Halfway through April. Wow. Fast month. Lots going on and lots to do before it ends. SO.....time to put myself at your mercy once again. The CJB hasn't killed me and, in fact, has convinced me to buy a kamisori in May to work with in June. So, what to do in May? I say it's time for some Mayhem or Mercy in May . I'm going to return to my idea of finding the worst blades possible (I think I have them identified) and using either the worst setup I can put together to prove it's possible, with good technique, to use the worst tools and get passing results, or using the best setup I can put together to prove that good technique and great tools can produce better than expected results despite the questionable nature of the blades. The picture below shows the options. On the left, the two worst razors in my collection. The ultra-cheap and really horrible Rapira razor, or the Soviet era razor I just purchased with no name but with typical Soviet engineering. I'm calling it the Soyuz 1 in honor of that horrible Soviet ship that killed Vladimir Kamarov due to multiple and massive system failures. You can find the entire story HERE. I've paired these razors with a Tweezerman brush, sure to shed half its bristles by May's end and a lovely puck of modern Williams, guaranteed to lather sometime before the end of the century. On the right, the two best razors in my collection, in my opinion. The '46-'47 Aristocrat and early '47 Superspeed, recently replated by Chris at razorplate.com. Pair those with Proraso Green and my Omega Pro 48 and you have comfort and class. The ten blades of choice are shown as well. If you think I've missed a horrible blade let me know. Some changes can be made. The plan is three days on a blade using one of the razors. I'm using two to allow for some variety for me. So....vote for which setup you want to see me use. Bad or good? Which is it going to be?
I will let you guess which one I picked. I have been working through my pile of blades, from my inital sampler packs. I have used several of these blades over the last few months. One thing I found is that stropping the blade can make a huge difference. Might be an interesting experiment to do each blade once without stropping and once with.
Although I voted for Mayhem, I am sure you May get some good shaves utilizing your excellent techniques and no more than three shaves per blade. Hoping none of your Russians go Red.
With May 1st being one of the biggest celebrations of the year in Russia I think it's only appropriate that you dedicate the month to tools out of Mother Russia.
Funny , I have used the ST-301s and like them. And @Darkbulb , doesn't the hammer and sickle along with Lenins head make that Communist, not necessarily loved by all Russians?
All I know is that I think that for huge bonus points @NCoxSTL should also style his facial hair a la Lenin during the month of May.
You should, btw, also consider using a Russian aftershave....Elsha is apparently top notch but there's quite a few around...
