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An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving
- Thread starter Blade-meister
- Start date
Well, I sure wish I could. It's really cold and windy here today and I had to shovel a few inches of snow. Us northerners hate the months of January and February. They are usually long, dark and cold. By now, most have had enough of the cold winter weather. The only people that seem to enjoy it in those months are kids who don't have to shovel it, snowblow it, and drive in it, or the retired folks who hire people to plow their driveways
How's this Chris?
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Sold!
I am not saying I want to live in a place that has eight to nine months of winter...but man...do I wish I lived in a place that had all four seasons and not just summer and a less hot summer.Well, I sure wish I could. It's really cold and windy here today and I had to shovel a few inches of snow. Us northerners hate the months of January and February. They are usually long, dark and cold. By now, most have had enough of the cold winter weather. The only people that seem to enjoy it in those months are kids who don't have to shovel it, snowblow it, and drive in it, or the retired folks who hire people to plow their driveways
How's this Chris?
View attachment 45485
Not there is a testosterone laden room! A place to recharge your manliness! Heck, I betcha we could use a room like that for snowflake interventions.
Yes, experiencing the seasons is really a great blessing. We are considering moving out of NY, and if we do move it will likely be to TN because they still get the seasons, just not the snow like we do in the north.
I'd need some sort of bathroom in there if I was going to do snowflake interventions. They'd surely need to use it once they walked in
Lots of testosterone for sure. You can't help but to grunt and scratch when in there. You should see my flintknapping shop! Perhaps I need to take pictures of that and post them. I kept the pink toilet and sink in there just to temper the testosterone jolt guys get when spending time in the shop. Guys have reported sprigs of hair growing on the backsides of their knees after spending a few hours in the knapping shop.I was home today, so I spent some time fitting handles to my chisels I just purchased. I was doing this in the blacksmith forge / workshop downstairs. I decided to clean up the single bit axe my dad gave me and cut a hickory stave to lay-out the handle. The axe belonged to my great grandfather and my dad dug it up out of the trash dump behind where my great grandfather's homestead used to be. I can't figure out why it was pitched in the trash. My Dad said it was quite common to find axe heads in dumps when he used to dig for old bottles. After a clean up of the rust, I saw that I have almost 2 inches of high carbon steel left on the blade. That's two lifetimes of use! It's an honor to have my great grandfather's double-bit and single bit axes. His name is my middle name, so I think that's fitting. I just love taking old things, cleaning them up, and putting them back into use. I got to use my shave horse and draw knives today working on the chisel handles and the axe handle. Ahhhhh, satisfies my acute case of Colonial Man Syndrome. CMS can only be cured by spending time using old tools and creating / recreating old time stuff. Primitive Man Syndrome is another disorder I have. It can only be treated by spending time flintknapping or making primitive stuff like arrows, spears, knives. My wife recognizes my PMS and knows she needs to send me out to the knapping shop to do some primitive work
Yesterday I got back to work on the handles for my chisels. Of course the easy way to do this is to have a wood lathe, turn the handles from stock and there you go. Since I don't have a wood lathe I went old school by using my draw knife and my shave horse to rough the handles to the approximate size, then I used a mini belt sander to speed up the sizing of the end that goes into the sockets of the chisels. An old farrier's file was used to fine-tune the ends as needed. I prefer to use files because power anything takes off material so fast, but with a file I can slowly get things where I want them. To fit the handle to the socket I get the end so it will start to slide in and then tap it with a wood mallet. The marks on the wood tell me where I need to take more off so out comes the farrier's file, then tap the handle on again, repeating the process until I get them very, very close. Here's where I stop, because I want to epoxy the handles on but I want those last few taps with the wood mallet to really set the top of the chisel socket flush with the handle. The plan then is to file or belt sand the handle flush with the ends of the chisel sockets so it's nice and smooth. Lastly I'll sand / stain / finish coat the handles. The larger chisels will just get a coat of danish oil because they are Chestnut, the other 3 are a mystery wood (see piece all the way to the left w/ bark on). It's some sort of hardwood I cleared from the turnpike that I set aside. The photo below show a redish tint on them and that just a reflection from my shirt. I was too lazy to go back down to the shop and take another picture. I do know that many think epoxy in a chisel handle is a no-no, but I'd rather deal with those consequences than loose handles with each change of season.
