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SOTD THURSDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 11, 2021
Day five of the Tennessee sojourn continues with my progression through the seven straight razors I brought on the trip. Today’s mug shave featured the Puma 88 5/8. This Solingen blade’s edge is buttery smooth thanks to an old honing trick my son taught me that he learned from the honemeister, Howard Schechter. When I first received this razor the edge was pretty badly chipped requiring a new bevel set. As an enthusiastic new honer, I spent hours using my son’s Shapton progression working on the edge (clearly overdoing it in those days) and finished on the 30k. It passed the HHT and cleanly shaved the hair off my forearm, but the actual shave was pretty harsh. When I brought it to Ben, and described my experience, he examined the edge under his USB microscope. He then to my horror, killed my hard wrought edge on the corner of the Shapton 16k, and lapped each side of the blade about 5 times on the 16k and about three on the 30k. Try it now, he said! The result was the buttery smooth edge I now really enjoy with this razor.
The mug shave today checked all the boxes. The JR Boar #372 whipped up the nice thin, slick lather I enjoy with my straight shaves. Face lathering is just so pleasurable. When I was a young man, most of my attention was devoted to the procreative side of life. One wife, four children, 7 grandchildren and one great-grand child later, I find that my pleasure focus has shifted a bit higher to good food and great shaves. And this morning’s mug shave knocked it out of the park. It truly felt as though I was just sweeping the lather away. Three passes later I was dolphin smooth! The dome shaves on this trip have been alternating between the G.E. Jones Shake Sharp Model 1.5 and the Supply V2 safety razors. Both razors are among two of my favorite noggin shavers. The Supply V2 is fitted with the three dot plate and a Schick Twinjector blade. Both razors use two stacked blades and really deliver the goods. The dome lather for the shave was a yogurty-thick, slick lather that the Supply glided through effortlessly and really put the baby to bed. I feel clean, cool, refreshed and velveteen smooth.
RAZOR: Puma 88 5/8 (Mug), Supply V2 Injector Razor (Dome)
BLADE: Schick Injector II
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: JR Boar #372
CROAP: A&E Kaizen
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Cremo Cooling Post Shave Balm.
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