What if I tried this?

Discussion in 'Articles' started by Slivovitz, Dec 30, 2011.

  1. Slivovitz

    Slivovitz Well-Known Member

    The metal squeezer assembly pulls out of the Noodler's fountain pen easily, followed by the squeeze sac under it. I fill the upturned barrel with ink, using an eyedropper, and screw the nib assembly back on. The ink capacity is much greater now; I was having to refill it too often. Now I'm reading up on adjusting the nib, or perhaps replacing it.

    The Timex automatic (yes, really) watch is gaining over a minute a day, which annoys me, but I'm not going to drive twenty-five miles and pay a hundred dollars to get it regulated, save that for a better watch. I take the back off myself, and over a period of more than a week, make little adjustments until it's gaining about five seconds a day. Good enough. I check back a couple of months later, and it's losing fifteen seconds a day. Win some, lose some. I usually wear a quartz watch anyway.

    My Merkur 23C was good, but I just had to try a Fatboy, then a Gem 1912, then an injector. Most brands of blades I've tried have worked well, but I'm not done trying different ones out. Do my badger brushes work better for some soaps and the boars for others? Can I face lather with a hard soap and a cheap synthetic brush? What happens if I melt these scraps of five different melt 'n pour soaps together? Can I hone these vintage Valet blades on my barber hone to bring them back to usefulness?

    Sometimes you just want to get a task done without worrying about the details. Pick up any ballpoint you have and write. Buy any cheap quartz watch, or just get the time from your cell phone. Settle into a comfortable routine with one razor, one brush, and one brand each of soap and blades. Don't even think about these things when you're not actually doing them.

    Hobbyists can make practical tasks more difficult than they need to be. If you've found one affordable soap that you like, is trying other ones really going to change your end results? There may be differences between brands of blades, but can more than three people agree on what those differences are? If you're happy face lathering with a low end boar brush, how much will it enhance your experience to bowl lather with a high grade badger? If vintage equipment needs to be restored, is it really worth the effort, when all you want is a decent shave?

    For most people, the answer to any of these questions is probably no. There are perfectly good tools available for most ordinary tasks. If you're not really that interested in the task itself, then you may as well just pick the simplest, least expensive tool available, something that will just get the job done without a lot of fuss. You want your pen, your watch, a razor to be there when you need it, but that doesn't mean you want to be constantly fiddling or tweaking to get the best performance.

    Or maybe you do. Maybe it's fun to change some variables and see what happens. Maybe you don't even care about getting the best result every time if you learn something about the process, or about the equipment involved. Perhaps you've always been a tinkerer, or perhaps you've just discovered this one thing that's fun to play with.

    Welcome to The Shave Den! You don't have to be one of the fiddlers or experimenters to fit in around here, but it may help. A lot of people discover classic shaving because they have read that it might save them some money. It might never go further than that. Set yourself up with a Lord razor, some decent blades, VdH soap, and a Tweezerman, and you're good to go. Nothing left to talk about. Or you may decide that you need some upgrades, so you get a Merkur Progress, Mitchell's Wool Fat soap, and a Simpson brush. Okay, now you're really set. You're getting a good shave every morning, and saving money per shave over "cartridges and canned goo." Why try anything else?

    No reason at all, unless you want to. Still, you're now hanging around with people who do like to fiddle with these things. We discuss tricks for getting particular soaps to lather, or for getting the most shaves out of a disposable blade. We try counter-intuitive things like shaving with cold water, just to see how they will work. We try obscure vintage razors, like a Rolls or a Schick repeater, just to see if we can make them work. Sometimes the experiments work out, and we change our routines accordingly. Sometimes they're a complete bust, and we resolve never to try that again.

    Most importantly, we share our experiences. Maybe you don't want to try a dozen combinations of brushes and soaps to find what's best for face lathering, but you can probably find people here who have tried a dozen squared. Want some hints for honing and stropping DE or SE blades? Most people will probably tell you not to bother, but there are those who have tried, and will be happy to tell you about it. And if you tinker enough yourself, some day you'll have something to share with the rest of us.
     
    HoosierTrooper, Asd, Shaver X and 5 others like this.
  2. Williams Warrior

    Williams Warrior Well-Known Member

    Nicely done as usual.
     
  3. SharpSpine

    SharpSpine Well-Known Member

    A well written summary of the Denizens of the Den and all that goes on in this cozy place. Thanks!
     
  4. alpla444

    alpla444 That's sweet!

    Another nice piece, well done. great read:)
     
  5. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    Excellent!
    So much more eloquent than, "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."
     
  6. fishcrow

    fishcrow Birdman of TSD

    Great article.:happy096:
     
  7. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    That was very well done, Slivovitz.
     
  8. Asd

    Asd Well-Known Member

    Well done! A pure enjoyment to read to! :happy096:
     

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