I spent several hours this morning honing a Thiers Issard razor that had intimidated be from a honing standpoint until today. (I bought it from a guy on a BST who said it was it shaved him poorly.) Victory and an excellent shave ensued.

Also tried out another fan brush from Sterling. Jason has enjoyed his so much that I have lamented giving mine away and wondered if I did so prematurely. Today’s shave prove the brush an enjoyable one, and I will probably transplant the knot similar to what he did.

Fine photo of good shaving products Randy. Brush looks great also.

Thanks Jim! An unintended consequence of my daughter moving in -we don't all fit in my little Ford Ranger. She'll be driving the Mom Van. That means I get to have an adult beverage, or two. In moderation of course. I don't want to be the uncle that's remembered for acting up at a family gathering. As long as I stay a couple drinks behind that guy...

Catch up post number 1. I have actually been keeping up with the SEptember theme. Two more shaves with the Wilkinson Sword Empire set. I learned a few things. 1) there is a button that let’s the blade actually go under the stops and maintain a consistent gap. It took a YouTube video and three shaves for me to figure that out. Made the razor much more predictable. 2) You have To disassemble, dry, and oil the blade and holder immediately after the shave or it rusts. And takes a while to clean up again. 3) I decided after three shaves that the blade maintenance is too difficult without the strop that should be in the set. Going to bench this razor until I can make a new strop.

Catch up post number 2. Did some delayed trading at the Meet Up, and just got this EverReady lather catcher from @mrchick. I don’t know the model, but it’s a cool old razor. Paired it with a Treet Super Carbon. Three noisy passes latter, I got a pretty good shave. It’s almost as loud as my Filarmonica 14 straight. I want to learn more about this razor and get to know it better.

Also want to note that I have making progress on finishing off TSD Purple Rain.

I used the modern ones. I also have some vintage blades in a dispenser that was with my Type M but haven't tried any of the vintage blades. Yet, anyway.

Catch up post number 3. Did some horse trading in a FB group and got a OneBlade Core. It’s a resin copy of their One Blade Genesis model, so I want expecting it to be so well built. Very substantial feeling, with a pivoting head. I know @clint64 loves his, so was eager to try it. The razor uses the Feather FHS 10 blades. These fit this razor, the old Vallet Autostrops, and that’s it. They are about $1 each. I’ve used this razor for two shaves. It’s mild, easy to use, and impossible to cut yourself with. (Giving it to my wife if she likes it, so tested this today.) it feels very much like shaving with a cart. You need pressure, and there is no blade feel, but it still mows through whiskers. I also found that how long the shave lasts is also comparable to carts. I would need to shave every day with this razor to look clean shaven. I don’t care how mild it is, my face won’t handle that. It’s a neat razor, with lots of innovation, I just prefer more blade feel and direct involvement in my shaving. Like driving a manual rather than an automatic.

Related note, a moment of silence for my tub of TSD Purple Rain. Finally down. Moving on to my next targeted one, Stirling Pharaoh’s Dreamsicle sample I got as a Secret Santa Gift in 2016. Also fits in for Stirling SEptember.

Thanks, Doug.

The Wholly Kaw has an awesome Fougere.

Wow..what great shipping time from Local Gent-the Tobacco Lounge shave soap is here .

Well, it IS just that, y'know? But men do many more things in life than punch people. Didja read the review called "Transported On A Chairlift"?

I looked at their site....I'm sure it's awesome, but it's kind of expensive. Not as much as Bill Neumann(Wm. Neumann&Co.), but it's up in that direction.

And now it's here ).

If a shave doesn’t feel like it’s going well, knock down enough whiskers to be good for work, and call it done. I am one of the people who can only shave every other day, or my skin just hurts. If you aren’t sure if the blade, just pitch it and start over. Light touch, skin stretching, and find the angle you need. When my whiskers are too short, I end up doing a higher angle than I otherwise do to scrape them off, and it irritates my face more.

Here's what I might call a "Rest Of The Year Focus": I'd like to be able to finish two soaps by my last shave of the year(12-31). Doesn't mean I'm going to shave with just those two for the remainder of the year, but achieving this goal would ease my decision-making for choosing soaps in 2019. Ironically, both are Barbershop soaps(Stoylin, and Chiseled Face's Ghost Town Barber).

Yup, that was one of the humorous ones for sure, Paul.

Thanks, Adam!
Hope that roof leak gets sorted out soon, btw!

I’m on my fourth kindle fire. All four still work, but I kept breaking the screens. I got a Fire 8 7.7 inch tablet, I only use it as an e-reader, not as a tablet or camera. I use my phone for surfing. Kindle works pretty well, and is small enough to stick in my back pocket. (Related to the broken screens.)