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Natterings of a Nasal Barbarian

D51B1F95-343F-4CB2-8199-354B40829D39.jpegSOTD THURSDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Before beginning, I’d like to say that my constroption has dramatically lengthened the time between touch ups, and turned me into a real fan of pasted strops. Stropping with leather definitely provides keenness to an edge, but the use of a series of graduated pasted strops [from 0.5 microns, o.25 microns, 0.1 microns, to 0.05 microns] not only imparts ‘keenness’, but I would go so far as to say also a level of resharpening. I say this based on a number of styrofoam peanut tests (SPT).

When I reset a bevel and take a razor through the stones to the finishing process, I continue until it passes the styrofoam peanut test all along the edge. I have recently noticed after having a few razors begin to dull, tug, and fail the SPT, that instead of returning to the stones for a touch up, could instead run it through the constroption and my roo-skin bench strop. The first time I did this the razor easily passed the SPT. I’m sure I’ll eventually need to return to the stones, but at this point with three more razors on, I’m content to avoid additional hone wear.

The shave on this rainy morning featured the Solingen-bladed Witte Copperhead 6/8 that dates to the thirties. I really enjoy shaving with this razor that arrived with a yellowed note stating, “Honed by Henerey 1939”. I rebuilt the bevel and rehoned the razor over a year an a half ago, and have been successfully maintaining the edge with the constroption. Just 10 strokes on each of the four sides, and I’m good to go. Another lovely three pass shave followed by a pass through the constroption, and the baby was put to bed.

My noggin shave featured my sadly neglected Ever Ready Streamline, with a fresh PTFE Pella Gem blade. I really like the Art Deco case and razor design. The knurling on the handle provides a very secure grip. The two pass ATG shave this morning felt really good. The razor seemed to glide silently through the yogurty MWF lather carpet. Despite the removal of one bump at the back of the dome, easily managed with Proraso styptic gel, the overall shave was a delight. I feel clean, cool and dolphin smooth.

RAZOR: Witte Copperhead 6/8 (Mug), Ever Ready Streamline (Dome)
BLADE: Pella PTFE Gem
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: MrEE LE Aluminum Handle SynBad Knot #005
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Cremo Cooling Post Shave Balm.
 
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SOTD FRIDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 24, 2021

As some of you who’ve been reading these posts may remember, I’ve developed a bit of a passion for little Swedish 4/8 razors. The Klas Tornblom keyed me into what effective shavers they can be, and a bit of education from a Swedish shave brother at TSD further enabled me. I now own a Tornblom, a Neistrom (currently restoring), a JA Hellberg and this beautiful little CV Heljestrand Mk 29. All are 4/8 except the Hellberg which is 5/8.

The Texas shave brother who sold this little Heljestrand to me honed it on his jnat progression. It easily passed the styrofoam peanut test upon arrival, which believe it or not has not always been the case with “shave ready” advertised razors, at least for me. The little Hellberg passed as well, but the Neistrom didn’t. I guess “shave ready” in Poland has a different meaning or the seller has a very light beard. Just like my Tornblom, the little Heljestrand cleared away the stubble in two passes instead of my usual three leaving me smooth as my great granddaughter’s butt!

The noggin shave featured my 1930s era Ronson safety razor. I had a number of friends who owned these razors, but never shaved with them, thinking that the proprietary original blades were too scarce, and when located, too rough a shave. A friend on one of the FB sites I belong to showed me how to adapt an injector blade and the rest has been a series of awesome dome shaves. DE blades are usable with a modification similar to that for the Gibbs Adjustable, but I prefer injector blades despite the fiddly setup. Two ATG passes and yours truly was velveteen smooth from the shoulders up.

RAZOR: CV Heljestrand Mk 29 4/8 (Mug), Ronson Safety Razor (Dome)
BLADE: Schick B-20 Proline Injector
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 a rinse with Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Cremo Cooling Post Shave Balm.
 
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SOTD SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 26, 2021

Well there's no longer any question, gang! I am slowly becoming addicted to little Swedish 4/8 razors. Yes, the steel is very hard. It takes some time to build an edge, but they take such an amazingly smooth and sharp edge. This little Neistrom #52 4/8 arrived from Poland tarnished and with a chip in the edge towards the toe. I cleaned away the tarnish, and after learning my lesson with the little Tornblom, pulled out the very aggressive Pride Abrasive water stones I use with my very hard steel Chef knives.

I began with the 220k stone and slowly removed the chip in the toe, then switched to 1k, 6k and 10k, before moving to the 9 Ball slate and finished burnishing the edge on the Jasper. From there I went to the 4 sided pasted constroption, finishing on the Roo-skin bench strop. The little Neistrom easily passed the styrofoam peanut test at that point. Stubble seemed to just melt away. The reputation these little Swedish razors have is well justified. Two passes left my face with the kind of smooth my hand will definitely be returning to for the rest of the day.

