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Kingfisher's open blade (straight razors and shavettes) journey
- Thread starter kingfisher
- Start date
Thanks. I am finally getting better, slowly but surely.All good stuff, Randall. And sounds like you're finally kickin' your cold.
CCCXXXI this morning.
Went with the shorty back-to-back since I enjoyed it so much on Saturday morning. For software I lathered up Doc's Special Blend. I used the Rubberset 400, which is quickly climbing the list of my favorite brushes.
I got a nice lather and the first pass went smoothly. Second pass was even better. Then I looked at the time. Yikes! Finished up with my Atra so I could just ZOOM.
Final result was a nice, smooth shave without irritation. Used Stirling lime balm, which I really enjoy.
Spoke with my son by phone last night and he sounds like I do; seems that he got a very similar viral infection. He described a similar course, too; felt like he was doing better one day and then the next he felt so tired he had to call in to his job so he could rest. Yep. Same thing happened to me. Since he lives more than 2500 miles away, I feel pretty confident that he didn't get it from me, at least.
My other son got back Saturday from a short trip to Indiana to visit his girlfriend. He really didn't want to come home. I guess when your child is 21 it's probably a good thing that he likes being somewhere else more than he likes being home, lol.
Have a good day and a great start to your week.
CCCXXXII this morning.
Stuck with the shorty. Blade length is only marginally longer than that of an AC-type blade. For lather I went with Stirling Peach. Getting close to the end of this puck, and the scent is not as great as it once was. I will likely move this one up to much more frequent use until it is gone so as to not let the scent deteriorate any more.
I actually pressed on and did 3 passes above the jawline, 2 below with the straight before moving to the General for final clean-up.
Ended up CCS+. I had a small area of irritation on the right low neck near the Adam's apple; not sure if this was from the straight or from the General, but I think it was probably on the first pass with the straight. Not a big deal, but I try to avoid all irritation so I disappointed myself a bit this morning.
On the plus side, the razor is still sharp, now about 11 or 12 shaves since the honing and I've done nothing but strop.
My friend had a rough day yesterday. It's been slightly more than two months since her father passed, but she is sleep-deprived and then had some reminders about her father that hit her pretty hard. I provided some support and some prayers for her. I am hoping that today will be a much better day. I suspect she'll have some more bad days in the future; that's the nature of the beast. But I notice that most days are good now, which is a vast improvement.
Have a good day, y'all.
Stuck with the shorty. Blade length is only marginally longer than that of an AC-type blade. For lather I went with Stirling Peach. Getting close to the end of this puck, and the scent is not as great as it once was. I will likely move this one up to much more frequent use until it is gone so as to not let the scent deteriorate any more.
I actually pressed on and did 3 passes above the jawline, 2 below with the straight before moving to the General for final clean-up.
Ended up CCS+. I had a small area of irritation on the right low neck near the Adam's apple; not sure if this was from the straight or from the General, but I think it was probably on the first pass with the straight. Not a big deal, but I try to avoid all irritation so I disappointed myself a bit this morning.
On the plus side, the razor is still sharp, now about 11 or 12 shaves since the honing and I've done nothing but strop.
My friend had a rough day yesterday. It's been slightly more than two months since her father passed, but she is sleep-deprived and then had some reminders about her father that hit her pretty hard. I provided some support and some prayers for her. I am hoping that today will be a much better day. I suspect she'll have some more bad days in the future; that's the nature of the beast. But I notice that most days are good now, which is a vast improvement.
Have a good day, y'all.
Nice thoughts on the shave today! I hope and pray that your friend will be able move on in her life in a very positive way .
Yep.
Thanks!
Thank you! She had a tough couple of days Monday and Tuesday, and I think there are more to come, what with this being her first Christmas season without her father. But I saw her earlier today and she said today has been considerably better than the past two days. Once the holidays are past I think things will settle down a bit.
To add insult to injury her sister called her yesterday morning and told her that she wouldn't be able to make it home for Christmas this year. She was really looking forward to spending time with her sister over the holiday. So I think that's part of why she was so bummed yesterday.
CCXXXIII today.
Decided to stick with the shorty and with the Stirling peach. Trying to use this baby up. So I loaded a ton of soap and had a fantastic lather, but a fair bit of it went down the drain. Oh, well.
Did two passes with the shorty, then cleaned up with the Colonial General. All good. CCS. No concerns at all.
Hope y'all are having a great day!
CCXXXIV this morning.
Stuck with the Stirling Peach. Use my Rubberset 400. Loaded like crazy and had a ton of lovely lather.
Changed razors to the "Mighty Mite," which is really a Sta-Sharp. It's a full-length blade but it's thin, maybe a 4/8 (haven't measured it). Anyway, it's a great blade and I love it. I stropped it up last night and I have to say the edge was easily a B+/A-.
Two easy, smooth passes with the Mighty Mite and then went with the Colonial General one last time for clean-up. I think I'm going to switch to a DE tomorrow; this blade seems about shot; plus, I like variety.
Spent a lot of time last night trying to help a person who is kind of self-destructive and manipulative, but I still felt sorry for her; kicked out of her place, with all her stuff still inside, locked up and kept from her. Hypothyroidism, out of her thyroid meds, cold outside (and with her hypothyroidism, she can't really tolerate cold at all). Not to mention suffering from gallstones and migraines. It was a long evening and kind of frustrating, but at least I was able to get her her thyroid medicine, her migraine medicine, and then get her a warm place to sleep.
