SOS: March 2019

I would have suggested grating the puck; then mixing the grated soap with maybe...1/4 (or more) weight boiling water (100g soap/25g H2O)
and pressing it back into the container. It would be soft, but with the lid off, would firm up quickly. Couldn't hurt.

 

March 6th
Razor: ATT S1
Blade: Astra SP (3)
Brush: Switchback/Omega boar
Pre-shave: Stirling Mentholated
Soap: B&M Reserve Waves
Lucky Tiger face tonic
PAA Star Jelly unscented
AS: B&M Reserve Waves

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

Williams Wednesday's Shave


Cold Water Wash
Williams Mug Shaving Soap
Jayaruh #220
Gem Feather Weight
Gem Blue Star SE
CWR
PSC Caffeinated AS

My prep was just a cold water rinse. The Williams Mug Shaving Soap face lathered well with the Jayaruh #220 brush. I did two passes with the Gem Feather Weight razor with a Gem Blue Star SE blade and ended up with a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, I finished off with PSC Caffeinated AS. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

 

SOTD March 6, 2019

Prep: Cold water and Stirling mentholated pre-shave soap
Blade: Schick
Razor: PAL Adjustable
Brush: JR #142 black badger
Soap: Stirling Green
Post: Witch hazel, Stirling Green aftershave

Have a great day!

 

Thank you!

 

March 6 SOTD:

Razor: Parker SRX
Blade: Shark
Brush: PAA Starcraft
Lather: PAA Meta Nectar
Aftershave: PAA Meta Nectar
Additional Care:
Stirling Unscented PSB

 

Williams Wednesday, March 6

Vintage Tallow Williams~~SOC Boar~~Wade & Butcher~~Clubman VIBR
Have a great day!​

 

At home since yesterday.
In the family of funny creatures: The Rooster!
Let's go !
Not even 24 hours of beard regrowth, but too eager to test it:

 

This is a great shot! And I love that razor!!!!!

 

Matt-I can't honestly say. I have had this tube for 2 years. I rotate a lot of soaps. I can say it does not take a lot to build a great lather though. Bob

Wednesday

Prep: Warm Shower-Stirling Scots Pine Sheep
Soap: Stirling Gentleman
Razor: Vintage Pre-War Gillette Fat Handle Tech (Triangle Slots)
Blade: Rapira Swedish Supersteel (4)
Brush: Maggard Synthetic-24mmx56mm
Aftershave: Stirling Gentleman w/Menthol

WTG-XTG-ATG (adjusted angles for my beard)

Stirling Gentleman today. 20 seconds to load the Maggard Synthetic brush. Easy, thick, slick, lather. Rapira Swedish Supersteel in the Gillett Fat Handle Tech. Excellent smooth, close, shave. I finished with Stirling Gentleman aftershave.

Bob

 

Schick G4/Route 66 razor
Personna 74 blade (#20)
Omega 10066 boar brush
Stirling MITA SS
Osage Rub/Witch Hazel w/aloe
Clubman Reserve Brandy Spice A/S

I know I previously stated that this combo was being retired cuz it was getting a little tired and I had to work a bit more to get the shave I like. BUT, remembering how nice this combo felt to use, I thought it should be good for a couple more shaves and I was right. Nice smooth, comfortable shave that did require a bit more work but nothing to worry about. I had just gotten spoiled by the earlier results with this blade/razor. Anyway, think I'll be able to get a few more nice shaves from it. My face is happy for sure. Now go enjoy your day folks.

 

Rockwell 6S (4)
GSB blade (2)
RazoRock 400
Musgo Real Glyce Pre shave soap
Wholly Kaw Fougere Bouquet
Matching AS

Two pass BBS. It's always nice to be able and shave in the morning for a change. Haven't used WK in a while and I'm again reminded of the amazing performance and even better post shave feel.
Have a good day everyone!

 

SOTD March 6th


Stirling Mentholated Pre-Shave Soap
Blackland Blackbird
Wizamet Iridium Super (3)
Yaqi Ruby Red (24mm, Frigate Class)
Oleo Soapworks 'Empire' soap and AS
Stirling Glacial Unscented PSB

 

SOTD 5/3/2019

I have been working on a new brush design for a few weeks and now it is coming to fruition, time to try it out and I want to tell you all about it. More later but first the SOTD:

• Brush – Alpha Future Chubby 3D Printed in black nylon
• Knot – 28mm silver tip badger bulb
• Razor – Drew Dick Damascus 1/4 hollow
• Bowl – Van Yulay black resin
• Soap – The Holy Black/Caswell-Massey Regents Soap

The shave was awesome, the Holy Black soap performed like a trooper and produced a nice thick, Neroli/barber [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neroli] shop scented, lather with plenty for 3 passes. The Drew Dick razor – what can I say – superb, this is my second time using this Damascus steel quarter hollow blade and boy is it sharp. I had prepped with 3P and waited ten minutes for the brush to soak, a small scoop of soap, about a teaspoon full, also blooming in my bowl.

The Razor in Detail



The razor is one I ordered from Drew Dick last year and finally got my hands on it in the summer (UK summer – JULY) as I get stuff mailed to my relatives home in the UK to save postage and pick it up when I go to visit – it is like Christmas every time… It is a Damascus 8/8″ blade with a very slight smile. It is quarter hollow and has black horn scales and as you can see it is a Damascus blade – did I mention DAMASCUS? I think it is something like 30 layers – anyway handsome or what? It is wicked sharp. I have Three Drew Dick razors now and I love them all.



