Ramblings of a MilkCrate

[GearNoir]

Ouch appointment! That does not sound pleasant at all! At least you have a reason to be off your feet...

 

[MilkCrate]

Triumph is one great smelling soap and aftershave! Ooh! a visit to the Toe Bro...I can feel it all the way here! Hope those nail beds toughen up soon!

OMG ... the Toe Bro! I laughed way too hard at that. Thanks Don!

 

[NurseDave]

I hope you told them all your secrets so they can stop at two nails!

 

[MilkCrate]

I hope you told them all your secrets so they can stop at two nails!

I lied.

 

[Graybeard57]

At "3:37 am" you wrote:

Thanks Chris! I will check those out. At most I would get 2 max ... really. I can’t fall too far down this rabbit hole

At "8:31 pm" you wrote:

On the pens and what not, think I’ll grab the Pilot Varsity to try. I asked the missus to put the Pilot Metropolitan on my b-day wishlist.

Then I may step up to the TWSBI Eco a bit later. Then I’m done! Really! Mock me not ... I will not get closer to that rabbit hole I’m not done in the honing rabbit hole.

Interesting progression!

 

[MilkCrate]

At "3:37 am" you wrote:



At "8:31 pm" you wrote:



Interesting progression!

I’m all over the place I was just staying off my feet reading and found several recommendations that pointed me in that direction.

 

[MilkCrate]

Shave Count (DE: 307 SR: 287)

Pre Shave-
Splash and go

Shave-
Henckel SR
Omega boar
Mike’s Natural Barbershop soap

Post Shave-
Post shave lather
GTB AS

The process-
Late morning shave and we are off to a good start. A bit sore, so grabbed some Advil before the shave. Today sounded like a good day for Barbershop. Mike’s started a bit pasty, but a little water fixed that right up. The Omega made quick work of it and I had a really nice lather whipped up. Nice light, pleasant scent as well.

I did something a bit different with the razor prep, which I’ll explain in a moment. I went with my standard three pass shave of WTG, XTG and ATG and have no drama to report. The best thing I can saw about the shave was that it was smooth. Other than that ... it sucked. I got a crappy SAS shave. Grrrrrr ... starting my day with 5 o’clock shadow sucks arse.

Wrapped everything up with a splash of water and a drip dry. A healthy glug of the AS and everything still sucked arse! At least I smell good. Grrrrrrr.

Home Front-
So trying to work on my edges with the stones and doing a ton of reading. Everything I’ve read says 8-10 laps on the 12k. 20 laps max or you can over hone and get a harsh edge.

When I honed the last two razors, I didn’t count laps just honed until they got sticky. I did that through the entire progression, even the 12k. Yup ... seemed a bit harsh. But I must have done something wrong this time because 20 laps on 12k, 20 laps on linen and 40 on leather sucked!

Oh well, live and learn. Life is good!

 

[bentheduck]

I was just on the same boat. The Torrey was a rough first pass that left a lot to be desired. I took a closer look and there are plenty of big scratches visible. At least I know how to fix it. Have a good one!

 

[MilkCrate]

Ok, back to these pens IKR(?)... OMG I have to quit reading. So ... in keeping with my two pens max, here’s where I’m at.

The Nemsine razors that @NurseDave posted have the same nib as the TWSBI Eco. German nib, that is replaceable. Has a converter, so you have options. Half the price of the TWSBI Eco too. Then they got me with the nickel on brass. The vintage vibe did it and I bought it.

Hopefully I can play with that before my wife orders the Pilot Metropolitan off Amazon. If I like fountain pens, she can order and no harm, no foul. Then I have my two pens, one Japanese and one German. I will skip the Varsity and just jump in. So I guess the TWSBI is out.

I am done reading about them. They are only pens ... they are only pens ...

 

[MilkCrate]

I was just on the same boat. The Torrey was a rough first pass that left a lot to be desired. I took a closer look and there are plenty of big scratches visible. At least I know how to fix it. Have a good one!

When working films, I did 60 laps on each film in the progression. That did the job of getting rid of scratches.

 

[bentheduck]

I did 50 each film, but I'm gonna go back and increase the number of laps by 10 in increments after every film. The coarsest film really did a number on the edge.

 

[MilkCrate]

I did 50 each film, but I'm gonna go back and increase the number of laps by 10 in increments after every film. The coarsest film really did a number on the edge.

You should have been ok at 50. Watch your edge with the loupe to make sure that each film change the scratches get thinner and remove the previous scratches.

What films do you have?

 

[bentheduck]

You should have been ok at 50. Watch your edge with the loupe to make sure that each film change the scratches get thinner and remove the previous scratches.

What films do you have?

60, 40, 30, 12, 9, 5, 3, 1, 0.3 micron. I went all the way up to 60 to set the bevel again. There are plenty of big scratches visible to the naked eye.

 

[MilkCrate]

60, 40, 30, 12, 9, 5, 3, 1, 0.3 micron. I went all the way up to 60 to set the bevel again. There are plenty of big scratches visible to the naked eye.

Wow! I didn’t realize you had that course of films. My set was 30, 12, 9, 5, 3, 1, 0.3 micron. Crap ... sorry about that. Drop back to the 30 and see if the bigger scratches work out. Do as many laps as you need. Then run your progression at 40-50 laps each.

 

[MilkCrate]

Shave Count (DE: 307 SR: 288)

Pre Shave-
Splash and go

Shave-
PermEdge SR
Omega boar
Mitchell’s Wool Fat soap

Post Shave-
Post shave lather
Florida Water AS

The process-
Late morning shave ... you know it. Mixed up the kit today and MWF got the nod. Used a heavy wet brush and loaded for 30 seconds. Started out a bit heavy but kept adding water and whipped up some awesomeness.

40 laps on leather and I was ready to shave. I went with my standard three pass shave of WTG, XTG and ATG and have no drama to report. OMG ... that was an awesome shave! The complete polar opposite of the crapfest yesterday. Oh ... and I am BBS for the win ... oh yeah!

Wrapped everything up with a splash of water and a drip dry. A healthy glug of the AS and everything was right as rain! That’s what I’m talking about right there!

Home Front-
Still trying to stay off my feet today. Had a mess last night trying to change out bandages, they stuck to the nail beds. Tried soaking in epsom salt and all per post-op instructions, but it was no bueno. Finally got them off ... then the bleeding started. Looked like a slasher film in the bathroom. Took about 30 minutes to get it to finally stop. Can’t wait to do that again tonight. So I guess I need to stop taking an aspirin and fish oil for a few days. That’s about it for now. Life is good!

 

[bentheduck]

I got that icky feeling reading that. I don't think you know how difficult it is for that to happen. I hope tonight goes better with the bandages.

 

[GearNoir]

I got that icky feeling reading that.

Yep!

Nice shave with The Fat though!

 

[MilkCrate]

The bandage incident of 2019 was bad. Set on the side of the tub with my feet in it. I couldn’t get to the heavy duty first aid stuff. So I used what I had on hand and waited for the missus to get within hearing range. There was a lot of blood for two little toes. A lot.

But hey ... I had a great shave today!

 

[MilkCrate]

I got that icky feeling reading that. I don't think you know how difficult it is for that to happen. I hope tonight goes better with the bandages.

Hey, hey ... hey! No icky feelings for first responders.

 

[MilkCrate]

Nice shave with The Fat though!

Thanks Chris!