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An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving
- Thread starter Blade-meister
- Start date
Let me know when you're ready for the inspections. I'll be there
Man, are you busy! I'd love to see that American-themed knife, too!
Let me know when you're ready for the inspections. I'll be there
Ah hum..............cabin in the middle of the woods out in the sticks, no code inspectors allowed
It's kinda like the Pirate Code from Pirates of the Caribbean......more of a guideline. With that said, I try to build safely. Some of the code is there to keep us from killing ourselves and others, the rest of it .......well I won't say anymore in case we have a friendly TSC code inspector brother or sister here. How did we ever make it 400 years in this country with post and beam houses, knob and tube wiring and things like gas lighting in our homes
I'll show it for sure. I have a few more slabs like this one so if people like it I may just make a few more.
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Don't get me started on knob and tube wiring.......still find some around here sometimes. When I was doing electric work it could catch you by surprise sometimes in an attic when covered with blown in insulation.....
I was watching Tom and Jerry with my girls and noticed the old knob and tub wiring in the walls. Heck, I notice a lot of things in these old cartoons as an adult. Tom gets drunk on some Bay Rum aftershave, and in 101 Dalmatians they all hide in a blacksmith's shop that was depicted 100% accurately with all the right things in it. Boy you can't get away with any of that humor today.
Ok, on to shaving. So this morning, fresh off the Williams shave experience, I went back to MW and pulled out the Sandalwood Coconut. What I found was that the Williams seemed a notch below MW which says a lot when you consider the price of Williams. I think a guy could make Williams an every other day soap if he had to. Great feeling shave this morning which got me off to a good day.
Tomorrow...........it's cabin time again. I gotta get in the floor joists to the loft floor. I have high hopes of getting that done in the afternoon. I have a morning commitment so I'll be itching to get right out there after lunch.
I took today off from work and shaving. I had high goals today at the cabin and accomplished 98% of them with the help of my wife. In the morning it was just me putting up the loft. I had to finish the floor joists and get the OSB back in the cabin and up into the loft which was no easy task when you are solo. About lunch time my wife and my girls came in and we had our first picnic lunch in the cabin. I sat on a hand hewed log, the girls on a plastic bench and my wife decided the floor looked comfy. The afternoon was spent get 6 sets of rafters up onto the top plate of the walls and set in place. Sounds easy, but it took several guys to do it when Shawn came over a couple Saturdays ago. We found we were a set of rafters short, so I cut the last set, got them up in place and realized I'd screwed up the angle or something so I decided I"d had enough. I'm plenty sore, but my hip feels the least sore if you can believe it. Here's a picture of the finished loft and rafters, she's starting to look like a cabin now.
Having skipped shaving yesterday (you know, if you are going to be building a cabin in the woods you have to look the part) I had a good growth going on this morning so I changed blades on the Variant and Kamisori. I did mourn the loss of my last Feather blade for the Variant, but slipped in a Gillette SB. I must say, the smoothness of the SB is noticeable after the Feather. I treated myself to some MW Bay Rum soap and got a BBS+ shave. Lately I've kept the Variant set at 4.5 and really like the performance. I definitely think it's easier to find the sweet spot and ride it when there's more blade exposure. I remember starting with the Variant set at like 2 thinking it was pretty aggressive.
Given today's date, I have two things to say...........Geronimo EKIA and may the hearts of those who lost loved ones receive a healing balm as the years tick on. We shall never forget!
Given today's date, I have two things to say...........Geronimo EKIA and may the hearts of those who lost loved ones receive a healing balm as the years tick on. We shall never forget!
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
geronimo-was-code-name-for-bin-laden-raid/2011/05/03 EKIA = Enemy Killed In Action
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Ahhh I see.
I just realized that you are TCS's very own Henry David Thoreau...you know...going to the woods and living deliberately!
I wondered why I kept falling on my right side
My wife took the picture so I can't claim credit for it being rocked.I wish I had the guts to just drop everything and take the plunge to living off the land and my hobbies, but something tells me blacksmithing & flintknapping to eat isn't much fun. If I could provide for my family and provide a future as good as what I have when I retire with my current employment, I'd go in a heartbeat. There's something deeply satisfying about building your own shelter, chopping wood, and making stuff that you need to use to live. I quote this from and article written by Lloyd Beere from the Backwoodsman Magazine:
" I believe it is completely sane to spend any amount of time 'off the grid', disconnected from the sometimes insane chaos of this digital age. Your mind clears out of unnecessary thoughts and retains more positive values. I have heard depression and mental disorders can stem from overstressed minds. When off-grid, stress rarely finds you. You come into this sort of Zen state that remains whole in your soul and in the true Zen form of 'haul water-chop wood', you establish the delicate routine of an uncomplicated existence."