Makes me very thankful for what I have.
Have a great day, gents.
Stuck with the Stirling Peach. Use my Rubberset 400. Loaded like crazy and had a ton of lovely lather.
Changed razors to the "Mighty Mite," which is really a Sta-Sharp. It's a full-length blade but it's thin, maybe a 4/8 (haven't measured it). Anyway, it's a great blade and I love it. I stropped it up last night and I have to say the edge was easily a B+/A-.
Two easy, smooth passes with the Mighty Mite and then went with the Colonial General one last time for clean-up. I think I'm going to switch to a DE tomorrow; this blade seems about shot; plus, I like variety.
Spent a lot of time last night trying to help a person who is kind of self-destructive and manipulative, but I still felt sorry for her; kicked out of her place, with all her stuff still inside, locked up and kept from her. Hypothyroidism, out of her thyroid meds, cold outside (and with her hypothyroidism, she can't really tolerate cold at all). Not to mention suffering from gallstones and migraines. It was a long evening and kind of frustrating, but at least I was able to get her her thyroid medicine, her migraine medicine, and then get her a warm place to sleep.
Makes me very thankful for what I have.
Have a great day, gents.
Thanks, Chris. My wife has always been a service-oriented individual and I feel like she's brought me around a long ways.
Thanks.
CCXXXV this morning.
I was going to keep going with the Stirling Peach as per previous plans but I got all stuffed up again early this morning so I decided to go with the decidedly medicinal Doc's Special Blend from Soapy Science.
I have to say that after using Stirling for several days in a row I feel like Soapy Science makes a slightly better lather for me. The only thing Stirling has over Soapy Science is a little bit more slickness, but Soapy Science trumps it in all other respects.
I went back to the Mighty Mite because I enjoyed it so much yesterday morning and had two smooth trouble-free passes. For the third pass I retired the General and went with a British Flat-Bottom Tech mounted on a UFO Titan Fine L handle and loaded with a fresh Polsilver SI. Very nice.
All things considered, off to a good start today. Unfortunately, my wife came down with cold symptoms; I hope she doesn't have what I have, because I'm almost to a month now and still not back to normal health. Yikes.
thanks!
CCXXXVI today.
Back to Stirling peach, sick with the mighty mite. Two clean passes, no problem.
Third pass with the flat bottom tech and I was good to go.
Stirling lime aftershave balm for good measure.
Hope y'all are enjoying your weekend.
Thanks!
Sunday was AoS Sunday, as always, and no straight razor, as always. AoS Lemon, flat-bottom Tech for two passes, good to go.
This morning was straight razor shave CCXXXVII. Last night I stropped up the trusty Noonan (hadn't used it in a while).
Lathered up some Stirling Peach again (I now have a secondary donut hole in this one). I loaded heavily and added EXACTLY the right amount of water, thus maximizing the Stirling lather this morning.
The edge on the Noonan was pretty good but not outstanding, B+. Two passes went pretty well, though, and then I did a third with the Tech. Overall result was CCS and mostly comfortable, so a good start to the week.
I had a bit of a rough weekend. One of the local Presbytarian churches puts on a fantastic festival of carols and readings for Christmas every year. I don't go to this church but I have attended this Christmas program almost every year for the past 15 years of so. I really look forward to it. They are very talented, and they hire a bunch of members of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra to help out, so the music is just amazing.
This year was no exception, but what I overlooked was that the sanctuary in which they hold this program is the same one in which my friend's father's funeral was held. I sat in a different place and tried to think about the past positive experiences with Christmas festivals, but when the program was over I walked right by the pastor that officiated the funeral, and then my mind went down that rabbit hole and I became very sad. It took several hours for me to sort of get past all that. I really didn't expect it to hit me like that, but it did.
On the plus side, I'm finally starting to feel better with this stupid cold I've had for 4 weeks. About time. I also spoke with my son last night by phone and was reminded that he and his wife are going to be flying out here on Sunday to spend Christmas with us, which is going to be awesome.
Have a great day and a great week, gents.
Thanks! I'm excited. We haven't seen them since their wedding in late July.
Thanks, Chris. I think you're right about the "new normal." It may take some time, but we'll get there.
I've never had the privilege of trying the AoS tallow soap. Glad you enjoyed it.
CCXXXVIII this morning. Stuck with the Stirling Peach (pseudo-3017'ing this now that it's almost gone), and went with the Noonan again this morning. Lather was really good but not perfect like yesterday. First pass felt like it went OK but I found a small weeper on the right neck. Second pass, the same; felt OK but had a new small weeper on the right side above the jaw line near the chin. Neither was a big deal, but just kind of annoying.
After two passes there was still some stubble left, until I did a third pass with the flat-bottom Tech. End result was CCS. I used Myrsol F./Extra aftershave since I wanted to gauge irritation elsewhere, and the only sting was in the two little weepers I already knew about, so overall the shave wasn't too bad.
My wife had my piano tuned late last week. I've been enjoying playing Christmas songs in the evenings. It's really helping me to get into the Christmas spirit.
Have a great day, gents!