Thursday May 3 - ONE day only MAYhem!
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Lee Valley plastic paintscraper / Gem PTFE ( 1)
JR #276 white ash and boar brush
The Dry Dock shave bowl
Vitos Eucalyptus shaving cream
Alum and Osage Rub
Backup:
Swiss Army Knife
Styptic Pencil, disinfectant, bandaids
Supply Co V.2 SE injector on plate #2 / Personna ( 19) - for cleanup
Okay, I realized I was reading and answering posts while avoiding going into the bathroom, so I went and got the paint scraper shave over with. I regret to admit that some spark of sanity did in fact seep in overnight, so I took my kitchen sink model Swiss Army Knife in with me and used the metal file to round off the exposed corners of the blade to minimize the risk of gouging with them. I decided this was necessary because the paint scraper does not lock the blade securely. The blade can't move in and out or slip sideways but has about 1/16" of "flap".
I bowl lathered for maximum control over the consistency of the lather, and added twice as much water as usual so it would be as slick and runny as possible.
Then I grabbed the scraper and shaved. It took a bit of experimenting to find the best hold. Eventually I settled on grasping it with index finger and thumb in the side indentations as the way to get the best control. I found that I could "ride the cap" on the lip of the handle, although the flappiness of the blade made achieving an optimum angle difficult. If I ever did this again (not bloody likely) I think I would root through the bag of scrapers to find one with a tight door and non-flapping blade. (Sold in a bag of 6 for I think $5.00 complete with blades.)
I could hear the scraper blade against my whiskers with every stroke. The combination of the flappiness of the blade and the extreme light weight of this premium razor made the shave somewhat inefficient. My single pass got me down to somewhere between a SAS and CCS. No blood though.
I lost patience after one pass and grabbed the Supply Co injector for a second cleanup pass. That left me at my normal DFS. I would have to say that an unexpected benefit of the Paintscraper Razor was that it made the Personna blade in the injector feel as smooth as silk on its 19th outing.
The styptic pencil, bandaids and disinfectant went back into the cupboard unused. The alum was completely silent, and the Osage Rub finished off what turned out to be a decent shave.
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