Much of primitive skills and backwoods living is this uncomplicated existence. Not that there isn't stress (think repairing a leaky roof or needing to put food on the table), but it's the kind of stress we were made to endure. Worrying about a stack of papers on your desk in the "cube farm" was never programmed into our DNA and its a stress our minds and bodies were not equipped to endure in my opinion. We were made to eek a living off the land using our hands to build, create, fix and maintain stuff in my opinion and there's not much about this world today that isn't complicated. All this complication draws us away from our families, tires our minds, and racks up the kind of debt that drives us to work longer hours just to pay for something that's sucking the life out of us.
Yesterday it was just me, my wife, and my girls out in the woods working toward building this small cabin. I spent an entire afternoon with my wife working toward a common goal. That's just how it used to be 200 years ago and I believe people were happier, families were tighter, and the world was a kinder place. Yes, all the pictures we see of people from that era show unsmiling & frowning people, but that was because if you wanted your old photo to come out clear you couldn't move a muscle so smiling was out of the question. Anyways, I just thought I'd share that with TSC.
And that was another episode of "Deeeeep Thinking with Mike"
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
I wholeheartedly agree that was how we were created and meant to live. Nice thoughts Mike 
Words of wisdom, Mike.
Excellent thoughts Mike! Love your way of thinking! I read a lot of health related articles and papers and a lot of these articles bring up how the human body designed. I completely agree that our DNA isn't wired to deal with constant stress of a stack of papers in the cubicle farm as you put it. While that type of stress is low level type stuff...it is always constant. Our minds and bodies where really meant to deal with fight or flight type of stuff. That why when you are stressed or cortisol levels rise...your Adrenalin increases...to give you that necessary push to get you out of life and death situations. Stressed about whether my latest report is going to be in on time is not a good use of my fight or flight processes. But your body doesn't know that.
The wife and I recently spent a few days in Allegheny National Park. I definitely wouldn't say that we were off the grid...but we had no cell phone reception while we were there. The only thing we used our phones for was taking pictures. Let's just say those few days "unplugged" made a huge difference in my wife's anxiety and our stress levels!
Keep doing the good work Mike!
The wife and I recently spent a few days in Allegheny National Park. I definitely wouldn't say that we were off the grid...but we had no cell phone reception while we were there. The only thing we used our phones for was taking pictures. Let's just say those few days "unplugged" made a huge difference in my wife's anxiety and our stress levels!
Keep doing the good work Mike!
You bring up a good point about Cortisol production and stress really being our body preparing for fight or flight. Our bodies where designed perfectly to deal with crisis' when they injected themselves into our uncomplicated existence of eeking a living off the land. In that context, the cortisol and adrenaline were used instantly to remedy the crisis (think bear charging you while hunting) and then return to a state of rest and uncomplicated living.
Today, all the technology demands our constant attention and our jobs are increasingly less about quality and all about instant production. We never seem to return to that uncomplicated state of living. If you and I were living 200 years ago and I wanted to talk to you, I'd write a letter and six months later you'd receive it. The letter would have been read and re-read then put away in a special place most likely. Today, communication is nearly instant. In a way, that's stressful because a guy (or gal) could belong to 15 different forums like ours communicating with 100's of people all while posting on Facebook, watching YouTube, etc. on a smart phone instead of paying attention to the kids you took to the park. I was at the doctors not too long ago and everyone was on their phone. I started to get looks because I was just sitting there looking around and didn't have a phone to zombie at - very sad.
How does this relate to shaving? Well, pushing the easy button is taking out a cartridge and shaving cream in a can and just drudging through a shave or skipping it altogether. It takes time to slow down to wet shave. Most days I think we can all say we step away from the sink feeling good and that the process starts our day (or ends it) with a positive experience. Most men I see today walk around with what looks like 3 days of growth on their faces because it's in style and they can just buzz their face with an electric shaver with an attachment and go on their way. If you are clean shaven today, it's like you are almost viewed as odd - add in a buzz cut like me and they think you are even stranger (mammoth painting doesn't help this situation
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