OCtober 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Monday, October 3, 2016

Shavemac Silvertip D01
Fine Platinum
Gillette New Deluxe with TRIAD Aristocrat Titanium
Polsilver SI #3
Fine Platinum Aftershave


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SOTD OCtober 3rd


Cooper MonoBilt
Voskhod
Satin Tip The Purest
Blades Grim Smolder soap and AS

Good morning friends. This morning I was reminded why the MonoBilt was one of my favorite shavers. I decided to bowl lather this morning so that I could bask in the luxury of consistently creamy lather for all the passes. Also this was the first time trying the Voskhod, it felt a little rough for the first stroke on each side of the blade but after that it was buttery smooth and impressively sharp. I did my normal 3 passes and afterward the alum was dead silent and I caught the baby to boot. Have a great morning my friends!

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Great picture, Mark! That brush handle is fantastic.

 

Great setup Andrew.

 

Thank you Doug!

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Good to see you again Charlie!

 

Thanks Jim! It's a mean machine and has the most backbone of all my brushes.

 

Great set up amigo!

 

I'd say I'm still at the "exhibition season" phase of loading and face-applying, after my first two soap shaves.

 

Actually no - I have a few GEM SE Razors, Injectors and Straight razors I use pretty regularly. But I never owned or used a Shavette before - I must admit I have been a bit scared by these instruments

 

That makes my day!!

 

Thank you Mark.

 

Well the fact that you continued on in spite of mortal danger does prove you've been hanging around here for awhile. Only the dumbe......er......bravest among men show that kind of courage. Or lack of judgement, whatever.

Now, as to the problem with that blade of yours. You see, while the Feather is no doubt a fine shaving instrument, if it can be foiled by such a minor slip up on the part of the operator, well, I'm just saying. Russian steel is equally sharp, IMHO, but not nearly so fragile and temperamental. A good Russian blade, like V O S K H O D, (another chance to learn spelling) will bounce off the inside of a tank and still keep right on going. Kind of a requirement over there, though, as so many of them have to shave in moving tanks.

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Grumpy Pengu-cat says: no

(But, .... shaving his yoda... might make the cut. )

 

Why is yoda using a mach 3 ?!

 

Hmmm.....

 

Мы сделаем вас очень хорошая сделка на чуть-чуть, используемого моста. Доверься нам.

 

OCtober-een!

October 3

Grand Blade Trials

Razor - 1961 (H1) Gillette Slim (2)
Blade - (1)
Soap - Arko
Brush - Semogue 620
Post - Alum, The Veg

Welcome back to the Grand Blade Trials, OCtober edition. Moving onward and forward with the next to last Israeli blade, the Viking's Sword. Still a Personna blade and from the name I figure it's either aimed at the Scandinavian market, or else those of us who are fans of the show Vikings. Anyway.

While several of the Israelis feature Platinum coating, or are just listed as stainless, this one lists a Polymer coating. Not sure exactly what that would be, though we do find this definition......A polymer (/ˈpɒlᵻmər/; Greek poly-, "many" + -mer, "parts") is a large molecule, or macromolecule, composed of many repeated subunits. Because of their broad range of properties, both synthetic and natural polymers play an essential and ubiquitous role in everyday life.

Clear? Good. Ok, simplified down it's just a coating probably like plastic, but can be many things. Designed to provide smooth feel no doubt. Oh the things we learn in the 30 DC whether we want to or not.

Semogue and Arko for more lather than we all needed this morning and the first pass was, well, meh. Now, I'm on 2 on the Slim so wondering if it will work with this blade and the immediate answer is yes, just in the fact it did provide reduction, though nothing spectacular. The feel was not the smoothest but wasn't horrid either. Second pass, XTG more of the same and the final ATG and Slide pass pushed the shave to barely DFS status. Alum was quiet except around my goatee where I put in a few extra strokes to clean up but the after-shave feel is a bit irritated. The Veg did provide a burn so perhaps that's what I'm feeling here.

I'm thinking this blade would be a candidate for the extra "3" pass so that's what I'll do tomorrow. See if opening it up that .002 inches will provide a significantly better finish.

Another day closer to two major events. The first being my birthday (a national holiday nowhere) and, of course, Samhain (Halloween to the masses). As a public service, here's another potential Russian themed costume for any parties you have that night.

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I know, I know, kind of lame, but if you'll BEAR with me they'll get better.