Here’s the only one that I have stamped ‘Fagersta-Martin’. I assume that the steel was Dannemora or other close by mine, Fagersta was a steel-making village or commune in Sweden, and the ‘Martin’ likely referred to martensitic steel.
Testing day today, and the setup couldn’t be simpler. I’ve been experimenting with scenting XPEC unscented with the lovely smelling MdC santal fluid soap (which is a soap), with mixed success. If I get the XPEC scent to a pleasing level, the fluid soap adds too much non-stearic soap to make the best lather - lather like plain XPEC makes. So the next step was to see if the santal fluid soap could be used as a brushless product, and why yes it can! I applied it by hand working it in, and it raises a bit of thin white that doesn’t last, very much like Palmyra Bio gel. It’s plenty slick enough for SR use and smells divine. The post shave feels very much like MdC shaving soap (both are coconut based I believe), and initially felt a little ‘tight’, but on dry down it’s perfectly fine. I suspect that a drop of glycerin in your palm along with the fluid soap would help. The only downside seems to be that it wants to dry on your face, but a quick rub with wet fingers fixes that quite well. Conclusion: It works as well as most other brushless products. The stone is a new one, bought for the shape to hone warped and wonky blades. It’s a Nakyama mizu asagi and it makes a smooth edge on a razor though the stone is not that hard. I’m very happy with it especilly since it was only $33 US. This one will be doing double duty as a tomo nagura too. So overall a very pleasant and successful morning!
6/8 Friedr ERN Viking No Scent Shaving Cream Parker Full Badger Hair Brush Sorry for the crappy pics. I was in a hurry. The FRIEDR ERN. The one I so stupidly caught from falling. I honed her for touchups last night. Stropped this morning. And oh my! I don't wish to use foul language but HOLY CRAP! What a difference the re-honing and stropping did. She shaved so closely on the first pass, I barely needed a second on my neck. The muted French point is perfect for "right under the nose hair". Just a wonderful razor. A+ for this one.
Red soap at night, shaver's delight. Mondesir 87 Gold Cream Kayser Ellison & Co's Best Sheffield Silver Steel, 20x70mm (-13/16"), 48g, Full Hollow, Round Point, Deco & Gliding on blade, Jimps Up & Down, Double Stab, Silver Plate Mondesir on Three Pin Cream Scales https://theshaveden.com/forums/posts/1954207/
On a scale of 1-10, how about a “14”... Carl Rader style. Brush: “Love Your Shave” Cocobolo & Acrylic Suds: Stirling Iced Pineapple Splash: Fine Platinum Enjoy your shave. Tom
I love, love, love this razor. Smooth and close as can be, a real pleasure Hot water preparation Argan Oil PSO Romera Wengue Chubby Manchurian Badger Ethos Lisse Collection Lavendar Shave Soap Lund 6/8 Ethos Lisse Collection Lavender Skin Food Splash Happy shaving - Karl
Double pleasure. Mondesir 87 Gold Cream Kayser Ellison & Co's Best Sheffield Silver Steel, 20x70mm (-13/16"), 48g, Full Hollow, Round Point, Deco & Gliding on blade, Jimps Up & Down, Double Stab, Silver Plate Mondesir on Three Pin Cream Scales https://theshaveden.com/forums/posts/1954401/
Robert Klaas “Crane Brand” Brush: CaYuen Workshop Suds: Wholly Kaw La Fougere Parfaite Splash: Razorock Blue Fougere Enjoy your shave. Tom
Yesterday was a busy day.... NOS Klas Tornblom out for it’s first shave, soap was Acca Kappa 1869 pre-reformulation, and the balm was ABC in the Cointreau mini bottle from the travel kit. Today, two test Monkeys doing a test of two Jnats, both deep layer Nakayama, the left one is UG-LEE and the right one very pretty. No difference in the edges that I could tell. Cream was SMN and Myrsol Agua Balsamica is in the St Germain bottle.
6/8 Thiers Issard Proraso Pre Shave Cream Viking No Scent Shave Cream Rubberset Num. 3 Badger Hair Brush Today was the day. I cleaned, honed and stropped the Thiers yesterday. Didn't want to wait and put her in the rotation as soon as I could. No pulling at all. Just a smooth shave from start to finish. The second pass was effortless. This razor scores an A+
C. V. Heljestrand M. K. 133, cream and AS were also an always dependable pair, SMN and Myrsol Agua Balsamica.
A new edge from @gssixgun has my prized smiling Ragg performing a notch above. It came with a nearly new edge from a well known custom razor maker but it was only a good shave - not a memorable one. New game now, looks and performance now in line Hot water preparation Argan Oil PSO Savile Row 3824 Castle Forbes Lavender Shaving Cream John and William Ragg Napoleon 11/16 Castle Forbes Lavender After Shave Balm Happy shaving - Karl
Verbeke-Devreize 14 Brush: Semogue 830 Suds: Wholly Kaw Sandhurst Been a while since I used this one and no good reason for that. It has the Omega trademark and 14 on the reverse. Joseph Feist had the Omega trademark out of Solingen in the 1920’s and there was a Verbeke and Devrieze marriage in the late 1800’s in Tielt, Belgium. I’m thinking German made for the Belgian market. Enjoy your shave. Tom
