November 2018 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Thank you, Clint!

 

Thank you, Jason! They are essentially the same razor, but I am not sure they were making a razor they called an Aristocrat when they made the President and Diplomat, at least not in the US. The only real difference is all the bands are knurled on the Diplomat (and the rhodium plated President).

 

Thank you, Jim!

 

Thank you, Gary!

 

Thank you, Randy!

 

oh yeah, that fella.

 

I'm surprised that living in Louisiana as you do that you weren't inundated with LSU/Bama news all week!

 

Strike up the Bugs Bunny song for the big game-"On with the show, this is IT!".

 

Yes, I’ve seen that on Jim’s brush(es) and on some other customs as well. I believe Wolf Whiskers has been doing it for awhile too. Besides the neat custom touch, it also has some practical applications as well. There are a few different ways to affix the handle to the headstock when turning. There are ‘jam’ chucks or expanding collet chucks that enable you to hold the handle from the knot ‘hole’ and finish the bottom nicely. I have homemade a cheap adapter into my 4 jawed chuck that allows me to do the same. If, however, you screw or attach the handle from the bottom, you have a much tougher time tidying up the bottom. A medallion or something similar ‘covers’ that issue. You will probably have seen a brush or two with a small round wooden ‘plug’ in the bottom. That is another way to fill a screw chuck hole.
Probably more technical that you wanted, but I’ve got turning on my mind today...

 

Given my track record with marriages, I'm probably the guy to recommend a lawyer. Just throwing that out there. So what about these LE stands you're talking about??

 

Looks like someone walked in wearing his Commencement gown.

 

Wouldn’t be the first time! When we bought this old house 8 years ago, we decided to gut the kitchen and the kids bedrooms before we even moved in. Backed the trailer into the side yard and lived in it for a few months while I redid the kid’s rooms and got the kitchen started. SWMBO took the kids to her folks place for a few weeks when I was removing old plaster to avoid the whole dust/mess thing and I was ‘batching’ it in the RV...

 

Thanks, Doug!

 

TRAIL-ERS FOR SALE OR RENT




KINGA THE ROAD\

 

Wow!

OK, that doesn’t count Clint. Kind of calling the game in the first quarter.

Thanks, Rick. I wondered what scent B&M was going for. All I could come up with was pine trees and cranberries with other random stuff. Now it’s falling into place for me... apparently it was the high grade saffron molecules that were throwing me .

 

Thanks, Clint. After three months of barley touching them, it’s awesome to get back to them. I still want to spend more time with the SEs and see if I can fully tame them, but I like my straights.

 

Sounds like an afternoon of football and adult beverages could help you with your casual quests.

 

Saturday morning November 3 - "travelling" to the UK



I shaved today using this vintage English (?) travel set. The overall result was good but some components worked better than others. I used everything including the soap. The soap rubbed onto my damp face alright but lathering it with the vintage boar brush proved a bit disappointing. I ended up with a very thin layer of slick soap film on my face but almost no visible lather. I didn't scrub vigorously with the brush as I wanted to be gentle with the old bristles. That may have been the problem. Or perhaps the soap never did lather up much but always acted more like a gel. Most probably though, it was a bit past its "best before" date.

The soap was slick enough so the first pass with the razor at least didn't draw any blood. Cushion seemed a little lacking. The OC razor has a two-post Gillette Old Type style of head but its shaving feel was closer to the milder Gillette NEW LC. It was pleasant shaving with it, even with the sub-par soap.

For the second pass, I brought in the pinch-hitter, Arko. I very quickly had a face covered with top-quality lather and the second pass was much more comfortable. The one fly in the ointment was a number of boar brush bristles stuck to my face -- the old brush shed a fair amount, especially when used with a soap that actually lathered up.

That was the other part of the shave that wasn't great: the brush is wispy without much backbone, thanks to a small knot coupled with a fairly high loft. Modern brushes tend to a loft of approximately double the knot diameter; this one is closer to triple. That might partly be due to bristle loss over decades of service, but my sense is that the brush hasn't really been used that much and was always rather wispy.

In the end, I ended up with a DFS after two passes. Alum was silent. I finished the shave with a simple application of Thayers Witch Hazel Original Astringent. The shave was serviceable but not luxurious. However, with a small stick of Arko or Palmolive replacing the expired Pears (or whatever it was) in the brush handle, and perhaps the brush reknotted with a knot from small Omega boar brush or even a small badger or synthetic knot of good quality, this set could really shine again.

 

Love the photo and report John. Are you considering replacing the knot on the brush?

 

Razor: Gillette Gold Tech w/ case
Blade: Gillette 7 O'clock Super Platinum
Brush: Elite Razor Tres Amigos Desert Ironwood Beehive w/Envy White
Soap: Reef Point Soaps Dragon's Blood.
A/S: Myrsol F/Extra
Bowl: @twhite 3-D printer bowl

First shave of November went without a flaw. Two passes for a smooth comfortable shave. Good way to start the day.