Here's a picture of some of the carnage of using my draw knife on the shave horse. This activity has been proven to grow thick mammoth chest hair!
In between handles I took a break and got my great grand father's single bit axe cleaned up and started working on a hickory handle for it on the shave horse. Some of the above carnage is from the axe handle being made. Some guys would totally take the axe head down to "good" metal making it shiny again. To me, that removes it's character and story. That axe was use by my great grandfather, then tossed in his homestead dump, and later dug up by my father when he was digging up old bottles. I think it deserves to keep that story in it's patina. I'll pretty up the cutting edge so the pitting doesn't hinder it's performance, but other than that I'll leave it in original found condition. The edge geometry seems to point to this being used to limb trees after they were felled. It seems a bit heavy for that, but to each unto their own. I have no clue why this axe head was discarded. There's almost 2 inches of good high carbon steel left on the bit. I'll put it back to use. This axe head was a rusty as they come, but I took care of the rust and stopped it from rusting anymore.
Here's a picture of some of the carnage of using my draw knife on the shave horse. This activity has been proven to grow thick mammoth chest hair!
In between handles I took a break and got my great grand father's single bit axe cleaned up and started working on a hickory handle for it on the shave horse. Some of the above carnage is from the axe handle being made. Some guys would totally take the axe head down to "good" metal making it shiny again. To me, that removes it's character and story. That axe was use by my great grandfather, then tossed in his homestead dump, and later dug up by my father when he was digging up old bottles. I think it deserves to keep that story in it's patina. I'll pretty up the cutting edge so the pitting doesn't hinder it's performance, but other than that I'll leave it in original found condition. The edge geometry seems to point to this being used to limb trees after they were felled. It seems a bit heavy for that, but to each unto their own. I have no clue why this axe head was discarded. There's almost 2 inches of good high carbon steel left on the bit. I'll put it back to use. This axe head was a rusty as they come, but I took care of the rust and stopped it from rusting anymore.
I put some swel-lok on the handle ends that will go in the chisel sockets. This wonderful stuff swells the grain permanently so that humidity will have little impact on the handle.
This morning I thought of this section of LOTR.
This morning I thought of this section of LOTR.
"I have no memory of this place." Pretty fitting for these times.
During my morning shave this morning I was using my usual Williams Mug soap with a shower shave and I thought about the importance of painting this particular soap on the face. If you ever what the old time films they exaggerate this painting (think 3 stooges) but I do wonder if the old mug soaps require some pretty extensive painting to get that thick coverage that provides the cushion needed. I know with the better soaps I've used that are made currently, I don't usually have to paint much and they are plenty slick. Williams, not so much. Just an observation that applies to the shower shaves.
Very fitting for these times. The air was less foul a year ago! When a finger is pointed, 3 more fingers on the same hand point back at the problem.
Patriots, take heart, stand tall and hold the line!
Very fitting for these times. The air was less foul a year ago! When a finger is pointed, 3 more fingers on the same hand point back at the problem.
Patriots, take heart, stand tall and hold the line!
I have never been a big fan of Williams. Mostly because I don't have the patience to take the time to build the lather that Williams needs. But it is an interesting observation.
Funny you mention that! My arm actually starts to get tired and that tells me I'm almost there when building the lather. It's pretty forgiving with water though. A little more product and you can bring back a foamy disaster to perfection. It's the best soap I've found for shower shaving. Many of the other soaps don't like the hot shower steam.
Oh, that's the secret...!
I finally moved the chisels past the finish line this weekend. I actually found that the epoxy made it harder to secure the handle in the chisel sockets and acted more as a lubricant to stop things from going well. Less is more is the lesson, but I got it done and time will tell how well things hold. Will the epoxy hold up to chiseling with a wooden mallet? Not sure.
