July 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Well, I was close. I will say the shave sounds great.

 

HAHA I'll take the consolation prize. There is one blade from the cartel that I do not own and that would be the Sharp Star. I went out on a limb thinking that you might stray from the Crat and the Fat (and the wolf) since that was the setup you used while waiting for the Slim to arrive. I guess it was a thin branch LOL

 

Damn, that's a nice setup Ben!

 

SOTD July 25th

RazoRock Mentor head | Cadet handle
Super-Max Titanium(2)
Blades Grim Smolder
Satin Tip the Purest

Good morning friends! Today's shave was the first time using the RR Mentor and I wanted to showcase the blade exposure in the Pic. This thing leave a lot of blade hanging out and the gap is about twice that of a Red Tip. It was wonderfully aggressive. First pass WTG took down 3 days of growth like nothing, second pass XTG left me with a DFS, third pass diagonal XTG/ATG reeled the baby in with no need for touch up. The Super-max Titanium was still amazingly sharp and smooth, looks like its going to be a keeper. Have a great day my friends!

 

Thank you Andrew, it was a very enjoyable shave

 

Well I actually had the Bic out and thought about the Omega. However, it would have been with the '59 SS if I had. So closer. I changed off the Bic last minute to get to a blade very close to a Voskhod. I deliberately left Voskhod off the list as I figured everyone would jump on that. LOL

 

In the Good Old Shavertime!

July 25

Grand Blade Trial


Razor - 1962 (H1) Gillette Slim (2)
Blade - (1)
Soap - Arko
Brush - BoS Omega 10066
Post - Alum, Nivea, Aqua Velva Ice Blue

A new week of trials and it's on to the the Shark Super Stainless. This blade is made by the Lord company and I'm deep in the middle of research so I'll add that later, likely in the blog. I have a backlog of stuff to publish and hopefully by the end of tomorrow I'll be caught back up. Doctor appointment in a little over an hour then a few errands and my day should be back to myself.

A lot of people have used Shark blades but most seem to use the Super Chrome. I have used it a couple of times and wasn't necessarily a fan. So I am curious to see what the Super Stainless will do. I started a new Arko stick today as the old one was so small it was hard to hang onto. It will go into a bag and be smashed into a puck along with others as I go through them. Keeps SWMBO in soap that way.

First pass with the mild 2 setting was less than impressive, both in feel and result. I can feel some drag letting me know that the blade is a Shark...but not Sharp! Not the worst by far but it lacks that extra sharpness that makes the milder setting work better. Went XTG on the second pass and concentrated on holding the angle to get it to work right. Nothing spectacular there either and, in fact, I wasn't sure I'd have DFS at all. The ATG and Slide final pass would be the decider and.....yeah, CCS is the best I ended up with. Even my cheeks are not where I usually want them. Quite disappointing and, again, a sign of dullness on the part of the blade. Maybe opening it up tomorrow to the 6 setting will help it out but I'm not holding my breath.

On the irritation front I was pretty sure the alum would be hot. I was wrong about that. Actually nearly silent. Ok, so I'm impressed by that but.....I would like to have a better result along with that lack of irritation. Didn't happen today.

Have a great Monday and I'll check in later and hopefully add some reading material about my last couple of trial shaves.

​

 

Great photo @mrchick.

 

Thank you sir.

 

How about Doug.

 

Where in the world is Bama Samurai?

 

Yeah, you too

 

July 3/3 Brush Focus

Barbasol Arctic Chill & TBS synthetic brush
Gillette '59 model 195 @ 7 & Generic Personna Red
Alum block & AquaVelva Ice Blue Cooling AS


Huh, imagine my surprise when nearly a year into wet shaving I purchased a Can Of Shaving Cream. I do appreciate how folks don't look askance at cartridge users. But I've referred to this stuff a canned goo myself. Well, it's not gel and I almost sprayed it into my hand. At the last moment I applied a shot to my suribachi bowl. Poof... too much by 300%. Oh well I thought. It's cheap and if I don't like it I'll pass it to someone. It applied easily to my moistened face. WTG pass was acceptable. Reapplied for XTG and I could feel the menthol starting to work. Third coat of lather, and it really is lather! Boom - full on menthol chill was working. ATG & touch up and I was feeling it! This stuff has staying power in the suds. It's not wet like I'd want for a straight shave but it's too chill for that. Rinse and alum left me with a little uncut stubble on my neck. I'll try working some water into the product next time, or a dab of Arko to increase the slickness. Applied AV Blue AS and brought my Menthol Monday to a frosty finish.
I will not think less of Barbasol thanks to today's experience.

 

Careful with that link. You may encounter images (one in particular) that are disturbing or may cause extreme shock and fear. The past two days we've seen the cutest member of the @Bama Samurai family. Today, well, don't say you weren't warned.

 

If I could get my hands on some Burma Shave I might have to try some canned stuff again. Barbasol is a good product and was my can of choice for years. Mostly because it was cheap but it did produce a decent enough lather/foam to be worth it. And, if I was going to travel and only be there a short time with limited time etc., I might get a travel size. That would be it for me at this point.

 

Well you are clearly a man of discriminating taste in shaving!

 

I don't think I've ever tried Burma Shave products. Haven't looked as I assumed it was a thing of the past. But then I wasn't looking for it when I found most of a stick of late '50's Williams. Gotta love dusty old thrift stores.

It was all you! I just happened to share some of your proclivities when it comes to hard & software.

 

Blade Palooza round 2 (for me). Shark Super Stainless in a Slim set on 2. Once again my results were very close to Neal's. I'm beginning to wonder if we may be related. 3 passes and touch up and maybe DFS -. I didn't experience any tugging or major drag, but I couldn't seem to get the closeness I wanted either. Maybe the fault of the blade, or could be the mildness of setting 2. I wasn't able to get a very close shave on 2 with the Sharp Star either, and that's a Cartel approved slice of steel. I went ahead and did a bunch of baby chasing, but no luck. On the other hand no irritation either. Impressive considering how many times I went over my neck. It should be interesting to see how the Shark will do on more aggressive settings, which with my every other day schedule will be Wednesday on setting 6. Other than that it's hot in Georgia. Over 100° today and as I write this it's 11:05 PM and still 83°

 

There's an old antique type shop not too far from us and I finally made it in about a week ago. I was hoping for some of those finds you only dream about. Unfortunately, you can't call it a dusty old thrift store. More like a dirty building full of crap that you could never get through in ten years. When I asked about razors etc. I got a look like I was crazy and was told to just have a look around and see what I could find. Well, what I could find was piles of junk. So, that one is off my list.

 

No irritation for you either. That's a definite result along with the lack of a close shave. Maybe we are related. One of those brothers from a different mother thing. I will say that the Sharp Star did better for me on 2 than the Shark, but still not as good as it gets when you open the gap up. See you again on Wednesday!