jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
Is 73 adult or over the hill, Bruce?I aspire to one day be Velveteen smooth. Perhaps when I reach adulthood.
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Natterings of a Nasal Barbarian
- Thread starter jgreenepa
- Start date
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
SOTD TUESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 8, 2020
It’s a cool, gray 32 degrees Farenheit here in the Philadelphia suburbs. After our governor’s Covid presentation yesterday, I’m seriously tempted to retreat to an A-Bomb shelter! It’s bad out there, and not getting any better. As an advanced member of the danger demographic it’s not looking good for our country health nor economy-wise. All I have to fall back on are the pleasure of my morning shaves and return to my Feather DX focus. And this morning’s shave was one of the better ones, thank goodness. I selected my beautiful silver plated Valet Auto Strop Model VB2, and stropped the contained carbon steel Feather FAS-10 blade for forty strokes. The wonderful Sapele/Resin handled Pro48 built by an extremely talented Canuckian turner friend at TSD, performed beautifully. It effortlessly created the two different lathers I like for my dome and mug shaves. The result was a foregone conclusion, two great shaves, one with an open edge on the mug and the other with a classic, vintage safety razor on the dome. I feel refreshed, clean and smoothly velveteen!
RAZOR: Wood Handled Feather DX (Mug), Valet Auto Strop Model VB2
BLADE: Feather Super AC (Mug), Feather FAS-10 Carbon Steel (Dome)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Sapele/Resin Handled Pro48 Boar
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold Water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Krampert’s Frostbite AS Splash.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
Thanks, Chris! It’s depressing when people ignore public health directives by physicians!
I'm thinking adult.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
SOTD WEDNESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 9, 2020
RAZOR: C-Mon Special 11/16 (Mug), Ronson Safety Razor (Dome)
BLADE: Schick Proline B-20
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: JR Rosewood Silvertip Badger #378
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Pre de Provence Bergamot & Thyme AS Balm.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
SOTD THURSDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 10, 2020
The sun is coming up as I write this on what looks to be a bright, cold, sunny day in the Philadelphia suburbs. This morning I selected a Gillette gold plated British Rocket for the dome and a straight razor I haven’t used in a while, the Genco 35, for my mug shave. My regular shave prep consists of a cold water rinse followed by a good scrub with Argan Oil. Everything went swimmingly well along with some rudimentary schooling. The three pass (WTG, ATG, XTG) mug shave went well until I decided that I could buff a small section of my right cheek without lubricant. I knew better, and my hubris against the shave gods resulted in the first cut I’ve had in quite some time. It was quickly addressed with styptic gel. Perfecting open edge shaving, at least for me, has been through aversive conditioning. Note to self, do not cowboy about! Always use lather for every shave stroke. The dome shave, on the other hand, went quite well. The Rocket, while not a favorite dome shaver, always does the job when equipped with a Feather blade. Two ATG passes put the baby to bed leaving me refreshed, chastened, yet still velveteen smooth. The score, Shave Gods 1, Jeff 0!
RAZOR: Genco 35 5/8 (Mug), British Gillette Rocket (Dome)
BLADE: Feather DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute with 26mm Two Band Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Pre de Provence Bergamot & Thyme AS Balm.
I've never used a British razor. They are so good looking.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
Bruce, I have a friend over at TSD who’s a British Gillette collector. He clued me in on this one when I acquired it a couple of years ago. The seller didn’t realize what she had. Original gold Rockets are according to my friend pretty rare. I lucked out on this one!
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
Hey Chris, it happens to us all! I was just getting a bit too cocky! The Shave Gods (ie Murphy) put me in my place!
The handle is very similar to the C-1 Red Tip of mine.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
The difference as I understand it from the US SS models is the TTO mechanism. The TTO base actually moves up the handle when twisted.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
SOTD FRIDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 11, 2020
Welcome to Fatboy Wool Fat Friday! I was up early this morning and decided to pull my long neglected Fatboy out for this morning’s noggin shave. And as Monty Python was known to say as the opener to a sketch, “and now for something completely different!”. Although I had my first straight shave more than 5 yrs ago, there’s been quite a gap between that first shave and my straight shaves this year. So in addition to the Covid plague, 2020 has seen my return to straight shaving which for the most part has been with traditional folding western straight razors. For this morning’s mug shave I selected the Kai Captain Kamisori Clone and loaded a Feather Super.
