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Kingfisher's open blade (straight razors and shavettes) journey
- Thread starter kingfisher
- Start date
Thanks. Leaving tomorrow morning for my medical school class reunion in New Orleans. Back on Sunday night. Should be a lot of fun.Quijote said:
WildWest74
Could be John Wayne
Great journal you have going! Look forward to following along.
Nice stuff
SR shave #65, open blade #102 this morning.
Just got back from New Orleans yesterday. Fired up the straight razor this morning for the first time in a while. While gone, I used the Schick Repeater, except on Saturday. I played bass guitar in a band back in med school and they begged us to get back together to gig Saturday night. The gig was at Galatoire's, a famous, upscale restaurant (more of an institution by now) on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. We practiced almost all day, and they needed all the equipment set up by 5 p.m. so as not to disturb the dinner guests. By the time we finished practicing we had maybe 30 minutes total to get showered/shaved and get the equipment over there. So I used an Atra and for software some I Coloniali cream just applied quickly by hand. It got the job done, but it was nothing like a good shave should be.
I had to get up really early on Sunday morning to catch our flight and we had very little sleep, so I decided to forego the shave on Sunday (yesterday, for those of you keeping track). So this morning I had a day and a half's growth off a terrible one-pass cartridge shave, so this was more stubble than I've ever had for the straight to tackle.
First pass went great except that on the densest parts of the neck it was tugging a bit. I switched to the Repeater to finish the first pass. Second pass (Chimensch style) and third pass (XTG on the cheeks) went smoothly. Touched up a bit along the jawline and had a great shave. It felt really good to get back to the straight razor.
I'm looking forward trying my other two straights, honed by Will, that will be awaiting me when I get home from work today.
Oh, by the way, the gig went fantastically. We had a good time, the crowd had a great time, too. And, just for fun, here's a little side story about the gig. I told the bass player, who lives close to New Orleans, that I would play with the band, but that I wasn't going to haul my bass and my amp to the gig, so he would have to find equipment for me. He said he would do so.
So, I opened up the soft case to take a look at what instrument he got for me. I found a classic Gibson in there that had obviously be well loved and often used. The stain was completely worn off the back of the neck in the areas most often played, and there were chips here and there from drops. An instrument that had clearly seen thousands of gigs. I asked Chuck about the bass. He told me that it was found floating in the streets after Katrina. Nobody knew who it belonged to. A friend of Chuck's pulled it out of the water and took it his music shop, where they dried it out and replaced the pickup and all the electronics, which had been destroyed (obviously). They then put strings on it and gave it a try. Everybody loved the tone. Since then it has once again been involved in hundreds of gigs, and everybody who plays it loves its warm, full tone. They call it "Swamp Thing."
So, yeah, I got a chance to put one more gig's worth of wear on it. It was a privilege.
Just got back from New Orleans yesterday. Fired up the straight razor this morning for the first time in a while. While gone, I used the Schick Repeater, except on Saturday. I played bass guitar in a band back in med school and they begged us to get back together to gig Saturday night. The gig was at Galatoire's, a famous, upscale restaurant (more of an institution by now) on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. We practiced almost all day, and they needed all the equipment set up by 5 p.m. so as not to disturb the dinner guests. By the time we finished practicing we had maybe 30 minutes total to get showered/shaved and get the equipment over there. So I used an Atra and for software some I Coloniali cream just applied quickly by hand. It got the job done, but it was nothing like a good shave should be.
I had to get up really early on Sunday morning to catch our flight and we had very little sleep, so I decided to forego the shave on Sunday (yesterday, for those of you keeping track). So this morning I had a day and a half's growth off a terrible one-pass cartridge shave, so this was more stubble than I've ever had for the straight to tackle.
First pass went great except that on the densest parts of the neck it was tugging a bit. I switched to the Repeater to finish the first pass. Second pass (Chimensch style) and third pass (XTG on the cheeks) went smoothly. Touched up a bit along the jawline and had a great shave. It felt really good to get back to the straight razor.
I'm looking forward trying my other two straights, honed by Will, that will be awaiting me when I get home from work today.
Oh, by the way, the gig went fantastically. We had a good time, the crowd had a great time, too. And, just for fun, here's a little side story about the gig. I told the bass player, who lives close to New Orleans, that I would play with the band, but that I wasn't going to haul my bass and my amp to the gig, so he would have to find equipment for me. He said he would do so.
