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Natterings of a Nasal Barbarian

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SOTD FRIDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 30, 2020

My Ronson headshave yesterday was so close, I decided to pass on the headshave today! After yesterday’s spectacular mug shave, I grabbed the second of my silver steel razors, my Diamond Hayashi Nichiri Tokusen 6/8. Ben pushed me to purchase this razor when it became available. I still remember that amazing first whisker melting shave. And it happened again. Three passes (WTG, ATG, XTG) mimicked, and even exceeded the lather sweeping experience of the preceding Tanifuji Airi shave of yesterday. I’ve learned in my open edge journey that 6/8 is my straight razor sweet spot. Razors with this size blade just feel right in hand. And after this morning’s shave, I now understand why my son shaves almost exclusively with Japanese straights. I feel lime-refreshed and smoothly velveteen.

RAZOR: Diamond Hayashi Nichiri Tokusen 6/8
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: Rooney Ebony Pure Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Royall Lyme AS Splash.
 
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SOTD SATURDAY HALLOWEEN MORNING, OCTOBER 31, 2020

After shaving with two of my three Japanese straight razors, it was time for a smile! My R. Saito SK3 fit the bill. Just an amazingly smooth jnat edge put there by my son never fails to satisfy. This is the only one of my razors without a jasper stone finished edge, an that’s because I didn’t want to mess with perfection. The bevel is polished to a level of shine I find amazing under the USB microscope, and represents the benchmark edge I strive for with my other straight razors. Shaving with this smiling razor is a joy, buttery smooth, yet amazingly sharp. Two passes (WTG, XTG) put the baby to bed on my mug. It’s one of those velveteen shaves that I find myself touching hours after the event. My dome shave went smoothly as well, leaving me lime-soaked and velveteen smooth!

RAZOR: R. Saito SK3 7/8 (Mug), EverReady Streamline (Dome)
BLADE: Gem PTFE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: Omega Pro48 Boar
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac. Finished with Royall Lyme AS.
 
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SOTD MONDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 2, 2020

A beautiful sunny day led to a great shave to greet the day! The JR Custom Rosewood Silvertip Badger #378 whipped up a nice wet MWF lather for my Mug shave. Three passes (WTG, ATG, XTG) with the smooth, buttery jasper edge set the stage for a great noggin shave to follow. After bowl lathering the second type of yogurty, slick MWF carpeting I like for my dome shaves, I selected a long neglected favorite DE, one of my few modern artisan safety razors, the Colonial Silversmith. Loaded with a Feather blade, it made short two pass (ATG, ATG) work of the dome stubble remaining from yesterday’s Gillette Old Type shave. A splash of Humphrey’s Lilac WH followed by Aqua Velva left me feeling smooth, clean and velveteen.

RAZOR: Dubl Duck Goldedge 11/16 (Mug), Colonial Silversmith (Dome)
BLADE: Feather DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: JR Custom Rosewood Silvertip Badger #378
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Aqua Velva (Spanish Version).
 
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SOTD WEDNESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 4, 2020

A beautiful day here in the Philadelphia suburbs complemented by a great shave with a newly acquired Wade & Butcher 7/8 partial wedge. With its newly honed jasper edge and heft in hand it sheared through my my mug stubble effortlessly leaving a smooth velveteen shave surface. My Supply V2 took care of my dome in much the same way floating on its own slick, yogurty MWF lather carpet. Humphrey’s Lilac WH and Osage Rub completed a great shave on day two of the US election process. I feel refreshed, clean and velveteen smooth.

RAZOR: Wade & Butcher 7/8 (Mug), Supply V2 (Dome)
BLADE: Schick Proline B-20
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: MrEE Aluminum Handle Monster Tuxedo Synth
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Osage Rub.
 
GearNoir said:
Very nice Jeff! Hope it’s a good day for ya!
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Thanks, Chris! I’m just looking forward to putting all this election vitriol behind us! In all my 7 decades, I’ve never experienced an election like this. I’m exhausted with the plague and this election. My shaves are the highlight of my day!
 