The Bowl – 5″ Van Yulay Black Resin

Yes it is a distinctive Van Yulay bowl. I bought two Van Yulay bowls last year, one light blue and one black. I misplaced the black one and only found it a couple of weeks back so here it is on show for (maybe?) the first time. Anyway it looks great and works great too. I don’t know the manufacturing process but to me it seems it is pressed from some sort of resin and it pretty much renders it unbreakable although I have not done any specific drop testing, and I won’t. The texture is like honey comb and it helps whip up a great lather in no time. The “comb’ also retains a little water. One thing that it does that does not please me though is that the soap tends to get stuck down inside the pattern so I have to mash the brush to get it out and even when the shave is completed I still see some unused soap in those dimples. The bowl is big enough, grippy and I like it apart from I use too much soap. For creams it is a dream!!

The Soap – The Holy Black/Caswell-Massey Regents Soap

From THB site:

“This shaving soap is made in our classic hot-process formula and made with only the purest essential oils and absolutes that we could source. A Rosemary top note is surprisingly mild while adding a eucalyptic (sic) element to this otherwise strictly citrus fragrance. Heavy on the Neroli oil and Bitter Orange Absolute, the floral orange notes are the obvious stars of the show here. Lemon and Sweet Orange oils balance out the bitterness of the Neroli and Bergamot and lend a fresh but not cloying aspect to this simple yet elegant offering. Due to the low flash point of the essential oils used in this soap it had to be made in very small batches at low temperatures, although highly labor intensive, we think this soap is worth every minute of work that went into it.”

All those fancy words mean something to a perfumer – I just love this soap – it lathers well, is stable and slick and smells great. Nothing more to say!!

Now – THE BRUSH – Future Rubberset 400 Inspired Chubby

This brush is inspired by, among others, Rubberset 400, Merit 99-x series and the Charcoal Goods rendition of a Rubberset 400, I noticed he has done a nice rendering of a futuristic looking chubby and I wanted to make something similar. I did email him on the subject of that brush a while back and even asked for his drawings (hee hee, he did not give them..) but he did say that “You are certainly welcome to pursue a similar design as there is no way to get a design patent or anything like that on a clone of an existing product. Good luck and would like to see what you come up with.” So I fired up my CAD software (I use Autodesk Fusion360 if anyone is interested) and got to work. I made something that was not quite right looking and then lost interest after a few weeks as I was not getting the results I wanted, instead concentrating on my redesigns for some other new brush projects. That was until two weeks ago when I was chatting on WhatsApp to a contact in Australia – no names, no pack drill. He was looking for a chubby design, so I showed him a couple of designs I was working on including this one – he helped me over the course of two days make refinements to the shape, the degree of chubbiness and the curvature until it was in a place that I really liked – I mean the brush looked great on paper and the 3D renders looked superb too.

So – bottom line is I had a design that I liked and the got it 3D printed at a local professional print works. Here is the result, with a beautiful 28mm silver tipped knot fitted. It is a lather beast…

The bore is 29mm, height 65mm and max width 43mm. I have the handle fully bored out to keep the weight down – in this 3D printed (selective laser sintering of nylon powder actually) prototype I weighted it with some coins and filled the void with hot glue – the metal versions, should I make any, will also be fully bored out to keep the weight down and I can then weight the handles to suit and I intend to fill the void with resin.

 

Wednesday morning:

Neutrogena Men Facial Wash
Razorock Plissoft 26mm Monster
Super Speed/7 AM day 7
Vintage Barnängens Parba Shaving Stick
Prep ASB
Booster Polar Ice AS Splash
Aramis EdT

This stick is from Sweden and dates back to the 1920s. What a classic old school scent it has, the lather is a pleasure to work up, and the skincare is excellent. The Prep and Polar Ice made me feel like I got a great BBS shave in a barbershop, but I did it all myself!

 

Inspired by @madmedic to take a short break from my straights and brush the dust off my Focus R48 to go for a spin. If I could pull the shave moves like that off with a straight, I believe I could also castrate flies in mid-air. This is the only razor I use that I ALWAYS 'chase the baby'.

Since I don't have any Williams, I am forced to proclaim this PiacenzDay Wednesday.

Piacenza (inspiration Parma) ranks high on the Max Headroom list of Most Glorious Stanks. I could do this every day even though I'm a closet Brut fan.

I suspect that Rod discontinued his deodorant line because people found the product more viscous than conventional deodorant sticks. I found that if preceded by a couple of sprays of isopropyl alcohol it glides right on. I wish I'd have bought up a bunch, it is the most effective deodorant I've ever used.

Be well!

 

March 6

Parker SRX
Rapira Super Stainless (2)
Simpson Chubby 2 Super
C.O. Bigelow
Alum, Thayers WH, USB, Pinaud Clubman & Aramis
54th focus shave

 

March 6th SOTD
RR Blackhawk V2 w Feather Pro (5)
RR Mudder Focker
Omega Pro/Walnut&Brass
Thayers
CL Gratiot League Sq AS

Have a great day, all!

 

Grafco branded Merkur

 

Is the head profile on the vintage pretty much the same as modern ?