Hey isn't that a Kirk Cameron conference card?
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An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving
- Thread starter Blade-meister
- Start date
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
I should mention it was given to me...it’s not like I made it for myselfIf you carry one, do you REALLY deserve it ?!?
It’s possible the concept may have come from there, but this one came from a weekend conference our men’s ministry put on, no outside affiliations.
So today I tried my first Feather blade in the DE. I'm running low on Gillette SB's so I'd had an Astra for last week and saw the tuck of Feather's sitting there. I honestly forgot about them. I think Shawn gave them to me early on and everything I read about them was ominous for newbies. I did do my first pass with the open blade imitation Feather as I'm trying to do that most days. Then I took the DE and I honestly thought I'd set the Parker Variant at 1 or something because it was so smooth. I was really impressed with the Feather's performance. By far this was the best first shave with a new DE blade that I've ever had. I really believe I have a tough beard so perhaps the sharpness of the Feather really just helps the blade cut better therefore perhaps feel smoother??? Whatever it was, I had no cuts at all and given the blade's reputation of slicing and dicing I was really surprised. It was one of those shaves that I just wanted to keep cleaning up but settled for a BBS+ (listen to me...."settled"....remember when I got BBS with lots of irritation?!). Not quite the shave I get from using a SR for all 3 passes, but for a DE it was great. I'm still finding that using an open blade for 3 passes can cause me some irritation issues. My fault I'm sure and not the blade.
On the personal side, I'm in some hip pain and think I may have overdone it. I took no restrictions to mean I could go back to regular life excluding thinks like mountain climbing, jumping out of planes and helicopters, and lifting anything over 50 lbs. I called my surgeon's office and spoke to the nurse. When I told her what I've been up to she made me rest this weekend. I go this week for an exam and x-ray to make sure there is nothing majorly wrong. I sure hope I didn't loosen the device or fracture the femur. I don't think I did because the nurse said I'd be in a ton of pain and wouldn't be able to walk on it. I have a very high pain tolerance so when I feel pain it makes me a little uneasy. I had to break out the cane this weekend to give the hip some rest.
On the personal side, I'm in some hip pain and think I may have overdone it. I took no restrictions to mean I could go back to regular life excluding thinks like mountain climbing, jumping out of planes and helicopters, and lifting anything over 50 lbs. I called my surgeon's office and spoke to the nurse. When I told her what I've been up to she made me rest this weekend. I go this week for an exam and x-ray to make sure there is nothing majorly wrong. I sure hope I didn't loosen the device or fracture the femur. I don't think I did because the nurse said I'd be in a ton of pain and wouldn't be able to walk on it. I have a very high pain tolerance so when I feel pain it makes me a little uneasy. I had to break out the cane this weekend to give the hip some rest.
That reminds me of a time when I was in a tight spot in....................................well if I told you I'd have to you know...........
☠
I had another great shave with the DE Feather blade. I decided to give it a proper test and skip the first pass with the open blade. The first pass was a little grabby on the stubble and I can definitely see how brand new guys could push through that and get a cut. I really enjoyed the Feather blade again today. After 3 passes and an extensive clean-up I achieved BBS+ again everywhere. My next report will be how many shaves I get out of this blade. Great shave using Mystic Water Bay Rum and the Feather blade in my Variant.
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Will be following to see how many licks to the center of the Feather tootsie pop 
I have been slacking, but there are some new developments on the mammoth painting stage! The mammoth chest hair can be used like a painter's pallet to work the lather up........no bowl needed. Hear me out before you emoji me and gif me on this
I've been finding with face lathering that sometimes my initial working in of the soap is not getting the mature lather I'm looking for so a quick trip south to the chest hair allows me to still have the feel because, well, it's my skin, and gives me a close by reserve to grab some soap if needed. The bonus comes in the form that the mammoth painting is started as well. Some days I nail the face lathering and it's not needed, but if I feel I've already activated the sebatious glands enough for Dave's satisfaction but yet the lather isn't where I want it, I go to the chest to keep working the lather. Why waste all that goodness in a bowl?
Ah man you got me all wrong
, I live to work hard on the weekends. I'm in my element cutting brush with my chainsaw and digging up stuff, forging hot metal, etc.....being forced to relax is torture and I feel a few mammoth hairs wither when I sit and do nothing. With the cabin move coming on July 27th, I have a ton of prep work to do.....trees need to be cut down and blocks need to be laid for the block piers. I have such a good wife as she asked if she could do any of that stuff, but I couldn't let her do it. Will be following to see how many licks to the center of the Feather tootsie pop
I'm not a great blade hyper-miler so it may just be a week, but I have high hopes of 10 days at least. My mammoth course beard just eats blades. I once used a cheap blade and I think I heard my beard growth laugh at it as I started shaving.
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
I have been slacking, but there are some new developments on the mammoth painting stage! The mammoth chest hair can be used like a painter's pallet to work the lather up........no bowl needed. Hear me out before you emoji me and gif me on this
I did say chest hair right and not armpit hair? I fail to see the grossness of chest hair so long as it isn't in your soup at the restaurant. Mammoth Painting Lives On!!! Don't knock it till you try it!!!!
