30 Day Rule/Focus; July 2024. All Are Welcome!

I find that, unless I am doing one of the Badger & Blade's Excalibur Club challenges and trying to see how many dozen shaves I can squeeze out of a DE blade, routinely binning them after two or three shaves just makes the most sense. Given their low cost and ready availability today, skimping is senseless.

I found the Excalibur Club experience interesting. Most blades follow a similar pattern: you get two to five excellent shaves with a new smooth sharp blade. Then the blade begins to get duller and rougher, and most reasonable users junk it then. However, if you "push through" the rough patch, after being rough for half a dozen shaves or so, the blade smooths out and becomes almost "buttery smooth". And stays that way for the next 60 to 100 shaves -- or however many times you use it until you finally decide that it isn't cutting hair at all...

And then you put in a new blade -- and you discover that your shave is easy and effortless by comparison... At that point, if you are a masochist (or want Excalibur Club bragging rights), you start the whole process all over again. In my case, I realized that what I had really done was save about a buck in blade costs by enduring half a dozen truly wretched shaves (i.e. "pushing through" the rough patch) in order to achieve a couple months of rather mediocre shaves...

 

Unfortunately, Paul, you are about five years too late to look into getting JM Fraser's Shave Cream. Manufacturing was temporarily halted in 2019 during the pandemic -- and then the conglomerate that now owns the brand decided that the shaving cream no longer added enough to their corporate bottomline to be worth the cost of starting up the production line again. So it is now just a part of shaving history.

 

yes sir..

 

you were honing the blade with your face/whiskers..

 

i think sales were dropping and they were hearing complaints..mostr reformulations don't advertise a better product on the package aferward either.the proraso clearly does..proraso is a true all shaver brand compared to other cosmetics brands with a men's section..,if they screw it up, it'll go the way of williams.for others (not including artisans of course) they have many other products to carry the load,-think fraser's..

 

I didn't know about the Excalibur Club. My average is about 5 shaves on a blade. It doubles if I use half the blade for my shavettes.

 

i've been doing some blade challenges with older /vintage blades and some new chinese blades (suneko),but nothing really serious.i have found that the vintage blades are better than most modern to be honest..though not saying that modern are bad or unusable..

 

Well....one word to say....shux.

 

I found that the one type of blade the Excalibur Club really and truly worked with was the very old pure carbon steel blades. In antique stores and collections, you see all those old razor blade "honing" or "sharpening" systems and gadgets from the early to mid- 1900s. They were very popular during the Depression to extend the use of razor blades for people counting every penny. I own several of them and I tested them.

What I found was that they actually worked quite well -- with old-fashioned uncoated carbon steel blades. They act much like a sharpening steel or buffing wheel does on a carbon steel knife and straighten or hone the edge of the razor blade to allow it to continue to function.

I acquired a carton of 1940s era carbon steel blades in perfect (unrusted) condition. Using a couple of those gadgets, I managed to get 175 shaves out of one of them. In fact, the very first shave on the blade was dreadful. I used one of the honing devices and it smoothed right out. So that was a case of the blade being terrible until the gadget was used and then being quite good after that.

However, I also tried the hones on modern blades - and found they were totally useless. Which was what I had read. Regular stainless steel knives are much more difficult to resharpen than carbon steel ones and the same holds true with razor blades. Add in all the fancy coatings on modern razor blades and not only do the hones fail to improve the stainless steel edge, they scrape off the coatings.

 

Well yes. That is one of the definitions of being "normal" around here.

 

11th July 2024.


​

Shaving Recipe for today.

Prep: Warm shower:/Cien Moisture Shower Gel.

Pre:
Cold wet flannel to my face.
Cien PURE Fragrance Free Sensitive Bar Soap.
Brush: Fine 24mm Synthetic.
Bowl Lather.
Bowl: Tesco's Ceramic 'Cosmo' Side Bowl.
Lather: Arko Maximum Comfort Shaving Cream.
Blade: Feather Hi Stainless. (D2)
Razor: 1970's Gillette Aluminium Handle Tech S4. (ENG)

Post:
Cold Water Face Rinse./Cold water face wash with brush squeezing's, /Alum Rub./Cold Water Rinse./Homemade (~Spring/Summer mix~) Lemon, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Essential Oils.5 Menthol Crystals Mixed Together With Care+Witch Hazel./Gillette Blue ASL./Cien Men Sensitive ASB.

