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cmh737 Straight Venture Journal Continued
- Thread starter cmh737
- Start date
Thanks, Gents. The Santa Paula is a great scent. The aftershave is dynamite, although the scent fades quickly. The soap scent is dynamite also, but the performance, for me is not quite "elite" status, but still very good.
BTW, today is Easter Sunday for us Eastern Orthodox (Christos Anesti!). Went to the midnight Divine Liturgy last night, so today, I'm taking the day off from shaving. However.....I did get a most excellent mail call from Eric (arrived yesterday)! I'll be posting photos later of the brush and razor he sent. I actually just finished honing the razor; and I decided to play it safe today and went all synthetic up through 20K. Tomorrow will be the day I see how the edge turned out.
BTW, today is Easter Sunday for us Eastern Orthodox (Christos Anesti!). Went to the midnight Divine Liturgy last night, so today, I'm taking the day off from shaving. However.....I did get a most excellent mail call from Eric (arrived yesterday)! I'll be posting photos later of the brush and razor he sent. I actually just finished honing the razor; and I decided to play it safe today and went all synthetic up through 20K. Tomorrow will be the day I see how the edge turned out.
cmh737 said:
Good Stuff Chris and Happy Easter to you and Yours
SR Shave #575:
Okie Dokie, here we go. The newest additions to the den, courtesy of Eric (Smattayu):
Eric hit a grand slam home run with these beauts! He re-scaled my Torrey, and made me a new brush, with matching Padauk wood. I totally dig the color of this, and it looks even better in person vice this photo. Many thanks, Eric!!! A true craftsman indeed!
Now on to the shave.......
I decided to re-hone the Torrey before taking it on it's first ride with new shoes. I went all synth and no tape. I re-set the bevel with a few passes on my worn out Extra Fine DMT, then the Chosera 1K. Then it was Naniwa 3K/5K/8K/12K. Then finished on the Suehiro Gokumyo 20K, followed by normal stropping on my 3" Westholme Italian Horsehide strop.
Result: A+
Yes, yes, yes! I totally nailed this edge! As many of you know, my natural stone honing experiences have been wildly inconsistent, and more times than not, downright frustrating; but I've gotten consistently good edges with my synthetic hones. So why don't I just stick with the synth set up? Good question - I wish I had an answer - LOL!
The shave was quite enjoyable. I did just two passes for a totally irritation-free BBS(-). I actually almost stopped after one pass, but decided to enjoy some more Tabacness, and went for the second pass. This razor is perfect (for me). It's sharp, but feels like a coti edge; I think it's probably due to the quarter hollowness, but who knows. What I do know is that it provided for a stellar shave! Oh, and let me state, for the record, that the Suehiro Gokumyo 20K is a fabulous finishing hone. Most of the people that give this stone negative reviews, I believe are biased towards natural stones, plain and simple. I have no complaints whatsoever with this SG; I dig it.
The Tabac lather was dialed in perfectly, but I had to work for it a bit. This brush has a Tuxedo synthetic fan knot, and it took a while to pick up the lather and release it. I'm no stranger to the Tuxedo knot, but I have it in bulb, not fan; this is the first fan Tux that I've used. It's really a different beast altogether. The fan is quite dense and reminds me very much of my Ubersoft synths. It also has quite a bit of backbone and lends itself to some good scrubbiness. I try to choose my words carefully when describing brushes, and the tips do not have any scritch at all - it has very soft tips - I want to be clear on that point. But due to the density and shape, it creates a slightly scrubby feel, which can be a good thing. I'm very pleased with it. I look forward to using this with SV and MW to see if I can coax better performance with those challenging soaps at my house.
Finished up with Bootleggers Bay Rum - excellent!
Again, many thanks, Eric!!!
Okie Dokie, here we go. The newest additions to the den, courtesy of Eric (Smattayu):
Eric hit a grand slam home run with these beauts! He re-scaled my Torrey, and made me a new brush, with matching Padauk wood. I totally dig the color of this, and it looks even better in person vice this photo. Many thanks, Eric!!! A true craftsman indeed!
Now on to the shave.......
I decided to re-hone the Torrey before taking it on it's first ride with new shoes. I went all synth and no tape. I re-set the bevel with a few passes on my worn out Extra Fine DMT, then the Chosera 1K. Then it was Naniwa 3K/5K/8K/12K. Then finished on the Suehiro Gokumyo 20K, followed by normal stropping on my 3" Westholme Italian Horsehide strop.
Result: A+
Yes, yes, yes! I totally nailed this edge! As many of you know, my natural stone honing experiences have been wildly inconsistent, and more times than not, downright frustrating; but I've gotten consistently good edges with my synthetic hones. So why don't I just stick with the synth set up? Good question - I wish I had an answer - LOL!
The shave was quite enjoyable. I did just two passes for a totally irritation-free BBS(-). I actually almost stopped after one pass, but decided to enjoy some more Tabacness, and went for the second pass. This razor is perfect (for me). It's sharp, but feels like a coti edge; I think it's probably due to the quarter hollowness, but who knows. What I do know is that it provided for a stellar shave! Oh, and let me state, for the record, that the Suehiro Gokumyo 20K is a fabulous finishing hone. Most of the people that give this stone negative reviews, I believe are biased towards natural stones, plain and simple. I have no complaints whatsoever with this SG; I dig it.
The Tabac lather was dialed in perfectly, but I had to work for it a bit. This brush has a Tuxedo synthetic fan knot, and it took a while to pick up the lather and release it. I'm no stranger to the Tuxedo knot, but I have it in bulb, not fan; this is the first fan Tux that I've used. It's really a different beast altogether. The fan is quite dense and reminds me very much of my Ubersoft synths. It also has quite a bit of backbone and lends itself to some good scrubbiness. I try to choose my words carefully when describing brushes, and the tips do not have any scritch at all - it has very soft tips - I want to be clear on that point. But due to the density and shape, it creates a slightly scrubby feel, which can be a good thing. I'm very pleased with it. I look forward to using this with SV and MW to see if I can coax better performance with those challenging soaps at my house.
Finished up with Bootleggers Bay Rum - excellent!
Again, many thanks, Eric!!!
Stunning combo in that photo great shave sir.
Great Shave Today Chris, and congrats on getting the Mojo Back, lovely scales and brush
Many thanks, Gents!
Today's shave, however, wasn't as good as yesterday's....
SR Shave #576:
I did some more Ark honing yesterday. This time, I went with a Gold Dollar 66 that CBL graciously sent me.
Result: Grade D
"Meh". The edge is not sharp enough. I did 3 passes, but only a CCS to show for it. I grabbed the Merkur 34 for another pass to finish. I'm starting to to think that the surgical black is the culprit - either I'm doing something wrong, or the surface isn't "right" and is killing the edge. Hmmmmm.
Today's shave, however, wasn't as good as yesterday's....
SR Shave #576:
I did some more Ark honing yesterday. This time, I went with a Gold Dollar 66 that CBL graciously sent me.
Result: Grade D
"Meh". The edge is not sharp enough. I did 3 passes, but only a CCS to show for it. I grabbed the Merkur 34 for another pass to finish. I'm starting to to think that the surgical black is the culprit - either I'm doing something wrong, or the surface isn't "right" and is killing the edge. Hmmmmm.
Sounds like a stone issue rather than technique for sure, Chris. Might just be that particular stone doesn't have fine enough grit to be used as a finisher...or the surface isn't quite conditioned enough. Like Craig, I have no experience with Arks, so take that with a huge grain of salt.
