February '16 - 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion Thread

Neal, you may be on to something here.

 

That does appear to be a great visual depiction of what I've found so far. Nice!

 

I may be late to answer as I'm catching up but....yes the Fat will develop a crack. Or two. Or ten. Just the way the puck ages as its used. Doesn't have any effect on its performance or longevity. And there we go with yet another Voskhod success story! The cartel just opened another bottle of vodka and case of caviar to celebrate another member.

 

SOTD February 2, 2016
Focus day 2

Prep: Warm shower
Blade: Rapira platinum lux (2)
Razor: Maggard MR1
Brush: Omega 10049 boar
Lather: Soap Commander Vision
Post: Witch hazel splash, Nivea sensitive balm
WTG, touch-up

This is perhaps my best weekday shave in the past month. The Soap Commander Vision lathered with the enormous Omega boar made plenty of slick, cushioning lather. The Rapira blade in the MR1 glided right through the lather with ease.

Focusing on technique and light pressure continues to yield good results. I would grade this shave as certainly CCS and approaching DFS. My angle continues to improve and become more consistent and my morning shaves are getting better and better.

I soaked the Omega brush in hot water as I showered. That's not normally what I do with brushes but since this one is so large I've adopted that process for it. Seems to work quite well.

This is a sample of the Vision scent and I'm going to try and use it up over the next couple of days. I have more Soap Commander samples to try and I'm eager to get to them! It seems to be incredible stuff.

Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

 

General Announcement: After conferring with the @Queen of Blades , this thread is going to it's new home in the "Shave School" section of the forum. This thread has been in General, and she feels, and I agree, that Shave School is a better fit for what we do here. So, same great fun, new location!

 

Glad to hear this is normal.. was getting a little worried. I am really glad I chose this set up for my focus.. The Fat, Voskhods, and The Veg are a perfect marriage IMO

 

Sometime soon I will go back to writing about straight razors...

 

Day 32 - 90 Day Intro to SR

1 February 2016



Ralf Aust 5/8
"Big Guns" (48 + Arko)
Alum
TSD ISZ AS Splash
Pinaud Lilac Vegetal
​

Sometimes it just pays to break out the artillery. I needed a shave, and my truck needed a wash, so the 48 was the only logical choice. Mountains of lather and two passes later...I can say this now...BBS! Everything finally happened correctly all on the same day, after 31 shaves. Will try to replicate and note the particulars tomorrow. The areas I still need to improve are neck angles and efficiency of motion. The strop is going well. As threatened, the Veg finished off a somewhat fiery Alum application, but I am satisfied and feeling good about it five hours later. Tons of snow...other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a terrific Tuesday!
​

 

My belated wrap up of January 1-30

(how's this for a cop-out!)

Things I learned:

SR is something I can mange on a daily basis.
It's simple, but not easy.
Lather means a bit more with a straight than a DE or SE.
@Norcalnewb showed me the correct pattern for my learning phase.

Accomplishments:

Added a tagline for @HolyRollah
Made more good friends
Had fun
Read more about honing than I ever thought I would the first month of SR

Still needs work:

My whole SR regimen!

 

February 1, 2016

February Focus begins with my Schick Type D - The first Schick Injector Razor circa 1935

Shave 2
Hot Shower
Razor: Schick Type D
Blade: Schick (China) (2)
Soap: RazoRock P.160
Brush: Rubberset 400-4
Witch Hazel
Myrsol Plastic Shave


Close shave on Sunday, left the need for just a one-pass ATG.

Late night 14 hours later, I'm sure it's going to be another one-pass shave tomorrow. But it'll be with my travel razor so I may not report on that.

Hope you all are enjoying your shaves, and at least making progress.

Cheers!
RT

 

One pass Ninja...

 

This was fun the last time.

***2nd Annual Support TSD Raffle***

 

Feb Focus - Day 1
Preshave: Hot shower, Stirling Preshave soap
Bowl: Dirty Bird Scuttle (epic)
Blade: Shefield Steel 9/16 Round point
Strop: @Drygulch horsehide special
Brush: WSP Silver tip
Cream: TDS Wheat cream - Bourbon Vanilla
Postshave: Cold water, Alum, TSD Postshave milk (Bourdon Vanilla), Stirling Post shave balm unscented

After a long, busy day, I was looking forward to the wider blade shave this evening. This was my 2nd time using TSD cream and still getting the hang of great lather - still have a little more playing on the recipe to do yet but very fluffy lather - I may have use a tad too much water though. First pass wtg - butta. But I didn't have to work a little harder to more the larger blade around my jaw line.2nd pass xtg nice and easy. 3rd pass atg (face only - neck atg was with merkur progress de).

First thoughts with large blade, my honing is getting much better on hollow blades. Still working on the 1/4 and thicker blades for honing. 2nd, I LOVE THE @Queen of Blades scent of bourbon vanilla. I don't think that I've picked up a scent I don't enjoy from TSD shop. 3rd, the wider blade moves nicely through my wiskers and feels sturdy in my hand.

Looking forward to this month of focus.
Cheers,
Eric

 

Feb 2 Focus Shave1

Today's razor is Portland Razor Co western grind kamisori fresh of a Shapton glass 16k refresh.

This razor always seems to take a great edge. If felt both smooth and sharp. I was surprised I there was a small cut and weeper. I thought I had nailed this shave but the alum gave just little sting and I missed two spots so just short of BBS.

Irritation A- Closeness A- Smoothness A Keenness A

L'Occitane Cade shaving cream
Omega elk antler silver tip
Woodhead scuttle
PRC western kamisori
Lucky Tiger AS
L'Occitane Cade ASB
YSL M7 (vintage)

 

Western means hollow ground?

 

It means a symmetrical grind. This razor is 1/4 hollow grind on both sides. A Japanese style kamisori is asymmetrical with one side more hollow than the other.

 

Japanese grind, asymmetrical grinds are meant to be used with just one side but can be used with both. I do not own a Japanese grind kamisori but by the pictures they look to near wedge on one side and 1/2 hollow on the other. Hopefully an expert will chime in.

 

I didn't realize razors could be asymmetric.

 

That's cool. I've been kicked out of most schools.

 

Straights Focus February 2:

Homemade PS Oil
Stirling Synthetic Brush
MDC
Henry Sears and Son Queen 5/8
Stirling Unscented PSB
Aqua Velva AS

I used the same set as I have used the past few shaves, and once again, I found very good results. After my first pass, I decided I was good enough, so I rinsed and went with it. It may not quite be CCS, but I don't have any visible growth, so I'll call it SAS. I am ready for my Tuesday, and I hope everyone has a great day.