OCtober 26, 2017

Paladin Churchill
Mystic Water Barbershop
Wolfman Ti OC with Darwin
Polsilver Super Iridium
Barrister and Mann Seville AS
Brooks Brothers 1818

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Beautiful picture, Mark!

Nice set ups and even better photos, gentlemen!

Another excellent photo, Doug! I didn't realize from your previous photos that your razor was a Goodwill, very nice!

Very nice, Charlie! How is that knot breaking in ?

Beautiful photo, Clint! If i ever use up my puck of Tabac I plan on putting a puck of Fine soap in the bowl.

Another stunning shot of the Aristocrat, Jim!

Very nice photo, Perry!

Great setup, Brian! is that a vintage strop?

Sounds and looks like the start of a great day, Jason!

Very nice, Mark! that Paladin is a looker!

October 26, 2017- More AnTECHs

Razor: English Flat Bottom Tech/Fat Handle
Blade: Dorco STD-301
Brush: Razorock Plissoft 22
Cream: KMF fragrance-free
Post: Alum, Listerine, WH

One more shave with the Flat-Bottom Tech. Today's shave was partly about answering two pieces of curiosity: 1) How's the blade rigidity? and 2) What about a different handle?

As I've probably droned on about too many times, the Dollar Store Dorco needs to be held rigidly in order to perform its best. Well, there's no problem there; the Flat-Bottom Tech has no problems with blade rigidity.

Fat handle? Definite improvement. As interesting as I find the two-piece handle, there is something to be said for the slightly larger and heavier handle. Together, it makes for a classic Tech experience.

The end result... another great shave.

I'll probably stay with a non-OC for at least another day. I have a newly-acquired post-War US Tech that deserves a trial run.

Thank you Jim. Doug really did a great job on the handle.

Great lineup and photo. As tempted as I am, I am not going to let your Aristocrat get my RAD started again. I will remain strong.

The Personna Injector a very cool looking razor. You can easily see the inspiration for the Cobra and Supply Co injector.

The wood 400 Jim made is one of the nicest brushes I've seen. Congrats on scoring that one.

The picture just makes the grain in the brush pop. Bravo.

I thought a different handle would change the characteristics. How rare are the Flat Bottom Techs?

Thank you Andrew. From everything I have read, Fine is similar to Tabac but not quite the same. It will be nice reading your thoughts.

Thanks. Yes, it’s a vintage Kikuboshi.

Wow. Just Gorgeous Amigo.

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Changing the handle can change the characteristics. It's all about weight and, more importantly, balance. In this case, though, I was switching from a two-piece travel handle which is very light to a fat Tech handle which is still pretty light, so the feel is about the same as any other Tech. Looking at Mr. Razor, it appears that the Flat Bottom Tech was sold in various sets with a Fat Handle, so I'm probably well within anything the designers intended.

I'm not sure the Flat Bottom Tech is all that rare, per se. The problem is that they were mostly made in England with some made in Canada, so they are not all that common in the US. The rare (and really sought after) one is the English Hybrid Tech which is a safety-bar version of the English Raised Flat Bottom New. I'd say the rarest part of mine is the particular two-piece handle which does not seem to be a common variant.

Post of the day.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Thank you, Andrew!

Thank you, Gents!

Or cookies.

"If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill
I will choose a path that's clear
I will choose free will"

Thursday October 26 - back to the Open Comb

Fatip Grande / Topaz Platinum (1)
Semogue Owners Club cherrywood boar brush
My Red Green Duct Tape Special frankensoap
Alum and Lucky Tiger

After a weeklong detour to roadtest my Delta Echo refurbished Gillettes, I came back to my OCtober Focus again today. I shaved with my open comb Fatip Grande. It's a very smooth razor but also touchily aggressive and liable to bite at any moment (just like my other OC DE razors actually - there's not a mild one in the bunch). And I do tend to get bit by them a fair amount. But today the shave was ... very good. Excellent in fact. Two passes and I have a workable BBS. Even the usual problem spot on the left underside of my jaw is pretty smooth. And no blood, no cuts, no nicks, no weepers, just a mild bit of razorburn on my chin.

On the soap and brush side of the equation, I once again tried for a super goop lather from my frankensoap. I counted this time, and building lather on the tub this way, I did approximately 200 swirls on the soap instead of my usual 10 to 20. Admittedly I do light swirls with this method instead of pressing down on the brush as I normally do, but that's still a fairly hefty increase in loading time. It also seems to be about right for hard soaps. Thinking back, my first "good" soap was actually TOBS Avocado Cream and that was what I learned tub-loading with. I have just never fully adjusted my habits to adapt from cream to hard-milled soaps instead.

Incidentally, today's lather was very good. No problem at all with thinness or skimpiness. On the other hand, two days of this has put a visible dent in my frankensoap...

Hope the week is going well for everyone!

John, a visibly noticeable reduction in product after only two days? That's what I call exciting!