GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Either way, that would be cool! Thank you much! I’ll PM you.
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cmh737 Straight Venture Journal Continued
- Thread starter cmh737
- Start date
Either way, that would be cool! Thank you much! I’ll PM you.
I'm with you Chris...I just can't get the hang of a Gem.
dkeester
"TSC's Master of Bourbon"
I would say that they require straight razor levels of concentration. They can easily fool you into thinking they are like other safety razors since they have blade guards, but they are not. Modern SEs are much more forgiving than vintage ones.
^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Well, my Gem didn't sell on the bay so I may give it a shot and see how it compares to the EverReady 1912 I had and sold. Nice shave Chris
OK, I'll send 'em off to you either tomorrow or Wednesday.
Lucky for sure! Is it the one in the cabinet seen in one of your videos?
Roger that!
Why indeed. Thanks, Walt.
They can certainly fool you, for sure.
Might as well give it a shot.
A nemesis razor, eh?
SR Shave #634:
The new-to-me-just-received-last-night puck of vintage Colgate Cup Soap got the call for today's shave, and what a great shave it was. Just 2 passes for a wonderfully comfortable and enjoyable DFS(+). I've got the Revisor's edge totally dialed in!
This puck produced an outstanding lather! The Omega 48 boar really earned its money this morning. My goodness, yogurty goodness, and uber-slick for the first pass. Some of the best lather I've had, actually; quite a pleasant surprise! For the second pass, the brush still held good lather. However, if I were to do a third pass, I would have had to go back to the puck.
This is some excellent soap, I must say. My only critique after just one use, from a performance point of view, is that the residual slickness was lacking. During the pass, it's as slick as any elite soap there is, but it rinses so clean that there's really not much left for buffing or touch up. No worries, though, just dab some from the brush. As such, I was anticipating not much in the way of post shave moisturizing, but my concerns proved unfounded. My ole mug is not dried out at all. Post shave was some Thayer's Cucumber Witch Hazel, then Pinaud Clubman aftershave - that's it; no balm necessary. Interesting.
Tomorrow I'll give the vintage Williams a go. Looking forward to seeing how it compares to this Colgate.
The new-to-me-just-received-last-night puck of vintage Colgate Cup Soap got the call for today's shave, and what a great shave it was. Just 2 passes for a wonderfully comfortable and enjoyable DFS(+). I've got the Revisor's edge totally dialed in!
This puck produced an outstanding lather! The Omega 48 boar really earned its money this morning. My goodness, yogurty goodness, and uber-slick for the first pass. Some of the best lather I've had, actually; quite a pleasant surprise! For the second pass, the brush still held good lather. However, if I were to do a third pass, I would have had to go back to the puck.
This is some excellent soap, I must say. My only critique after just one use, from a performance point of view, is that the residual slickness was lacking. During the pass, it's as slick as any elite soap there is, but it rinses so clean that there's really not much left for buffing or touch up. No worries, though, just dab some from the brush. As such, I was anticipating not much in the way of post shave moisturizing, but my concerns proved unfounded. My ole mug is not dried out at all. Post shave was some Thayer's Cucumber Witch Hazel, then Pinaud Clubman aftershave - that's it; no balm necessary. Interesting.
Tomorrow I'll give the vintage Williams a go. Looking forward to seeing how it compares to this Colgate.
My wife absolutely forbids me to use Clubman right before having to be around her for a while afterwards. It needs like an hour of dry down before she can stand me without an asthma attack but it is really good stuff.
That is an excellent shave Chris! Loving you pic also.
Roger that, Chris!
An asthma attack from Clubman? Yikes! I don't even want to think of what would happen if you used the Veg!
Thanks, Don. Much appreciated.
Great shave on the old Colgate Chris. The only thing I like about the modern Williams is the slickness and the residual slickness. I used the vintage Williams when I first started shaving in the 70s, but I just don't remember anything about it other than the scent, which remains the same today.
Thanks, Walt. I used the vintage Williams just moments ago.....
Wednesday's shave:
This morning, I used the vintage Williams soap that I recently received (along with the Colgate that I used yesterday). And I tried to keep the shave as "vintage" as possible by using the Flare Tip Super Speed and some Aqua Velva....
Alrighty then, how did the vintage Williams perform? Wonderfully! I had been "hydrating" the puck a little here and there since I did that first test lather once I got it, and that did the trick. This lathered effortlessly! The texture was that yogurty type that I prefer over the "meringue" type (the Colgate had the same yogurty type as well) and it was very slick. And this soap actually had some residual slickness that was absent from the Colgate. I will say though, that during the passes, I think that the Colgate was a tad bit slicker, but that's not detracting from the still elite level slickness of this Williams. In all fairness, however, it's only one use for each; and with the Colgate, I used a boar brush, whereas with the Williams, a synthetic (Doug Korn D7 w/Ubersoft), so there's that. And with this shave, I didn't do any water only cleanup, or buffing, just did the passes with lather on my ole mug, and after 3 passes, I was left with an ultra comfortable BBS(-). Fantastic!