Greetings,

Early morning shave,

Another superb shave from the 70's Tech/Feather Hi Stainless duo. I will carry on with the Feather blade in my next weeks SOTD set ups.

A comfortable 2 pass + pick ups silky smooth shave with no errors to report.

Finishing the shave off with a few small dollops of Cien Men Sensitive ASB.

My face is feeling cool smooth & smelling divine.

Keep safe, and enjoy your day ladies & gentlemen.

 

Techmatic too?

 

11 Jul 2024
Days growth = 1

Prep = 3x hot water soak
Preshave = T&H No. 10
Cream/Soap = Sterling Satsuma
(@Trigger, you see Joe I am easily influenced)
Brush = Chubby 2
Bowl = Timeless
Razor = 1958 TV special
Blade = Kai (2)
Passes = 3 ++
Post = Usual CWR, Alum, rinse, pat dry, Thayers,
ASL = Pinaud Clubman

Scent = Santal wood +++
Score = 9.5 / 10

Damage = None, but getting close!

First Thought: The Kai was a bit smoother on day 2. Not as-good-as-it-gets though, might be the wrong razor
It still needed more strokes per pass, and more passes than I would like for a really clean shave
I put this down to this mild razor

In fact, during the 2nd and 3rd passes it felt like there was no blade in there at all. Huh? . Like it had receded somewhat. This meant more pressure was needed

So, I undid the TTO and loosened the cap a fair bit, and hey presto: more bite! Bigger gap, more bite, better shave, be careful

I think is a mild razor no matter which blade I use, and good for a quick/safe pre-work/don’t have to be super smooth shave

Second Thought: The Sterling is a great latherer. Much more forgiving in the amount of water you can add, so it has a fair bit of latitude there. Did it make for a better shave than the T&H? No, I can’t say it did, but easier to lather up and apply

Super smooth shave with no ATG needed

Hope your shaves went as well or better

 

Terrific post, setup and shave Barry.

 

Nice shave and an honest comparison Chris. However, what about the slickness factor?

 

Thank you Joe.

 

A great shave on this Throwback Day. As previously listed, 3 Stoylins were featured. 0:50 at the Loading Dock with the Stoylin Lemon-Lime soap. Jumped right onto the brush with ease and comfort. I'd like to say I matched the skill and grace of Rembrandt as I painted my face and neck, but I'm a nice man so I'll let the famed painter enjoy his successes alone. Goose-eggs all over on cuts, Knicks, Polka-dots. 2 passes. For esch pass, I varied the direction of my razor(mostly South to North, but at times the other direction). I angled it on both sides from the sideburns to central jawline. I learned that from @wristwatchb, many years ago. Thanks, buddeh....are you still in front of the pack in the Tour De Kentucky? The Gabels Origional A.S. has a pleasant smell, and I closed out with One Man Show Cologne. As Outstanding As It Gets.

 

July 11 SOTD Headshave

Good morning.

Van der Hagen TTO
Gillette Wilkinson Sword DE Blade (5)
JR #290
PAA/ King R Emporium SS
Pinaud-Clubman Classic AS
Stirling Alum Block
Personal Care Witch Hazel
Dome Turf: 3.5 days



I really needed a headshave with 3.5 days growth. I picked the VdH razor because it's mild and I don't want to open scabs. Anyway, did 3 passes plus touchups for an error-free cueball smooth shave.
The PAA/Rex Emporium collaborative soap always performs well. Here's my lather:



Did get some alum feedback, but nothing too serious. Witchazel and the Pinaud-Clubman Classic aftershave were applied to end this session. Take care.

 

awesome shave Chris ,great save..in gillette terms,the post war tech has the best blade clamping design which eliminates blade chatter ,but has a neutral blade exposure,making it mild /unsuitable for some.hense the kai blade working well in them to spice things up a bit.think 2 flat fixed points with a blade in the middle..in my opinion ,the flare tips don't seem to respond the same way due to their exoskeletal type design to hold the blade.the regular flare tip mechanical design has a neutral blade exposure but a wider gap,making a slightly wider blade ineffective..-unless someone shortened up the barn doors on the edge side a bit per se..i hope you can visualise what i mean.it's all about how the razor presents the blade..and gillettes tend to be all over the map ..

 

fine thursday affairs gents.