February 18 (Saturday) - equipment focus - Fatip #1

Fatip Grande / Voskhod (2)
B+B Omega Essential Boar
The Eternal Tub of TOBS Avocado Cream ( croap )
Alum and Thayers Witch Hazel Original and Nivea Sensitive Balm

My lather was back to a decent amount, consistency and wetness today after yesterday's abysmal performance.

Today I switched to trying the Fatip Grande, using the Voskhod blade to start off. I was quite apprehensive because it is reputed to be an aggressive open comb razor. My only previous experience with an OC (also classed as aggressive) was with the Fendrihan Scientist, which took me 3 falls out of 5 with 1 draw. The Fatip Grande was a pleasant contrast -- it was clearly very efficient and shaving closely but also felt smooth and well controlled throughout. I ended the shave with no cuts, nicks or weepers unlike my three Fendrihan Scientist bloodbaths.

The alum came as quite a surprise therefore when it briefly lit my neck on fire. However, the Thayers WH put the fire out -- I went with the especially mild and soothing non-alcoholic version just to be sure -- and I then capped it off with a neck rub with Nivea balm. I suspect the problem is partly that my neck has not yet recovered fully from my XTG fiasco of a few days ago.

Despite the surprise from the alum, I was pleased and impressed by the Fatip Grande. I got a near BBS result from it with one diagonal pass and no touchup without any visible blood. And the razor itself looks stunning with its design, craftsmanship, heft and excellent goldplating. Just a beautiful piece to display, especially when contrasted with the largely plastic Schick Krona.

I will try it tomorrow with the GSB, although I may restrict myself solely to WTG passes on my neck until it completely settles down again.

Questionable memories? What are you trying to say? Wait, what were we talkin' about?

Thank you both, with a little luck mom and baby will be coming home today.

Sent from my Galaxy S6 using Tapatalk

So, a nice looong weekend coming up. No shave until Monday morning. Then the 7 o'clock Green is up. Still fighting this cold of mine, but the congestion has gone down some, so I can smell food again. Makes eating much mo' better when I can smell the food. Happy weekend y'all.

It was nice knowin' ya.

If you like the Bay Rum soap, and if you like Bay Rum AS,you might try Stirling's sometime. The cinnamon Oil provides for a little burn, but it feels good and smells better.

SOTD February 18, 2017

Blade: Chinese Schick
Razor: Schick M Adjustable
Brush: Omega Hi synthetic
Lather: Stirling Barbershop
Post: Witch hazel splash, Stirling Barbershop aftershave
WTG, XTG

Nice shave with Stirling Barbershop products this morning. Two passes for a smooth and comfortable result. I soaked the soap in a little bit of water while showering and then began loading with the dry Omega brush. I ran the faucet on a tiny stream and ran the brush through several times while continuing to load (in the vein of the video from Jared). That method is foolproof. Beautiful, shiny, well-hydrated lather. Stirling is so slick and protective.

Nice shave in the end and I hope you all have a great Saturday!

February 18, 2017​

Mongoose B2 with Triad Ti​

Feather Pro Super (7)​

Shavemac Silvertip D01​

MdC Vetyver​

Myrsol Agua Balsamica​

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Another great shave this morning making for a fantastic start to the weekend. The shaves this week have been consistently enjoyable with this setup. The Silvertip D01 has turned into an enjoyable brush with great backbone and scrub. The MdC Vetyver is everything I like about MdC with a truly intoxicating scent. Overall it would be really hard to ask for a better week. Since I normally get 14 shaves with a Super Pro blade the Mongoose will continue on next week with another brush and soap. I hope everyone has a great Saturday.

Well, I was able to find this: http://www.marmaraltd.com/# which refers to it as an "Industrial Blade". See also: http://www.marmaraltd.com/industrial-blades.htm , specifically the one on the left. (Odd choice of picture for the Industrial Blade page, BTW. I'd think they'd want to show someone "working" with a razor blade.)

So... I think we can safely assume that this is an "Industrial Blade". I assume that that is something like the difference between a Gem blade for shaving and one for using in a box cutter. If so, then is it possible that the real Tiger blade is nothing but an "Industrial Blade"?

Nice find! There are a couple of possibilities. Your suggestion that it is the difference between the Gem blades does seem to make sense. It's also possible that Marmara is smart enough to recognize that the blade sucks so bad you can't list it as a shaving blade. Or at least shouldn't. As for the real Tiger being an industrial - interesting theory that deserves some more research. Although I think I found the website for that blade and it was clearly advertised for shavers. I'll look that back up.

I'm curious to see what you find on the Tiger as an Industrial Blade. FWIW, I asked a question on B&B to the effect that if the Tiger blades were so useless for shaving than what did Nigerians use them for. The suggestion I got in response was "cutting fabric".

Holding on to the vintage. A tear of joy just ran down onto my keyboard.

I thought perhaps it would be for cutting apart the fake money orders they want to send us to cash.

The mental image I get is like something out of the recent Tabac discussion.

FedEx just drove by my building. Such a shock-I didn't order any shave stuff!!!

LOL

The thing that has always struck me as odd about the Tiger blades is why, in the 21st century, they continue to be produced in the 3-hole design. Certainly, there are few, if any, razors that can only take that style of blade. It begs the discussion of whether there might be some other application which has never left that format. Hence the possibility of it being an Industrial blade.

OTOH, I seem to recall that there is a Tiger-LH blade which is in the canonical format. This I would expect to be a shaving blade.

...anticipating another interesting image from Jared @PickledNorthern

Feb 18, 2017

'52 Canadian Tech w Astra (2)
Stirling Bay Rum (sample)
TGN Finest Fan/Figured Maple handle
Thayers Unscented
Nivea Sensitive Balm



Day 5 of the humble Canadian Tech focus. 2nd day with the Astra. Uneventful 3 pass shave this morning. The usual slick lather from Stirling and no irritation. Another solid morning for the tech/astra combo. Put a little Nivea on after the usual Thayers and am ready for a weekend with the family.
Have a great weekend all!

February 18. 2017

Razor: 20's Thick-Cap OT
Blade: Gillette Rubie Platinum Plus (4)
Brush: Razorock Plissoft 22
Cream: KMF fragrance-free

So, here we are... no shave yesterday and shave #4 on the most controversial of Russian blades. So far, they've actually done well by me on a series of razors. This means the only thing left to do is double down and go Old School with a Gillette Old Type.

I will begin by saying that I did notice some tugging on the first pass. I can't really say that it was any worse than I'd expect for two days growth on a used blade, though; certainly not unusable. The rest of the shave was uneventful... no blood... no undue irritation... and an overall DFS.

At this point, I have to concede one of two possibilities about the Rubie PP. Either a) They actually work pretty well with my face and beard type. or b) Andrew (congrats, BTW) sent me a rare "good" one which I then selected at random.

Great picture, Mark. It looks like an advertisement you would see in a high end barbershop.