April 2019 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Our house isn't huge but it's too big for the two of us. We have several rooms that we only go into when it's time to dust and vacuum. I have a four car garage and I love it. If we downsize I don't want to downsize the garage.

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I don’t want to loose the 3 car garage, my shop area and my wife wants to keep her craft room. Our house is too big but we are in the highest property tax county in Metro Atlanta. Moving just a couple of miles would cut our property tax in half.


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April 11th
Canadian Old Type with Astra SP (2)
TGN Finest/Maple handle
Stirling Gentleman SS
Thayers
Chatillon Lux Unconditional Surrender AS
Still going with the OT, still getting excellent shaves from it with very smooth results. The Gentleman is, of course, a favourite. The Unconditional Surrender is a fantastic product as well. All is right in the universe.
Have a great day, all!

 

Wonderful picture, Jason! Great shave with some favorites.

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Fantastic shave and photo Jason.


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Thursday morning April 11 - Rule shave #24 - reviewing/practicing new/old techniques

Delta Echo refurbished Gillette Fatboy on 4 / Rapira Swedish Supersteel (2)
Simpsons CH2 Chubby Synthetic Bristles brush
MWF/Kent in beechwood tub
Alum and Polar Ice Booster splash

Last shave was Monday evening so I had 2.5 days stubble to remove. As I started, something occurred to me that I should have realised a long time ago: I take very long strokes with my DE. A habit from cart days that I carried over to wetshaving because I started with a Schick injector and it works with injectors too. With both carts and injectors, the razor has a definite flat face that you simply keep flat against your face. DEs not so much -- you have to rely on muscle memory to keep the angle the same all through the stroke, which is easier with shorter strokes. I have tended to set my razor at my sideburn line, ensure the angle is right, then pull one continuous stroke straight down to my jaw. And so on.

It occurred to me to wonder what would happen if I switched to those half inch or less strokes you're supposed to use with a DE.

So I did my normal two passes with short strokes. The result: absolutely zero tugging from the heavy whisker growth as it disappeared, no comment whatsoever from the alum, and a better DFS much closer to an overall BBS than I normally get with my two passes.

I will do the rest of this Rule concentrating on using very short strokes to overcome this old bad habit. And it's only taken me 2.5 years in the 30DC Shave School to figure this one out... I guess some of us are just naturally slower than others .

 

Love today's photo, Jason!

 

April Focus

Wholly Kaw~~Morris & Forndran~~Ralf Aust
SR #60
Hard to believe that after 5+ years of dedicated DE shaving, I now have 60 straight shaves under my belt.
Today, I continued with the Ralf Aust 5/8. As I stated yesterday, I may have misjudged this tool.
One thing I can say with certainty, it's sharp. A simple awkward set-down left a reminder on my cheek.
One challenge I have with SR shaving, is that my beard hair growths in a myriad of directions.
What may start as a WTG pass, quickly turns into a XTG pass and a XTG pass can, without
warning, become an ATG pass. There's no getting around that situation.
Wholly Kaw was the soap du jour. I did put about a teaspoon of H2O on the puck whilst showering.
With a fairly wrung-out brush, I loaded much less (by my standards) and to the face.
The soap was extremely pasty. I spread it around and then began to dip the knot in water
and work the lather. Patiently, I continued, until the product really exploded.
Very slick and shiny lather was the result.
I have been a "build the lather on the puck" person, but I think I will adopt this technique for the time being.
The Man of Mayfair scent is nice...nothing to write home about, but classic barbershop all the way.
Good shave with the Aust. No complaints other than the red line I am sporting.
Back to Ball State University tomorrow and Saturday.
Tomorrow evening is a concert with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
The university hired a former student of mine to return to sing the tenor solo.
It's always nice to see your students turn professional and have success.​

 

Nice shave, John! I use short strokes myself. Especially in the areas where the whiskers are more coarse. Not quite as short as buffing strokes but close to it.

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Better to be slow, then never learn at all John. Congrats on a great shave.

 

Terrific picture, Joseph!
Wholly Kaw is a top tier performer in my opinion. Unfortunately their scents are more miss than hits for me.
Have fun at the concert!

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Ludwig did a nice job with his ninth.

 

Have fun, Chris. I was in NOLA with some college buddies a long time ago. It was February, and the weather was already very pleasant. One night in the French Quarter, we say Gary Busey and some actors walking down the street with a film crew rolling. I never saw movie, but it looked like he was having a good time. It was an interesting place. I'm not old enough to go back there now.

 

Clint @clint64 has made me a generous offer to loan me his Karve OC-D plate in the near future for a test run. I am very grateful for his generosity. Clint is a great enabler as well but I could not stand it any longer and placed an order with Karve this morning for the OC-D plate. I also did not want see Clint without his OC nor did I want him to have separation anxiety. Clint is just to good of a man and I did not want to see that downward spiral.

Thanks Clint, you are a true friend and I hope to have mine in hand in a couple of weeks.

 

Congrats, Danny!

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@Hembree
Cool avatar change

 

Thank you, Gentlemen. I actually don’t know how it can get much better.

 

Good report and point John. I also take longer shaving strokes. I will pay closer attention to see if I am adjusting the angle during the stroke or not. I might try shorter strokes for a comparison.

 

Excellent shave and report Joseph. Very cool looking brush.

 

Congrats Danny. I look forward to seeing what you think of the D OC.