I want to mention something that these two vintage soaps brought to my mind. It has to do with something that CBL has talked about in the past, and that's the different "feel" of some soaps. I've always agreed and understood that, not that it's a good/bad or better type thing, but merely a "difference". And these two vintage soaps definitely present a different "feel" than any other soap I've used. I can't really articulate what that difference is, other than to say that the lather feels more "creamy", if that makes any sense. And while they don't have as good a residual slickness as some of the modern elite soaps, the post shave moisturizing is surprisingly excellent. I'm actually perplexed about this, but happy, certainly. I'm impressed, to say the least. In fact, I have two more vintage soaps en route. I've got to head to work in a couple of hours, so they'll probably arrive while I'm gone. But then I'm stopping - I'm not going to go down the vintage soap rabbit hole any further - nope, not gonna do it - wouldn't be prudent!
Oh, and I just thought of something that perhaps the resident soap makers might have some insight on. And that has to do with "aging" of soaps. Many folk believe vintage soaps to be better than modern soaps, and that's not the crux of my question (personally, I'm more of the opinion that, after just two uses, these two certainly are "elite status" slick, but not necessarily "better than" the modern elite soaps - just "different"). My question is this: Is it because of the soap making process and ingredients, or is it the years that have gone by? I'm actually not trying to be coy, but I'm rather curious. Do the decades have something to do with "improving" the performance of these soaps? I'm wondering if one were to take a new, unused puck of Tabac (with all scent jokes aside for the moment), for instance, and just leave it in a drawer for 40 years and then use it, will we think the same thing then about how we now talk about the Williams and Colgates? I think the younger folk should do that - grab a new, unused puck of Tabac, and a modern puck of Williams, and throw 'em in a drawer for the next 30 or more years, then revisit those soaps and see if opinions have changed. Just a thought.
This morning, I used the vintage Williams soap that I recently received (along with the Colgate that I used yesterday). And I tried to keep the shave as "vintage" as possible by using the Flare Tip Super Speed and some Aqua Velva....
Alrighty then, how did the vintage Williams perform? Wonderfully! I had been "hydrating" the puck a little here and there since I did that first test lather once I got it, and that did the trick. This lathered effortlessly! The texture was that yogurty type that I prefer over the "meringue" type (the Colgate had the same yogurty type as well) and it was very slick. And this soap actually had some residual slickness that was absent from the Colgate. I will say though, that during the passes, I think that the Colgate was a tad bit slicker, but that's not detracting from the still elite level slickness of this Williams. In all fairness, however, it's only one use for each; and with the Colgate, I used a boar brush, whereas with the Williams, a synthetic (Doug Korn D7 w/Ubersoft), so there's that. And with this shave, I didn't do any water only cleanup, or buffing, just did the passes with lather on my ole mug, and after 3 passes, I was left with an ultra comfortable BBS(-). Fantastic!
I want to mention something that these two vintage soaps brought to my mind. It has to do with something that CBL has talked about in the past, and that's the different "feel" of some soaps. I've always agreed and understood that, not that it's a good/bad or better type thing, but merely a "difference". And these two vintage soaps definitely present a different "feel" than any other soap I've used. I can't really articulate what that difference is, other than to say that the lather feels more "creamy", if that makes any sense. And while they don't have as good a residual slickness as some of the modern elite soaps, the post shave moisturizing is surprisingly excellent. I'm actually perplexed about this, but happy, certainly. I'm impressed, to say the least. In fact, I have two more vintage soaps en route. I've got to head to work in a couple of hours, so they'll probably arrive while I'm gone. But then I'm stopping - I'm not going to go down the vintage soap rabbit hole any further - nope, not gonna do it - wouldn't be prudent!
Oh, and I just thought of something that perhaps the resident soap makers might have some insight on. And that has to do with "aging" of soaps. Many folk believe vintage soaps to be better than modern soaps, and that's not the crux of my question (personally, I'm more of the opinion that, after just two uses, these two certainly are "elite status" slick, but not necessarily "better than" the modern elite soaps - just "different"). My question is this: Is it because of the soap making process and ingredients, or is it the years that have gone by? I'm actually not trying to be coy, but I'm rather curious. Do the decades have something to do with "improving" the performance of these soaps? I'm wondering if one were to take a new, unused puck of Tabac (with all scent jokes aside for the moment), for instance, and just leave it in a drawer for 40 years and then use it, will we think the same thing then about how we now talk about the Williams and Colgates? I think the younger folk should do that - grab a new, unused puck of Tabac, and a modern puck of Williams, and throw 'em in a drawer for the next 30 or more years, then revisit those soaps and see if opinions have changed. Just a thought.
Nice shave Chris. I love the pic. Haven't tried the vintage stuff but the modern Williams is super super slick during shave.