Rudolf Schmidt Solingen
Metamorphose original shaving soap retro
The Body Shop brush
Scrupleworks strop

SOTD
So today was a test shave and a beautiful one at that.
Prep: nice early morning shower
Pre Shave: Proraso Sensitive
Strop: Castle Shave Co. English Bridle 3” wide custom strop
Shave Cream: B&M Lavanille
AfterShave: B&M Lavanille
Razor: pre 1830’s W.M Greaves and Sons 6/8’s wooden handle. I am using this one again because last time I didn’t get a very good shave and noticed that it was not honed correctly. For all the guys out there remember not all razors are honed the same. This particular razor has a light/medium smile to it. So the spine does not sit flat on the stone regardless of tap test. Once I managed to give this bad boy the proper edge it deserved, I got the greatest shave ever!


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Today's shave was with a sort of mystery razor. I don't know where it was produced, but it looks and feels like Swedish steel. I had a perfect 2 pass shave, that left me BDBS. Zero issues. Excellent razor.


Razor- Hauptner. Swedish Steel????
Brush- B400 By Tom. Whipped Dog Boar Knot. 2 hairs lost.
Soap- Arko/Avon Spicy
Aftershave- Avon Spicy. Avon Calabash Pipe Decanter.

Looks like a beauty.

Any honing tips?

The spine needs to be lightly rolled on the stone as you progress north and south on the stone. It can be a little uncomfortable to get used to in the beginning but you will get it within 15 minutes of honing. No pressure to be used at all. This well help with the consistency as you roll the razor on the stone. Just watch with some vintage razors. Some may seem like a traditional straight but they were actually smiling razors that were incorrectly honed or restored over time. Always pay attention to the curvature of the spine and always do the tap test before every razor. This really helped me on my journey.

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Very lucky on this acquisition, nice looking razor!

Today's shave was the same as yesterday, had to use my Max Sprecher again!

Cascade Steel Barber Special, still holding an edge and getting the job done with flair.

6/8 Wusthof
sample of ABC cream
ABC boar
Touched up the Wusthof and finished on my black arkie. Truly a fantastic shave this morning, the edge was super and the cream, brush and lather perfecto. Now I think I need the ABC cream, lol, and I just swore off any new purchases for a while. I want to use one full puck before any new stuff enters the house. Have a good one.

Newly honed and partially restored. A 2 pass shave, that was silky smooth, with BBS results. No issues, just a perfect shave.

Razor- George Wostenholm "Pipe Razor".
Brush- B400 By Tom. Whipped Dog Boar Knot. 5 hairs lost.
Soap- Arko/Avon Spicy scented
Aftershave- Avon Spicy. Avon Fisherman Captain, Pipe Decanter.

Mastro Livi Gifretto

Took a nice 4 day drive along the Oregon coast and brought no shaving gear for a change . So back tonight and I wanted to take the Rodgers for a spin again.

This razor has surprised me... in a great way. I had really thought this would just be a novelty razor- I mean it is over 10/8” in width!?!?!?

I thought I would clean it up, put on some cool scales, attempt to sharpen, but have a very low bar. Heck, I think you can see the wonky grinding (or regrinding) since it looks like they didn’t have a wheel with the radius to handle the full curve.

But I have been impressed. The balance on the strop and during the shave was very nice, including fitting under my nose and navigating my chin... didn’t see that coming. The nose is sort of cool because the spine just gently pushes the tip of the nose back... really sort of a neat benefit of a razor this large and heavy I guess.

I’ll stop rambling, just always wondered if a razor this large was really capable of shaving, and I can tell you this one is - no problems & all smiles!

Enjoy your shave!
Tom.

Nice! I haven’t used a 10/8. JT I have one just under 8/8 that is 1/4 hollow and I too was surprised how easy it is to handle a big razor.

Enjoy

Keith, thanks for also nudging me on the titanium scales. I was thinking about horn, but quite honestly I am over the moon happy that I went with the modern scale look.

10/8 blade? Wow! I love the idea of titanium scales too.

Well I thought that it's time for an image, shave #40 with the Cape, still going strong.... cream was T&H Trafalgar, brush a 3-band HMW, and AS Harris Pink. Lovely shave.

Cheers, Steve

Dovo Bismarck 6/8
Simpson's Chubby 2 Best Badger
Taconic Pre and Aftershave
Poraso Azur Lime

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Thanks Jim. It does border on crazy big. Makes a W&B chopper look “normal” in size.

Todays shave was with a freshly acquired and honed razor. It has a Double Concave grind, which makes it stiff and very very noisy. I had a very smooth, and noisy 2 pass shave, that left me BBS. This blade takes a very sharp edge, and is a pleasure to use. Although, the noise is something I will have to learn to block out.

Razor- Simmons Hardware No8 Special. By Absolute Guarantee Pat Feb 18, 1902. Double Concave blade.
Brush- B400 By Tom. Whipped Dog Boar. Zero hairs shed.
Soap- Arko/Avon Spicy
Aftershave- Pinaud Clubman






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I hate to pick favorites among my 'children' but this M Martinez is my current favorite. It takes a very sharp edge and holds it for longer than any other straight I own. It has just the right amount of smile to shave my neck. It is a big 8/8 with the 3/4 grind and it is a joy to handle. Plus it looks very cool.