Nationwide Box Tour 2013

J Rod, to keep the postage fair for everyone, I would prefer we stay the original large flat rate box.

 

Yeah that's what I was afraid of. I'll have to see what I can do to really pack it in tight. It would probably cost a fortune to ship w/o flat rate due to the weight, this box is a beast. About to go try out a GEM. Wish me luck haha

 

Enjoy the Gem, you will probably enjoy it, let us know how it worked out.

 

You will just have to take more stuff out I guess.

 

Haha I want to leave in good stuff for everyone else. I'll just sit down and put the puzzle together to make it fit.

The Gem was amazing! Seriously the best shave I have ever had. And I just really think I looks awesome.

 

The box is all packed up and ready to ship out on Monday. What an experience! Having only begun this hobby about 2 months ago, I was blown away by all the goods in the box.
Here's my initial takings:

I also took 2 of the PAL SE blades, one for the Gem and one for the Valet. What a beautiful lot
My blade selection from the mystery NOS blade game:

Here's my last minute take because I just couldn't let it go :

Here's what I took out while packing the box back up because it was too full, every little bit helps:

Here's what I added:
An Ogallala Bay Rum Sampler, Floid Pre-shave Oil, Atomizer cap, NOS Williams Old Formula Shaving soap, Dreadnought Shaving Cream sample, About 1/2 puck of MWF, Smaller slice of MWF (for someone who just wants to try it out), Musgo Real Glyc Lime Pre-shave Soap, Wilkinson Sword DE blades x3, Milk Glass Old Spice After Shave bottle, Open puck of Williams Old Formula.

 

The box will be heading west now for it's third stop, Turk's turn now.
Thanks for keeping the box moving along.

 

We look forward to your Schick blade review.

 

Dropped the box of at the post office this morning. It's estimated to show up sometime on Wednesday.

 

Loaded my schick blade into my razor. That child safe disposer stumped me for a good 10 minutes. Finally muscled a blade out. I'll report back with the results of tomorrows shave.

 

Shaved with the Schick stainless steel NOS blade today. Not a bad shave by any means. Used it in my tech to play it safe. Wasn't as sharp feeling as my beloved Wilkies, and a tad bit rougher but overall a nice blade. Got a DFS with 2 typical WTG passes I take when using a DE. (Straights and SE only require 1 pass, with a 2nd pass only on my goatee area) Now I'll save the rest for special shaves. Maybe when I visit my granddad we can share a shave with these blades just for fun. He gets a big kick out of seeing my vintage shave gear.

 

I'm sure my grandpa's razor is rusting away in some landfill or something pitiful. But I agree, sharing a shave with him would be pretty awesome. And a good memory to hold onto.

 

Yoo-hoo! Got the box today. This box is so full that it will at least need a box change at each stop. It weighs a ton! I felt like a kid going thru his presents at Christmas. There were 2 things that I have been waiting to try, the Mitchells Wool Fat.... in the box! An Old Spice glass bottle..... once again, in the box. I will be going thru it tomorrow and move it out as soon as possible.
For the mystery NOS blade game I chose the Super Max Sunrise Titanium coated. What caught my eye was the packaging, very cool and somewhat unusual. I used my 34C and some MWF whipped up by my tweezerman. The MWF went on nice and the smell is not very strong. Lots of slick lather. The blade itself provided a good shave. Very similar to a merkur or shark. I did the normal 2 pass WTG and ATG and found a very good shave. However, a couple hours later my face was somewhat red and tender. I should have set this experiment up by not introducing 2 unknowns, the MWF and the Sunrise blade. Uncertain as to which one caused the redness as they are both new to me. I will wait a couple days and try again with my old cream standbye C.O. Bigelow. UPDATE: I shaved again with the same blade and some C.O. Bigelow. Not very impressive this time around however my face didn't feel raw.

 

Great to hear that the box arrived at stop three.

 

I didn't even shave with it but seeing a straight up close ignited a desire to learn how to use one. I did the foolish thing and got a Dubl Duck off the bay, that I now know needs a lot of work.

I know I am going to end up with a few straights so I guess I will need some hones. I figure the DD will be a good one to practice on.

I blame it all on that travel box.

 

I know what you mean. I didn't think I had RAD but as soon as you see all this cool stuff and have it in your hands it's hard to let it go. Also I set a TGN Finest Badger 22mm fan knot in the GDC red wooden handle I acquired from the box. Will post pics up when I get a chance.

 

You will love that brush. I have a TGN 24 grade A in a handle I got from Oscar11

 

Moved out the box today. Took some fine stuff out and put some fine stuff in. Here are pics of what I took out followed by a picture of what I put in. Lots of fun playing with all the stuff. I actually put the musgo real lime soap back in as it is a preshave soap. Put in the Florida water, sharks, AoS preshave oil, badger brush and a Crabtree and evelyn Nomad soap.

 

The box is on the move to it's next stop.

 

The box is moving again. Headed to carbonsteel.
Here's the pre and post bloom pics of the GDC handle I took from the box paired with a TGN 22mm Finest Badger Fan shaped extra hair.

What a luxurious feel. This is my softest brush, was just painting the lather on. I'll probably shorten the length of the soak to give it a little more backbone next time. Turned out wonderful, what a gorgeous brush.