Here's your video Dave:
On the personal side of things, I went to see my surgeon's office today and the PA did an x-ray of the hip along with an exam and found nothing wrong. Apparently the pain is from the muscle and soft tissue that doesn't like it when I overdo it. Now I just need to figure out where the line is with working hard.
so long as it isn't in your soup at the restaurant. Mammoth Painting Lives On!!! Don't knock it till you try it!!!!Here's your video Dave:
On the personal side of things, I went to see my surgeon's office today and the PA did an x-ray of the hip along with an exam and found nothing wrong. Apparently the pain is from the muscle and soft tissue that doesn't like it when I overdo it. Now I just need to figure out where the line is with working hard.
I had a thought this morning on Feather blades. Overall I'm getting smooth and great shaves with hardly any irritation, so I'm thinking because the Feather is reputed to be very sharp that it cuts my tough beard easier which really allows me to use no pressure at all. I literally feel like my DE razor is going to fall out of my hand sometimes (which would be very bad!).
Today is the 14 year mark for the loss of 11 SEALs and 8 Night Stalker pilots from the 160th on what has become known as "Lone Survivor" or Operation Red Wing(s) mission. Their lives and sacrifice will not be forgotten.
Today is the 14 year mark for the loss of 11 SEALs and 8 Night Stalker pilots from the 160th on what has become known as "Lone Survivor" or Operation Red Wing(s) mission. Their lives and sacrifice will not be forgotten.
Thanks for Remembering!
I had a decent shave this morning, but with a 2 day growth, the Feather DE blade finally gave up. So it looks like I can get a solid comfortable 7 days out of a Feather blade which is 2 days longer than I get with Gillette SB's. With some care, I was able to get a BBS+ shave without irritation. The Feather was just pretty grabby with the 2 day growth. I may just try tomorrow with a normal growth and see if the blade has more life, but I hate to start off the week with a bad shave so I may not. I have tough growth, so it retires blades pretty early.
On the personal side, I thought I might post some pictures as it's been a while since I've posted anything of interest picture wise.
I've posted pictures of my blacksmith shop all cleaned up, so here's a version of it in working state with my new quench barrel. I took me two weeks to fill it after I let it dry out over a whole winter and the slats were shrunken so bad they all wiggled around. Now I have a nicely swelled half barrel filled with water. It was one of the challenges I took on while laid up with the hip surgery. It got me up and moving and gave me a goal. Just behind the anvil you can see my latest Craig's List purchase. The Texaco barrel has a handle welded on it and will make an excellent blade quenching barrel. Now I just need to buy 12 gallons of canola oil to fill it. No kidding, canola oil is the poor man's quenching medium for high carbon blades. It's time I get to some serious blade making.
Here's a picture of my files I picked up at my favorite junk store. I paid $1 a piece with the intentions of making them knives, but while I was laid up with the hip I decided to clean them up and they were all in very good shape so I decided to put handles on them. Now mind you, I don't have a wood lathe so it's all hand work. I have one chestnut tree on my property and when I have to cut branches off, I save them. As you may or may not know, Eastern chestnut trees all died off because of blight and are pretty rare. My chestnut tree is getting to the age where the blight will probably start taking it. I first used my hand forged tomahawk to do the bulk wood removal, then it was hand rasping from there with some belt sanding to finish up. the ferrules are made from a simple copper pipe. I also made the stand they sit on and aged it. You can see that the middle support is a simple forged item. The stand sits right above my post vise, which is the spot where a blacksmith does most of his file work so having all my files in one place is very handy.
On the personal side, I thought I might post some pictures as it's been a while since I've posted anything of interest picture wise.
I've posted pictures of my blacksmith shop all cleaned up, so here's a version of it in working state with my new quench barrel. I took me two weeks to fill it after I let it dry out over a whole winter and the slats were shrunken so bad they all wiggled around. Now I have a nicely swelled half barrel filled with water. It was one of the challenges I took on while laid up with the hip surgery. It got me up and moving and gave me a goal. Just behind the anvil you can see my latest Craig's List purchase. The Texaco barrel has a handle welded on it and will make an excellent blade quenching barrel. Now I just need to buy 12 gallons of canola oil to fill it. No kidding, canola oil is the poor man's quenching medium for high carbon blades. It's time I get to some serious blade making.
Here's a picture of my files I picked up at my favorite junk store. I paid $1 a piece with the intentions of making them knives, but while I was laid up with the hip I decided to clean them up and they were all in very good shape so I decided to put handles on them. Now mind you, I don't have a wood lathe so it's all hand work. I have one chestnut tree on my property and when I have to cut branches off, I save them. As you may or may not know, Eastern chestnut trees all died off because of blight and are pretty rare. My chestnut tree is getting to the age where the blight will probably start taking it. I first used my hand forged tomahawk to do the bulk wood removal, then it was hand rasping from there with some belt sanding to finish up. the ferrules are made from a simple copper pipe. I also made the stand they sit on and aged it. You can see that the middle support is a simple forged item. The stand sits right above my post vise, which is the spot where a blacksmith does most of his file work so having all my files in one place is very handy.