The Shaving Cadre

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An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving

Refer to people as Big Mike and Big Mike's sons. :D

Big Mike and I used to serve on the same executive protection team, so he was always big Mike (because he could bench 468 or something like that) and I was Boss Mike and we had a Bearded Mike too so we had to separate everyone or the radio traffic would get confusing. Kinda like Dave's on TSC.

And here I thought your question would be what Shawn was doing on the roof of the cabin dancing with a guy and his sons 😆
 
Why a hoop (implying roundness?) instead of a frame or oval shape?

If the beaver pelt is stretched right it should be almost completely round. Mine is more oval shaped. I don't think it was stretched well enough. I know the scraping job was not the best so perhaps the trapper hadn't ever done a beaver pelt.
 
So for Christmas I got two new MW pucks and it forced me to figure out how to get MW to work with shower shaves. My experience has been that heat makes MW soaps disappear. This is no dig toward the soap, I love the soap and it's secure in my #11 spot, but for me it only works with cold water shaving. What I've found is that you cannot bloom MW if you want to use it for shower shaves. I wet my brush and leave it until ready to shave. I've found letting the brush soak is just too much water. Face lathering seems to be the ticket and start thick / dry to begin with. I dip the brush in water and lather until I get the feel I'm looking for. Great MW shower shaves since I figured out what works for this soap.

Now, onto a mammoth painting report for @NurseDave. Mammoth painting and shower shaves don't go well together, but I've figured out an acceptable process. The keep is to soap up the chest hairs when done shaving, leave it while you rinse the razor, brush, and bowl, then scoop water and rinse just as if you are at the sink. The warm water still rinses too much soap out to get that really good scent lasting all day, but it's there at an acceptable level. For those wondering, no, I really do not care that much about chest hair treatment but I do know this topic is a way for people to poke fun and have a good time with so that's why I keep up with it......oh that and it does work :LOL: oh and I know Nurse Dave wouldn't get along without mammoth painting reports too :p

On the personal side of things, I got down in the shop this weekend to clean-up my workbench so I could start to build a stand for the chainsaw sharpener I bought with a Christmas gift card. Like many, I tried to sharpen them by hand and never was pleased with my results so often I'd just buy a new chain. While cleaning the workbench I looked at a draw knife that was my granfather's and decided I needed to clean it up and take better care of it by keeping it oiled. That draw knife is really good and sharp and holds an edge well and I just love it for small work around the shop. While cleaning it up I found old file lines on it and could see that it was blacksmith made. I just love finding stuff like that. She's a keeper for sure. I also picked up a nice molding plane at my favorite junk shop - $10. I like little molding planes to do detail work on small items vs. getting my router out. Each plane usually has the cabinet maker or carpenter's name stamped on it. I had my uncle do an Ancestry search on the name and found that the guy had a cabinet shop just across the river from where I work. He lived a long life and handed his tools down to another maker who put his name on the opposite end. I like to think of the people who had the tools before me when I use them. The junk shop owner had a box full of them and I'm really thinking hard what I could trade to him for them. I'm out of cash, so I've got to get creative. I don't come across molding planes like these often and I'd like to have them.
 
So a couple of suggestions for the Mystic Water Shaving and the Mammoth Painting.

First of all...I find that I absolutely LOVE using Mystic Water Shave Soaps in a Stick. It works incredibly well...in hot or cold water. You can either buy Mystic Water in a stick...or get these for about $2 from Maggards or a bunch of other places...

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Mystic Water Shave Soap is soft enough that you can put it in these containers yourself fairly easy.

As far as the Mammoth Painting goes...while not exactly the same thing...you can always purchase Mystic Water BATH Soap in the same scents your shave soaps are and smell like your shave all day long!
 
Um...where’s the pictures Mike?! We rely on you for visual documentation of manly things!

What’s a draw knife?
 
Um...where’s the pictures Mike?! We rely on you for visual documentation of manly things!

What’s a draw knife?

My apologies, in my neck of the woods we know what these things are. I'll take some pictures tonight. I'll take some pictures of my axes too since they are all hung on handles.
 
So a couple of suggestions for the Mystic Water Shaving and the Mammoth Painting.

I've been looking at the shave sticks and really thinking heavily about them. I think they would work really well with the shower shave. Not having to mess with bringing the tub in would make things more compact and efficient. I might just get one with my next order. I spend all my money on tools these days :LOL: I get a glut of birthday money and Christmas gift cards all at once. You'd think I'd be smart enough to save some of it.

My wife got some of the bath soaps and they are great, they just don't last long. I really like the idea of recovering the soap we all just wash down the drain and use it for mammoth painting. If I could afford it, heck yeah I'd have the MW bars for showering with everyday. Great idea!
 
It's been a while for a post here. I guess I've just been busy with life!

Still on the shower shave kick. I had quite the growth going on from lack of shaving, so on Sunday morning I got out the SE razor Nurse Dave PIF'd me and hit the growth with some MW soap. Great shave. It's a mild razor so I don't use it a lot, but as a first pass razor with significant growth it plows right through it. Then I take the rest of the passes with my Variant DE - super great feeling shave. I didn't get DFS until late in the evening.

On the personal side of things, I finally got the old turnpike cleared that I found on my property. I had several large trees that had fallen down years ago that blocked the path. Dang, this hard rock maple cut like oak. I got it all down and sectioned up. I'd hoped to not have to cut the maple tree at the entrance because I had no good place to drop it. West toward the cleared turnpike was out because it would get hung up and might fall into the road. South was the road, and North was not a possibility due to how the tree leaned and the growth of branches pretty much on one side. I had no choice but to cut it to drop East which I thought would get hung up and it did. I wedged it and with a sledged hammer got it leaning but it just wouldn't fall. So what's a guy to do but get my SUV, hook up some tow strap and a chain. I locked her in low and 4WD and pulled that tree right down. Luckily, I estimated right and it missed the SUV and anything else important.........Mike's Pike is open for travel!
 
I know a guy that's got all the gear he could have loaned you to climb up and top it. Then it would have went anywhere you wanted it to go.

Another option if you find yourself in that situation again is to cut a pocket on the back side, then use a bottle Jack between a couple steel plates. Will make a back leaner fall where you want.
 
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