nice shaver. Smooth and comfortable. BBS everywhere except my trouble spots on my meck, but very little irritation. Kept it at two passes. First N/S, then L/R on the jaw, chin, and neck, and S/N on the cheeks. Hoping I can dial this pattern in.

 

I can lend a Schick J and a magazine of blades , it's for science.

You know what to do...

 

Thanks for the link, I don't think I've read that one yet. I was planning on a naniwa chosera 1k and 3k, and super stone 5k and 8k, probably still get them soon enough. But the 4k/8k Norton seems nice so far. Got a whole lot to learn.

 

Right on! Ladas is crazy sharp like Bolzano, but smooth enough to make it worth the trip. All the stuff by the Rapira group is pretty good.

 

Day 75 - 90 Day Intro to SR
14 March 2016



Ralf Aust 5/8
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
Route 66 - Lumberjack
Alum
TSD ISZ AS Splash
Pinaud Citrus Musk

Have a terrific Tuesday!
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Presence in the force, sense I.
To have you back glad very. Back Welcome!

Very good cookies Dark Side.