January 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic&Discussion Thread

So you just use it as intended ... that's reassuring No Ontario chainsaw massacre

 

Ha ha... that was funny.

 

Love that shot!

 

Shaving with a chainsaw! Where's Neal? Hold my beer and watch this! What's the worst that could happen?

 

Ha ha ha...

 

Hi all,
Didn't post yesterday as my wife decided I needed some flatpack furniture to do. I've used my hands all my working life and used near enough every power tool known to man. The flatpack wardrobe still took me 3 hours to complete, and there was plenty of swearing. Of course I threw the instructions away without even reading them. Should have time tonight so see you shortly.

 

Very cool pic!

 

Thanks very much.

 

Let's try this again, shall we? I have been through a battery of tests and retests in the past week and, along with the continued withdrawal from a week's worth of heavy pain meds, I've spent a lot of time sleeping and staring into space. It's back to work tomorrow so time to shake it off and move forward. I do feel better, more or less like myself again. Just need to find that plumber who can give me a new system in place of the junked one I'm carrying around with me. The Docs don't seem to think that's a reasonable idea. No imagination.

Catch up time! Went to Chicago and took the Mongoose with me. He enjoyed flying to and from there as the weather was perfect for a goose. Nice and cold and snowy on the way there. I made sure he was nice and comfy upon arrival and throughout his stay there. He seemed to enjoy lounging at the sink.


He also showed off for my roomie for the time I was there. A younger guy from Green Bay who brought along his electric razor and was totally fascinated when he saw the goose sitting there beside my Arko stick and brush the first morning. I had a chance to discuss how foolish he was to use such a ridiculous device as that electric thing and gave him some pointers on razors, blades, etc. We had a great conversation all thanks to the Mongoose. I had three shaves in Chicago, all with the setup mentioned and all were fantastic.

Landed back in the Lou, shaved the first day and then decided to go to the hospital for awhile. Well, I didn't, my pancreas did. Hate it when it bullies its opinion on me.

Yesterday I used the Mongoose again with my Wolf Whiskers Silvertip and MWF to get things back to a normal level. Quite a bit of growth going with my stupor fading away. Got a nice DFS and called it good for a Monday. This morning I switched up and pulled out my EJ DE89l and a Sharp Star. I needed some RUSSIAN GOODNESS in my life after so much time and got a great shave with the BoS and Tabac. Also got my head back to bald the past couple of days and I'm ready to rock and roll. Or at least walk slowly back to work and watch my diet, avoid that nasty fat and enjoy all the yummy goodness of veggies and high proteins. I guess the baby backs I had in Chi-Town will have to hold me for awhile.

I'll be trying to get caught up here a bit in the next few days. January is almost over and I need to figure out what to do in February as well. Missed you all and glad to FINALLY be totally back. Happy Tuesday!

 

Anyone who loves Voskhod is a friend of mine, a man of tremendously fantastic taste, and definitely receives the Cartel stamp of approval. The boys salute you!

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Ah that inner me, Ivan, Igor, Boris and all the rest of the voices in my head are friendly, but not necessarily sane. As we've said many times, when you hear my voice in your head, or the phrase "what's the worst that can happen" you have two choices. Man up and find out or wise up and tap out! Glad to see my opinion of the MEM validated. And when Jason at tryablade.com wants a blade gone you KNOW it's bad. Seems like we're seeing some unfortunate movement of blade manufacturing to China. It appears the Chinese grabbed the name and produced crap as they usually do on their own. The only Chinese blades that I have any faith in, other than the Rimei, are the ones still being made by Schick and Gillette to their standards in China.

 

Great to see you well and back to yourself

 

And.... Now we're back!

 

Love that setup!

 

21 shaves on a GSB... Go get some!

 

Chris, it's really nice and simple. I'm thinking about letting it run another day? The La Toja and Clubman Vanilla work excellent together! I'm getting low on Clubman, which happens to be my favorite sent of the Clubman line.

 

Welcome back! Hope everything settles down and you are well for a while! Yea the guys decided it would be fun to get a MEM in my razor and then convince me to go ahead and try using it. I think when I made that comment about my month being an homage to you they took it a little too seriously! I still have 3 Chinese blades in my group that may or may not ever get used. The Baili, Rimei, and Vincent. Guess we will see if Ivan, Igor, or Boris ever get back into my head!

Again welcome back!!

 

La Toja almost goes with anything, it just smells clean. I plan on focusing on TSD ISZ AS Splash under Pinaud products for the rest of the year.

 

SR status change:

I am off the paddle strop and on to the black @Drygulch "45". 25 on webbing, 50 in bridle leather has equaled two nice shaves the last day. I plan on going back to the WD SR for comparison today.

Also, thanks to Jim ( @Norcalnewb ) for his "baseball" pattern of attack, I switched to his pattern a week ago, great idea. I am at the point where I am shaving, catching CCS/DFS automatically, and have finally picked up enough confidence to chase a little bit.

Straight Razor is fairly easy to learn, in terms of how to make the razor shave my face, but seems very difficult to master. So far, super happy and encouraged, and will be finishing out my 90 shaves easily!

 

Nice shave tonight went back to my merkur 34c. For a long time I've been puzzled by those of you that enjoy a more mild razor. However my view has changed along with my skill set I assume, as I've had no problem replicating the results of my much more aggressive 1924. Now I get it. It really is a pleasure using a mild razor.... Properly. I do prefer my 1924 but it's more of a weekend shaver, when I have more time and energy. I think I will tackle my sample pack in the 34c for February focus as I've still only experienced Astra blades, and I'd like to either pledge allegiance to the cartel or opt out.