SOTD TUESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 18, 2020
Today my shave featured two new shaving tools. One was a new/old Tanifuji Airi Shaving Sword (hey, that’s how it was marketed) and the other my brand new Tradere. I’d been reading about Japanese straights and Silver Steel when Ben called my attention to this straight razor available from a friend of his in NYC who’s apparently also a vintage Japanese straight razor nut. 95% of Ben’s vintage Straights are Japanese. He sold most of his Sheffield and Solingen straights. Only has a few collectibles in those categories. The razor arrived yesterday, passed the tilt ‘n wobble test with flying colors, and was touched up by Ben on his 20k jnat. Well fellers, I now understand what you mean by buttery, velvet edge! This was without doubt the best straight shave I’ve ever had, albeit with the same DFS below the jawline!
Enter the Tradere! At 118.5 grams it feels great in the hand. Shane of Blackland was 100% faithful to the original design, and I understand now why its entry eight years ago rocked the wet shaving community! It’s simply an incredible shaver. Loaded with a Feather blade, it cleaned up my neck Shearing away the stubble right down to the skin line while gliding along on its mentholated MWF lather cushion. There was little, if any, blade feel, but boy did it do the job. One and a half passes (ATG, ATG) on the noggin tucked the baby in and put him right to bed! It’s a combination of the weight coupled with the almost complete lack of auditory feedback. I was contacted by Wolfman regarding my order, but after this shave have no interest in pursuing it. This is without doubt one of, if not, the best modern artisan safety razors in my den! I feel cool, refreshed, clean and supremely velveteen!
RAZOR: Tanifuji Airi Silver Steel Shaving Sword (Mug), Blackland Tradere (Dome)
BLADE: Polsilver
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Rabid Banana Preshave Cube
BRUSH: Rooney Ebony Pure Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat w/ 6 drops of M-Bomb
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH and Osage Rub. Finished with Krampert’s Frostbite AS Splash.
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