Let us know when you receive the brush. Maybe we can all get our LE 30 DC brushes out and celebrate your first lather?

Too late. Already googled it. At least 5 bacon scented shave soaps, & several bacon AS & Colognes.

You need to get you a Simpsons synthetic, Randy. No other synthetic has that kind of backbone.

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Thank you, Bruce!

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Thank you, Gentlemen.

What a great idea! I'll let you know when it arrives. Curious if all the 30DC LE brush owners are still around?

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Morning shave - late post...

Karve - “D” Plate
Voskhod
AP Shave Co. - SynBad knot
JOHS Bay Rum
Fine Santal Absolut

Back to the samples, after the focus got derailed by the arrival of the Noble Otter soap & AS…

The Jeeves is still the sample sent by Adam @Drygulch last year. It’s the sample that just keeps going and going and going. The Energizer Bunny of soap samples. But, a fabulous one, at that! Still appears to be many more delightful shaves left in the mug, too.

A small weeper or two from carelessness and laziness while touching up, but no biggie…gone with a splash of water. A healthy dose of the Fine Santal Absolute and I’m smooth and sniffin’ nice.




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Well, let me say this. If I have a pic with a vintage glass decanter, you might take the AS description with a grain of salt. haha

Wonderful picture, Bruce!

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I think we are. Some drift in and out from month to month but the 30DC is actually surprisingly stable - in physical composition. No comment on mentally, of course.

Great photo, Bruce! That Karve razor still beckons...

Andrew is right. I forgot about the Simpsons CH2 Chubby. Probably because I have one sitting on my sink...

I appreciate the nice words by all, but I'm feeling a bit embarrassed by the earlier comments tonight...I received plenty of recognition when the LE brushes were made in the first place.
I did say at the time that I wouldn't make any more of them to keep the true 'LE' status, and apart from 2 cypress handles that John and I have (they were 30DC 'seconds', actually), this is the first one that has the same shape. I don't paint handles to resemble the 30DC LE handles out of respect for the LE, fwiw.
As for who has them that are still around, there were 23 handles in the original project. A vast majority of the folks are still here and active on TSD. There are only a few that have dropped off the forum. Off the top of my head, 19 of the 23 are in the hands of folks who still probably consider themselves 30DCers. 18 if @wchnu tries to disavow us...
They were all made from April to July of 2017. A new V2 LE is probably warranted in the future as there are many newer but integral members of the 'Crew' on here now. I wanted to build Shaving Stands, but Charlie @wristwatchb and John @Screwtape talked me out of it...

Karve and Fine Santal! You’re bringing out all the big guns.


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Sigh....

Great write-up and photo, John! That’s one heckuva brush! So unique and a wonderful knot stuffed in there too.

Thanks, Jim!

I am still here

NOVember is NO whatever you want it to be! Apparently.

November 16

Razor - Rapira El-Cheapo
Blade -
Soap - Jeeves of Hudson Street Bay Rum
Brush - Jayaruh #54
Post - Alum

Boy these shaving gods. They watch me pick up the wrong razor last night, load it wrong and commit butchery, then turn around and hand me the Rapira razor tonight. This el-cheapo isn't exactly high quality nor does it give great shaves normally. It's usable, and you can find it stamped Gillette with some other blades as well. Mine came as a freebie with some Rapira Platinum Lux blades from Russia. It first earned the distinction of making a Voskhod blade rough the first time I used it. That's pretty bad.

Well, in their more merciful judgment they did give me the Jeeves Bay Rum and the JR54 for lather. That's a good thing. And, they handed me the classic Gillette 7 o'clock Super Platinum Blue blade. This is a pretty rare blade these days. In fact, I looked at Ebay just to see what was available and found a few. One seller, bless his heart, shows a stack of them for sale but then in the description has a disclaimer that "packaging may be different". In other words, you'll probably get the black wrappers which are the next generation blades and not nearly as good as the original blues. So, with that blade and the lather - there's hope.

If there's one lesson we've all learned on here it's technique trumps tools. If there's a second lsson it's ride the cap. So, I made an outstanding lather, loaded the blade and got up on the cap. Rode that baby all the way across my face for three passes. WTG, XTG, ATG and kept the angle solid on the cap. Brought the baby home.....almost. We'll call it near-BBS. And the alum was only mildly warm on my neck. With the thin metal in this razor and its tendency to bow the blade toward the ends that's a pretty good result. No blood tonight and the existing cuts didn't reopen. A win!

The weekend is upon us again and I hope you have a great one!

Saturday Shave

A busy day today, lunch with a friend, then attend my secretary of 12 years wedding then dinner and party with some colleagues I have not seen in 20 years. I wanted an epic shave so I went with a big heavy grind Koraat that I just refreshed on my Gokumyo 20k. The planets aligned and I had an epic shave.

Irritation A+ Closeness A+ Smoothness A+ Sharpness A-

Razor: Koraat 7/8, 3/4 grind
Strop: Herold Russian leather
Brush: Thäter
Pre: Proraso
Soap: Blood on Steel
AS: Blood on Steel AS, L’Occitane ASB
Scent: Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur

Here as well. And proud to be a part of the LE crowd.