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SOTD THURSDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 5, 2020

This morning evolved into a bright, cold, sunny day here in the Philadelphia suburbs. My Riga razor arrived with a very hard sharp edge a month or so ago. After my second shave, I accidentally dropped it into the sink chipping the middle of the edge on the faucet. I was going to send it out, but decided to attempt the edge repair myself. After bread-knifing the edge on a 320K DMT plate, I reset the bevel on a Shapton 1000 and finished the edge on my Jasper stone through a series of decreasing slurry dilutions, finally finishing under plain water. Then to a series of pasted strops, finally finishing it on my son’s horween leather strop.

Not everyone is a fan of these jasper stones, but I’m a simple guy. Mine has delivered nothing but buttery smooth edges on all my razors. I find this Riga razor a bit clunky when compared to some of my nicer vintage razors, but I can’t argue with the great shave it delivers now. Three slow, leisurely passes (WTG, ATG, XTG) was all she wrote to deliver another lovely MWF enhanced velveteen shave. My Eclipse Red Ring is just a remarkably efficient dome shaver. I’m not sure what it is about the head design but a single ATG pass with a bit of selective buffing is the equivalent of two ATG passes with any of my other DEs or injectors. Only my AC safety razors are as efficient. I feel clean, refreshed and velveteen!

RAZOR: Riga Razor 7/8 (Mug), Eclipse Red Ring (Dome)
BLADE: Feather DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: MrEE Knurled Aluminum Handle Hybrid Knot #007
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Royall Lyme AS.
 
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SOTD SATURDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 7, 2020

This morning I woke up to a warm, sunny day for a change! My C-Mon Special 11/16 is just a fantastic razor. A full hollow that really belts out the buttering toast song during my shaves, and this morning was no different. Despite an initial minor nick to the top of my left ear, the three pass (WTG, ATG, XTG) that followed resulted in one of those mug shaves that one keeps touching over the course of the day. It was just an amazingly velveteen result. My dome shave was every bit as good. The Valet Auto Strop Model VC4, the only safety bar model, is by far the favorite of my five Auto Strops. It represents the culmination of 42 years of incremental improvements by Gaisman to his original model, and always delivers an awesome shave. After stropping the Feather FAS-10 blade, the two pass (ATG, ATG) dome shave was every bit as close and comfortable as the preceding mug shave. I feel refreshed, clean and as my UK Celtic friend, Billy, at TSD is wont to say, “dolphin smooth”.

RAZOR: C-Mon Special 11/16 (Mug), Valet Auto Strop Model VC4 (Dome)
BLADE: Feather FAS-10 (Dome)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by an Argan Oil scrub
BRUSH: Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute w/ Hybrid Knot Ferrule
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Lucky Tiger Aspen AS Splash.
 
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SOTD SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 8, 2020

Today’s mug shave features a Chinese Gold Monkey razor obtained from Slash McCoy of Crescent City Razor. I've modified the original edge by killing it on the corner of my jasper stone and refinishing it in a series of decreasing slurry dilutions. The original edge shaved just fine, but my jasper stone has spoiled me. I’ve learned in my open edge journey that there are degrees of sharp, and the original edge pretty much defined the hard edge of the sharp spectrum. The refinish yielded that buttery smooth soft sharp edge I've grown to appreciate. In any case the star of this shave is the beautiful new Sapele wood/acrylic brush graciously built and provided to me by a friend at TSD. A new Omega Pro48 was the knot donor.

The new brush is an awesome lather machine. I own several Badger brushes, but my favorite brushes tend to be boar. While this brush has a way to go to be broken in, it still easily provided the two types of MWF lather I enjoy - the thinner, wetter lather for my mug shave and the thicker more yogurty lather I like for my head shaves. The Gold Monkey delivered an extremely smooth three pass (WTG, ATG, XTG) mug shave and my 2011 R41 equipped with its Weber handle felt great in hand and did the same for my two pass (ATG, ATG) dome shave. I feel velveteen smooth, cool and refreshed!