So, I opened up the soft case to take a look at what instrument he got for me. I found a classic Gibson in there that had obviously be well loved and often used. The stain was completely worn off the back of the neck in the areas most often played, and there were chips here and there from drops. An instrument that had clearly seen thousands of gigs. I asked Chuck about the bass. He told me that it was found floating in the streets after Katrina. Nobody knew who it belonged to. A friend of Chuck's pulled it out of the water and took it his music shop, where they dried it out and replaced the pickup and all the electronics, which had been destroyed (obviously). They then put strings on it and gave it a try. Everybody loved the tone. Since then it has once again been involved in hundreds of gigs, and everybody who plays it loves its warm, full tone. They call it "Swamp Thing."
So, yeah, I got a chance to put one more gig's worth of wear on it. It was a privilege.
clyde72 said:
Thanks, guys. Yeah, the gig was epic. We actually played at Galatoire's on Bourbon Street. Galatoire's is a old-school New Orleans institution of a restaurant; stuffy, expensive. Jacket required kind of place. I'm not sure they were all that happy with the fact that we played rock. I don't think we'll be playing there again, lol.dkeester said:
Fantastic read on that bass, nice shave as well
SR shave #66, open blade shave #103 this morning.
Used Sudsy Soapery in the Lavender/Peppermint scent (thanks, Chris!). This morning I think I got the best lather I have ever made with Sudsy Soapery. It was just perfect.
For the razor, I used my Tilquin (apparently these were made by LeGrelot but for the Dutch market, so they used a different name). It was just back from a quick trip to Texas, where it was honed by Will (thanks, Will!).
So, I was eager to try out the razor after its fresh honing. I had received the razor in trade, and had shaved a few times with it, but it had a couple of problems. The first was that the pin was way too loose. The second was that it appeared to me that the blade itself was at least slightly warped, making it hard for me to properly strop. Finally, it was sharp but not as sharp as I would have liked it to be. Will was kind enough to fix the pin as well as hone the razor. I pulled it out of the package last night and was pleased that the pin was perfect. All that remained was to find out how the edge was.
On the first couple of strokes, I could tell that the edge was keen, but I still felt just a little tiny bit of tugging, but thereafter I think I adjusted the pressure and angle very subtly and the razor just started shaving off the stubble with almost complete smoothness. It was like the heavens parted, rays of light came shining through, and angels were singing (OK, maybe not quite like that, but close). I did the entire first pass without any problem whatsoever. It just sailed smoothly through the stubble. Wow. Best edge I've ever tried. (Take that with a grain of salt, since I've only used three razors and I only have 66 shaves under my belt, but still it was very nice.)
Second pass like butter. Third pass XTG like butter. I was running late, so I touched up the neck and jawline with my Atra. I really wanted to try some new approaches to a third pass on the neck with this awesome edge, but I didn't think rushing something I'd never tried was such a great idea.
CCS+/DFS- all over. No nicks, no cuts, no weepers, no irritation. Nada. Just a great shave.
Have a wonderful day, gents.
Used Sudsy Soapery in the Lavender/Peppermint scent (thanks, Chris!). This morning I think I got the best lather I have ever made with Sudsy Soapery. It was just perfect.
For the razor, I used my Tilquin (apparently these were made by LeGrelot but for the Dutch market, so they used a different name). It was just back from a quick trip to Texas, where it was honed by Will (thanks, Will!).
So, I was eager to try out the razor after its fresh honing. I had received the razor in trade, and had shaved a few times with it, but it had a couple of problems. The first was that the pin was way too loose. The second was that it appeared to me that the blade itself was at least slightly warped, making it hard for me to properly strop. Finally, it was sharp but not as sharp as I would have liked it to be. Will was kind enough to fix the pin as well as hone the razor. I pulled it out of the package last night and was pleased that the pin was perfect. All that remained was to find out how the edge was.
On the first couple of strokes, I could tell that the edge was keen, but I still felt just a little tiny bit of tugging, but thereafter I think I adjusted the pressure and angle very subtly and the razor just started shaving off the stubble with almost complete smoothness. It was like the heavens parted, rays of light came shining through, and angels were singing (OK, maybe not quite like that, but close). I did the entire first pass without any problem whatsoever. It just sailed smoothly through the stubble. Wow. Best edge I've ever tried. (Take that with a grain of salt, since I've only used three razors and I only have 66 shaves under my belt, but still it was very nice.)
Second pass like butter. Third pass XTG like butter. I was running late, so I touched up the neck and jawline with my Atra. I really wanted to try some new approaches to a third pass on the neck with this awesome edge, but I didn't think rushing something I'd never tried was such a great idea.
CCS+/DFS- all over. No nicks, no cuts, no weepers, no irritation. Nada. Just a great shave.
Have a wonderful day, gents.
