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SOTD 02/03/20
Today is SWMBO’s birthday and tomorrow is mine. She is 10 yrs younger - I know; I’m a cradle robber! To launch things off, I decided to shave with one of my two all-time favorite safety razors - the GE Jones Shake Sharp. I own three versions - the Mark 1.5 and the Mark 2/3 in nickel and gold plate respectively. I do not own the original Mark 1.0. This is a unique design that was launched in the mid 40s and ended in the early 50s. It is a SE that uses DE blades and was introduced at the very end of the carbon steel (CS) razor blade era. CS blades were thicker than the then newly produced stainless steel (SS) blades and did not hold an edge as long. The Shake Sharp was designed during the depression and included a built-in hone to allow one to sharpen their CS blades by literally shaking the razor back and forth. For whatever reason, the launch was delayed and they lost their marketing window. SS blades were thinner and just didn’t sharpen in the way CS did. A friend at TSD (
@jmudrick) who’s probably shaved with just about every safety razor variant in existence acknowledges this razor as a favorite and introduced me to it. He uses his Mark 1.0 and loads two stacked SS blades into it. This technique works brilliantly because two stacked SS blades are roughly equivalent to a single CS blade.
We are both head and face shavers. And this razor is amazing with a very wide sweet spot! I do not use the hone function, but others have with vintage CS blades.With two stacked SS blades the shave is smooth and highly efficient. I loaded two stacked Wizamet Super Iridiums and had at it! Truly a perfect shave with my favorite soap, MWF and 5 drops of M-Bomb, complemented by PAA’s Cube Preshave Soap. This is a razor that thrives on long sweeping strokes that clear the whiskers right down to the skin line! Two passes (WTG and ATG) and that’s all she wrote - bloodless BBS all around. The alum block revealed no heat anywhere. My wife left early for work, so I broke out the Florida Water to celebrate and liberally splashed both noggin and face - lovely burn! I feel clean, smooooth, cooool, and very refreshed on this bright, sunny day in southeast PA.
RAZOR: Shake Sharp Mark 1.5
BLADE: 2 Stacked Wizamet Super Iridium
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with PAA’s Preshave Cube Soap
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and finished with Florida Water AS/Cologne
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