RAZOR: Gold Monkey 666 5/8 (Mug), 2011 Muhle R41 w/ Weber Handle
BLADE: Feather DE (Dome)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Sapele/Acrylic Handle w/ new Omega Pro48 Boar Knot
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Osage Rub.
 
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SOTD MONDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 9, 2020

My new boar brush is just a great MWF lather builder. Many new to MWF give up on it because of lather building issues. It does take some time each morning to build a proper lather. It’s the ideal shave soap for an old retired fart who really enjoys taking his time on the morning shave. In my case I build two different lathers - a wetter, thinner face lather for my mug and a thicker, yogurty bowl lather for my dome. In both cases this new Sapele handled boar brush is a pleasure to use. The donated brand new Omega Pro48 knot just really works well for me. Some find it too large, but it works just beautifully for me. I now own two, this brush and my original Omega Pro48. They are my favorite brushes.

The shave went well. The sweet spot for a straight razor for me is 6/8. The current fashion now for modern artisan builders is for these huge shave hatchets. I don’t get it, but hey, different strokes for different folks. Even my son, Ben, owns a couple, but I’ve always been a vintage guy. The Witte Copperhead 6/8 arrived as NOS and just really checks all the boxes for me. It’s a Solingen steel blade that holds a solid, whisker-melting, buttery smooth, jasper stone edge. This morning’s mug shave was ‘epic’ to quote one of my shave mentors at TSD. The dome shave was every bit as good. I used to shave my Rex Ambassador at 4, but have found as my straight shaving skills developed that I really enjoy shaving all my adjustables wide open. Blade feel is what it’s all about for me. I feel cool, clean and smoothly velveteen.

RAZOR: Witte Solingen Copperhead 6/8 (Mug), Rex Ambassador (Dome)
BLADE: Astra Platinum
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Sapele/Acrylic Handle w/ New Omega Pro48 Boar Knot
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Chiseled Face Natural AS Splash
 
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SOTD WEDNESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 11, 2020

To all who have served, thank you for your service on this somewhat auspiciously gloomy Veteran’s Day. The shave this morning went well. The Genco 35 5/8 swept away my 24 hour mug stubble and was followed by an equivalent job on my noggin with the LaResche 77. I'm rapidly reaching the point where I’m shaving almost exclusively with boar brushes. For today’s shave I loaded the 26mm boar ferrule on the Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute. It performed beautifully and just really felt great! I know there are some who make a big deal about the black bristles in boar brushes feeling too sharp or whatever, but that’s never been a problem for me. In fact, I wasn’t even aware of the issue until reading about it. It may be a function of my Parkinsonian neurology, but I enjoy scritchiness in my boars. Today’s shave left me feeling clean, refreshed and velveteen smooth!

RAZOR: Genco 35 5/8 (Mug), LaResche 77 (Dome)
BLADE: Astra Platinum DE (2)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute w/ 26mm Boar
CREAM: Nancy Boy Signature
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with Glyce Glycerin soap followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Nancy Boy Cooling After-Shave Gel Signature Scent.
 
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SOTD FRIDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 13, 2020

Superstitious sorts might be a bit Leary of a sharp edged single blade shave on Friday the thirteenth, but my shave was just awesome. The Manhattan Cutlery 13/16 is easily my favorite straight razor as well as being one of my oldest razors. There’s something about Sheffield cast steel razors, but this one shaves like a dream. My dome shave was every bit as good. The Colonial General V2 never lets me down. I feel cool, clean and velveteen!

RAZOR: Manhattan Cutlery 13/16 Sheffield Cast Steel (Mug), Colonial General V2 (Dome)
BLADE: Feather Super AC
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: JR Custom Rosewood Silvertip Badger
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Osage Rub.
 
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