April 2018 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Arko Adjustable April!!

April 16

Razor - Gillette Techmatic (1,Me)
Blade - (2)
Pre-Shave - Stirling Mentholated Pre-Shave Soap
Soap - Arko
Brush - Jayaruh #46
Post - Alum

Well I promised something different and I delivered. The Gillette Techmatic - favorite razor of my Dad back in the day - and yes, it's adjustable. From Low to High is about 4 clicks and the difference is visible but not startling. I shaved with this razor back in January for one shave set right in the middle and it did an acceptable job. The blade is actually a band of steel that has 5 usable sections on it. You twist the big lever on the back of the cartridge to roll to the next section when you need to. The numbers above will tell you I'm on blade 1 (section 1) and the setting was, of course, wide open - setting "Me". This was the second shave on the blade.

The JR46 and a heavy Arko load on top of a lot of the pre-shave soap just to make sure I had more than enough cushion and slickness. This razor is a bit different in terms of angle. I haven't detected any problems with the blade alignment or having the blade twist during use. Two passes and about a half pass of touch up brought a very nice DFS home. Even on its highest setting this thing is pretty mild. It's extremely light as well, being made mostly of plastic. Can't complain about the finish, though, and the alum was quiet so no worries there. I'll stick with this for a couple more shaves.

I suppose this counts as an SE adjustable as well. So bonus points!!

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I hit a bit of a personal milestone earlier this week -- I filled up my first blade bank. One of those ubiquitous black tin semi-cylindrical blade banks that everyone seems to sell now with their own logo on it. Mine was branded Rockwell Razors. I couldn't get any more used blades to fit into the slot so I bent the top flat to seal the slot shut and tossed the whole thing into metal recycling.

In honour of NB'18, I have replaced it with a pill bottle with a slot cut in the lid. I will use that until the next time I place an order at a shaving website and can toss another black metal blade bank onto the general shipping cost. Which may or may not be in 2019...

 

Me too. I think the Indian Wilkies still use "saloon pack" on them.

 

Tuesday shave:

It was truly odd, I struggled to get a good lather from AoS tallow , no idea why as this a top and consistent performer for me. I added some AoS cream to get it a workable state. Salvaged the shave but it is a good thing I woke up early.

Irritation A Closeness A Smoothness A Sharpness A

Razor: Hart Steel 7/8
Strop: T. Miller
Brush: Paladin
Pre: Nivea
Soap: AoS Tallow
AS: Enhanced Alt Insbruck AS, Edwin Jagger ASB
Scent: Dior Fahrenheit

 

Veddy nice. I have the schick version of the band razor. Not adjustable though as I recall.

 

The funny thing is that the adjustability is not a function of the handle, but of the cartridge.

 

April 17, 2018
OneBlade Genesis V2
Feather FHS
RV Rover with TGN Finest
AOS Peppermint Cream

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Another very good shave this morning. I had forgotten how much I enjoy this little Rover. The knot has just the right amount of scrub to make face lathering a joy. Three passes and touch ups left me with a near perfect shave. The Feather has reached its limit so I will change it out for a fresh blade to finish the week. I hope everyone has a great Tuesday.

 

Perry

 

Decided to put in another Wilkinson to give it another go. The blade was fine. Not as smooth as Russian steel, but certainly in the perfectly serviceable category. Since all my wilkies came from PIFs or sampler packs (I've never bought them), it's possible yesterday's was an Indian and today's was a German; or yesterday's was a dud; or I'm just nuts. Since Clint is the blind squirrel around here, I'll leave the call to him.

Oh, and though I have never gotten a thick creamy lather out of I Coloniali Mango before, it was no match for a synth on the grooved drydock. It's almost like cheating in the creamy lather-making department. It's just what that thing does!

 

SOTD April 17, 2018

Prep: Cold water and Stirling mentholated pre-shave soap
Blade: Personna
Razor: Schick G4 '66' injector
Brush: Zenith B02 boar
Soap: Jeeves of Hudson Street Bay Rum
Post: Witch hazel, Jeeves of Hudson Street Tobacco Bay Leaf aftershave

Back to Jeeves Bay Rum for a couple of shaves. Terrific soap. Enjoyed the Schick 66 and always like the finish with the Jeeves Tobacco splash. All around nice shave.

Enjoy your day!

 

Thank you, Chris!

Thank you, Jason!

Thank you, Rob!

 

Keeping the Proraso train rolling with some Proraso Red love this sandalwood scent.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

 

Wonderful picture, Clint!

 

Terrific black and white photo, Perry!

 

April 17 SOTD:

Razor: Gem MMOC
Blade: Gem Stainless
Brush: 30DC LE
Lather: Jeeves of Hudson St Bay Rum
Aftershave: Ogallala Bay Rum with Lime and Peppercorns
Additional Care:
Stirling Unscented PSB

 

Thank you, Jim!

 

Great photos Perry and Jim. Lots of love for Jeeves Bay Rum this morning.

 

Hey, can I get in on that love action? I was(and am)so glad to be sent this as a PIF to, as the sender said, "help me along on my NB18 quest". But as for the soap itself-it's pretty great stuff.

 

A pair of fine looking shaves there! I had Proraso Red in the tube and it just wasn't the sandalwood scent I was looking for.

Very nice Neal! Thats almost a Mayhem shave right there!

Maybe the AOS doesn't want to end up like the Tabac!

Beautiful photo, Clint!

Fantastic shave, Perry!

Very nice, Jim!

 

Thank you Jim.