What Straight Razor Did You Use Today?

Filarmonica 13

 

Go big or go home. Wow, those are some big ones.

 

Waiting for someone to come over the top with a custom 11 or 12/8 to make ours look tiny.

 

There’s always this...

 

Shave #120 on the Filly 14 Sub Cero edge, still plugging along, lol. I’m closing in on Alfredo’s 133 with a vintage TI. And AdP is always wonderful.

 

Those scales are stunning. What are they and who made them?

 

Henckels Queen Bee
Yardley shave soap
Restored brush
It was a a honey sweeet shave!

 

Tonights Shave

J.A. Henckels Twin Works 415 5/8
Wickham soap co super smooth Southsea Spray
ERSKINE B-1500 badger
Avon MAXIME Eau de Toilette

 

Tonight's shave.

Razor - Atlas 888 its between a 6/8" and 7/8" it gives a really smooth comfortable shave. I tried my HESS No. 1 but it wasnt working. I took a razor that was smooth and ran it across the Jnat to test the comfort on a Jnat and yeah blade is worse now. Gonna have to just focus on 12k synth for now.

Strop - 3" latigo with Flax Linen. Hardware and linen is from Tony Miller. The Latigo is from a Grim Blades strop.

Brush - Grizzly Bay with 26mm 2-band

Soap - Stirling Haverford

Aftershave- Stirling Haverford

 

13/16 Shell 92 Perfectworks Silver Steel, a very fine razor that I always look forward to using.

Soap was the sadly discontinued Savonnerie des Volcans Lavande Orange (it’s almost all orange) lathered with a Simpsons 57 and a spalsh lf Myrsol Limon finished up.

 

Iwasaki
SV Dolomiti in the tub whipped up with what amounts to a fluffy pillow of a brush. It was a wonderful Father’s Day evening shave.

Enjoy your shave.
Tom

 

I’ve always wanted to have American steel in my collection but no dice. I’ve had two Torreys but didn’t like them and ended up selling them. I was sure this Geo W. Korn would be the one. I’ve always heard great things about Little Valley steel. Today was the 4th shave with this Korn and it convinced me this American steel isn’t going to stay either.

Hot water preparation
T&H Ultimate Comfort PSO
Romera Wengue Chubby Manchurian Badger
AOS Lemon Shaving Cream
Geo. W. Korn 7004 5/8
Thayers Rose Petal Witch Hazel



Happy shaving - Karl

 

Hey @Karl G you might try razors from ‘middle America’ like Clauss, etc. Your comment is interesting because it mirrors those of Neill Miller (RIP).

American razors in the early 20th century were designed to be cheap, utilitarian tools as evidenced by the typical width (5/8) and flat, thin, uncontoured scales. They were consumables. The English and German makers who previously had good business in America in the mid to late 1800s had a difficult time competing with this model, as most folks here just wanted to shave whiskers as cheaply as they could.

Most straight razor buyers today are not wanting or buying a vintage commodity product, just look at what we’re mostly posting. They’re wanting a razor that was upper middle class or higher in the late 1800s or early 20th century, not a 5/8 utility razor, as also evidenced by the current prices. This isn’t always true of course, and many of these old utility razors shave as well as anything else and have their own special charm. I had one stolen from me in a bag in France in 2014, an ‘X Supply Co’ 5/8 with pretty green scales and bad finishing on the blade. Shaved like a million bucks.

 

Well, I have found that some of the American Steel is just as good as anything made in Solingen or Sheffield, if not better. . The Little Valley, Geneva, and Waterville are some excellent makers of American razors, with top notch steel.
Some of their steel is very very hard, so extra time is sometimes needed on the stones.

 

Newly Acquired, and Honed razor. I had a great 2 pass shave, from this American Made smiling razor. This left me with a BBS shave. Zero issues, just a perfect shave. I will say, that the honing and stopping with these smiling razors takes a little more time and attention. But, the results are worth it.

Razor- Geneva Cutlery Co. Geneva NY.
Brush- B-400 by Tom(@twhite ). Boar knot
Soap- Stirling Soap Co. Stirling Spice
Aftershave- Shulton Old Spice. Flying Cloud Decanter(1988-1991)

 

I couldn’t argue with any of that as I’ve often read others say the same. And, it got extra special loving care from @gssixgun who managed a near crack out of it when he honed it. So, I’m mystified why I am 0-3 on American steel.

 

Steve’s beautiful Shell provided the inspiration for tonight’s choice...
Aeroshell 34
Described on the blade as “Best Sweden Steel Razor” and as the “Best Hollow Ground Silver Steel” on the reverse tang. Lots of Bests going on here.

Planning on a few shaves under the smell family of Aqua Di Parma Colonia, and Shiloh is a nice start.

Enjoy your shave.
Tom

 

June 22
C-Mon Straight Razor

 

Well, that’s some good company to be in.

Scott (@DaltonGang) and I are going to swap the razors on this page to check things out. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s the razor, who knows? But, I’m looking forward to trying another American to see if the trend breaks.

 

Should be fun.

.