My regular shave prep consists of a cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil. My soaking Viking Silvertip Badger whipped up the two kinds of MWF lathers I enjoy after exiting the shower. The shave that followed was excellent. After my punishment by the Shave Gods yesterday morning, I took particular care not to aggravate the site of my punishment and completed a velveteen close three pass (WTG, ATG, XTG) mug shave. The dome shave was a surprise! Usually my Fatboy delivers a ‘meh’ shave, but for whatever reason, opened up to 9, it sheared through the noggin whiskers with aplomb in two (ATG, ATG) passes, leaving me cool, clean, refreshed and velveteen smooth!
RAZOR: Kai Captain Kamisori Clone (Mug), Gillette Fatboy (Dome)
BLADE: Kai DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH and Osage Rub.
Now that is an excellent shave! Especially for the Noggin Whiskers! Also...I really like your brush...just love blues for some reason.
Oh, and I noticed your signature. Sure...De Gustibus Non Disputandum is okay, but I am more of a Suum cuique kind of guy. Have a wonderful day!
Oh, and I noticed your signature. Sure...De Gustibus Non Disputandum is okay, but I am more of a Suum cuique kind of guy. Have a wonderful day!
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
Thanks, Don! I was never a Fatboy fan. My shave with the Kai blade was much better than prior shaves with this safety razor. I was actually considering selling it as I rarely shaved with it before. But after this shave all I can say is, “Moniti Meliora, Sequamur! “.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
SOTD SATURDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 12, 2020
This morning’s shave featured two of my favorite shave tools, the Dubl Duck Goldedge 11/16 and my Star DE which dates to the 1940s. It was developed by the American Safety Razor Corp. to compete with the highly successful Gillette Tech. This particular razor originated in a box of NOS found in a warehouse in Brooklyn, NY during a clean out where they’d been sitting for almost 70 yrs. The shave is a bit more aggressive than the Tech, and I have found that fitted with a Kai, which I shaved with today, or a Feather, delivers an exemplary noggin shave. There’s really not much more to say other than I retuned the DD Goldedge blade on my jasper stone last night. Stropping on pasted linen and then leather was just the ticket for today’s mug shave. Two ATG passes with the the Star DE on the dome and three (WTG, ATG, XTG) passes with the DD Goldedge for the mug left me refreshed, cool, clean and smoothly velveteen!
RAZOR: Dubl Duck Goldedge 11/16 (Mug), Star DE (Dome)
BLADE: Kai DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH and Osage Rub.
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Wow, cool! Did you know the folks who found it or was that just the story presented by the seller?
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
I bought it at a Shave Collectibles Mtg in Cincinnati back in October 2019, Chris. The seller told me that he purchased the box of NOS safety razors at auction and that was the story he was told.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
UGLY RAZOR SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020
At the suggestion of one of our 30DC Crew members at TSD, it was decided that this Sunday all on the Crew who wished would shave with the ugliest razors in their collections. In my case I decided to shave with a newly arrived Thistle Cut Persian and my safety razor nemesis, my French Spadson safety razor. I did not clean up or replace the scales on the Thistle Cut straight razor, but only set a bezel and honed it up on a Naniwa progression through 12k finishing on my jasper stone last night. The scales are not original to the razor and much too large. The Spadson was designed to have two shaving edges, one mild and the other aggressive. In the case of this safety razor the proper adjective is assaultive.
Although both razors appear somewhat the worse for the wear, only the Spadson provided a troublesome shave. My Omega Pro48 whipped up the two types of lather I enjoy - a thinner, wetter one for the mug and a thicker, more yogurty one for the dome. I will say that the edge on the Thistle Cut 4/8 was an amazing surprise, and I received one of the best three pass (WTG, ATG, XTG) straight shaves I’ve ever had on my mug. Once this razor is cleaned up and refitted with proper size scales, it’ll be one of the jewels of my collection. It’s smaller blade size makes it highlymaneuverable and a true joy to shave with.
The French Spadson, on the other hand, proved a trial to use. The razor never sold well. It was designed to supposedly offer an aggressive shave on one side and a mild shave on the other. My experience with it is that both sides are assautive. I’ve been shavingwith DEs since the late 60s, and so say with somelevel of assurance that I know my way around a standard DE. My usual shave with this monster is generally restricted to May Mayhem shaves. Safety razors are used on my dome daily, but after today’s shave, I’ll have to take a day or two off to allow my scalp to recover from the irritation and weepers (several) I experienced with this beast! The best I can say about today’s dome shave is that it’s over! Thank goodness there’s always tomorrow!
RAZOR: Thistle Cut Persian 4/8 (Mug), French Spadson (Dome)
BLADE: Kai DE (2)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Omega Pro48 Boar
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH and Osage Rub.