The darker colored handles are chestnut or chestnut-oak and I rubbed some danish oil on them. They will need a couple of more coats as time goes on to be sure enough has been absorbed. The lighter color handles I think are black locust. I cut a tiny tree down when opening up the turnpike and it came from there. I tested danish oil on the black locust and it pretty much didn't do a thing for it so I finally had to settle with a minwax stainer /sealant and it brought out some grain in the handles. If I had it to do over, I think I would have torched the black locust to see if I could have gotten a darker color. All work done on them was old school using a drawknife, rasps / files, with only a little work done with the belt sander. Not the best fit at the top of the chisel sockets, but the aim wasn't pretty but just to get them back into service after 40 years or more sitting in some dude's basement collecting rust. They were pretty abused to with someone just striking the chisel socket because the handles all fell off. Some of the sockets were belled like a trumpet horn. About $15 is all I have into this project and that was just for the rusty chisels. It felt good to give these chisels a second chance at life. I could use about 5 more and I'll have a decent wood working set so if anyone has some vintage or antique chisels just laying around rusting, send me a PM and maybe we can work out a deal. Now it's time to sharpen and hone / strop them. I am surprised how sharp they after just cleaning them up.
The darker colored handles are chestnut or chestnut-oak and I rubbed some danish oil on them. They will need a couple of more coats as time goes on to be sure enough has been absorbed. The lighter color handles I think are black locust. I cut a tiny tree down when opening up the turnpike and it came from there. I tested danish oil on the black locust and it pretty much didn't do a thing for it so I finally had to settle with a minwax stainer /sealant and it brought out some grain in the handles. If I had it to do over, I think I would have torched the black locust to see if I could have gotten a darker color. All work done on them was old school using a drawknife, rasps / files, with only a little work done with the belt sander. Not the best fit at the top of the chisel sockets, but the aim wasn't pretty but just to get them back into service after 40 years or more sitting in some dude's basement collecting rust. They were pretty abused to with someone just striking the chisel socket because the handles all fell off. Some of the sockets were belled like a trumpet horn. About $15 is all I have into this project and that was just for the rusty chisels. It felt good to give these chisels a second chance at life. I could use about 5 more and I'll have a decent wood working set so if anyone has some vintage or antique chisels just laying around rusting, send me a PM and maybe we can work out a deal. Now it's time to sharpen and hone / strop them. I am surprised how sharp they after just cleaning them up.
Thanks Chris. I can't wait to try them out. I have a cherry wood burl that I'm going to make into a bread bowl the traditional way. I may use them on it once honed and stropped.
Super nice! Those look pretty amazing!
I love reading about your projects, Mike. You raise the manliness level of TSC!
Thanks Don. I hope they hold up to timber framing work some day. I'd love to own a slick (think big timber framing chisel) but the antique market has driven the prices up quite high. Some day I will be building a log smoke house & maple sugar shack and a slick would be handy to have.
Thanks Bruce. I'm really thankful that the owners allow us to share more than just shaving in our journals. I enjoy reading about what is going on in other members lives. I guess if I got a title under my avatar it could very well be Minister of Manliness
Sometimes it's needed with all this talk about skin care, moisturizers, and scent tones 
Just this morning I was looking at my line-up of post shaving stuff thinking that my wife doesn't even have this much stuff lined up in the morning The manliness attempts to balance all that out. I was out past dark today raking the roof of the house. we just got over 14 inches of snow at my place between Monday and today. I had to get up and bust up the ice in places where ice dams started. We are actually seeing the sun tomorrow and the temps will warm up so I don't want all the problems that come with that. It's been a lousy winter. You know, when I was a kid I played hockey, went skiing, and hunted during the winter months and snow was great. As the adult now, all I do is waste time clearing and moving the stuff. Time to move south I think. Tennessee sounds about right!
Mammoth painting has been light lately. Sunday mornings only. The other Sunday I was moving around and man that Bay Rum scent was just like Gandalf's forcefield in this scene!
Adulting sure takes the fun out of snow. So does virtual learning. The other morning, local news reported school closings due to snow, and many of them indicated there would be remote learning instead. What a rotten deal for the kids!