The noggin shave featured my British Gold Gillette Rocket. I’m generally not a fan of TTO safety razor head design, but this little razor has never let me down. I snagged it several years ago on the big UK auction site. I saw it just after it appeared with a very low Buy-it-now price. In fact it was so low, I suspected it might be a scam. Fortunately for me, it was just someone who wasn’t aware of what they had. A very knowledgeable TSD Gillette expert friend identified it. Loaded with a Kai or Feather blade, it always does the job as it did this morning leaving me velveteen smooth from the shoulders up.

RAZOR: Edward Neistrom #52 4/8 (Mug), British Gold Gillette Rocket (Dome)
BLADE: Kai DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: MrEE LE Aluminum Handle #005 with SynBad Knot
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Krampert’s Frostbite AS Splash.
 
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SOTD TUESDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 28, 2021

Today I took the new-to-me JA Hellberg 5/8 Frameback out for a spin. The razor arrived supposedly “shave ready”, and passed the styrofoam peanut test (SPT) easily on both the toe and the heel, but did not do so in the middle of the bevel, interestingly enough. I'm sure it would have shaved just fine as is, but being a bit OCD when it comes to my edges, I decided to take it to my two slates for a touch up.

So I first went to the Imperia LaRoccia which has always impressed me (YMMV) as a great mid-level finisher, particularly with a 600k DMT built slurry. It works beautifully as a preliminary to my 9 Ball Slate which I use with a drop of Smith’s honing oil. That was the case last night. After a bit of focus on the middle of the edge, it passed the SPT. The finish on the 9 Ball focused on the complete bevel. I then burnished on the Jasper and put it through the 4 sided pasted constroption.

The resulting mug shave with this fourth and last of my Swedish razors was excellent, although I’d have to say that the shaves with the CV Heljestrand and Klas Tornblom 4/8 were just a smidge better.The three passes with the Hellberg brought me to the same level of smoothness I’d achieved in two passes with the latter two razors. My noggin shave with the Rex Ambassador was excellent as always. I feel cool, clean and porcelain smooth.

RAZOR: JA Hellberg Frameback 5/8 (Mug), Rex Ambassador (Dome)
BLADE: Kai DE (2)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: MrEE LE Knurled Aluminum Handle Hybrid Knot #007
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with PAA Frost Byte.
 
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SOTD THURSDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

My mug shave this morning featured the second go round with my new razor, the Katsumi 14/13, from the very talented razorsmith, Andrey Shpakopskiy (@Gipson), of Gipson Razors in Kiev, Ukraine. It is easily the widest razor I own, and after the last couple of shaves with petite little Swedish 4/8 razors, took a bit to get used to again.

I do love smiling razors and the Katsumi, Andrey’s homage to the Japanese Saito SK series of smiling blades, is a fantastic shaver. A half hollow grind, while a bit heavier than the full hollowed Saito SK models, to which it pays tribute, nevertheless delivered an extremely close and comfortable shave in three very slow, luxurious passes, leaving me with a velveteen smooth mug.

The noggin shave was every bit as good and featured my Leresche 51. This little razor is surprisingly efficient and possesses a very slight almost undetectable wave in its OC. Whether this is unique to my particular razor or a feature of the design, the two pass ATG shave it delivers is always first rate. Both shaves benefited from the Castle & Forbes Lime shave cream which provided a delightfully limey aroma throughout the shave. The finish with Royall Lyme AS/Cologne was the icing on the cake.

RAZOR: Gipson Katsumi 14/13 (Mug), Leresche 51 (Dome)
BLADE: Feather DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
CREAM: Castle Forbes Lime
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Royall Lyme AS/Cologne.
 
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SOTD FRIDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 1, 2021

Welcome to Open Comb October. Congratulations to Joe (@Trigger) for his willingness to pick up the reins and carry on. As an active member of many FB Shaving Forums and a member here at TSD for a couple of years, I’ll make it a point to direct wet shaving newbies and any others interested in developing their technique this way to the 30DC Thread here at TSD. Want to master a particular safety razor, learn the finer points of bowl or face lathering, learning about the use of various fragrances, or even learning to straight shave or improve on any of the latter skills.

Everyone, regardless of their level of experience can learn here. I shaved with the same Schick Krona for 50 years and learned about RAD on this very forum! I also learned to straight shave properly here and expand my RAD illness. But seriously, it’s a great place for making friends, learning shave technique and having fun. It pulled this old man out of the doldrums. It’s a fun place! We learn, make great friends, poke friendly fun at each other and share all kinds of shenanigans.

In the spirit of OC October I decided to go old school, and grabbed my 1840s H. Hobson Sheffield Wedge for this morning’s mug shave.. Full wedge razors are not for everyone. Honing them is a bit of a pain. Three pieces of tape on the spine does it for this particular razor which I just touched up last night on the 9 Ball slate and jasper. For anyone used to hollow ground razors, the absolute silence of a wedge is kind of spooky. But three delightfully smooth passes left your happy narrator porcelain smooth.

Instead of my usual MWF, I decided to use my Glacial Electric Sheep from Stirling. I enjoy the cooling lather, and the post shave feel it delivers which is close to, but not quite MWF. It really provides a slick surface, and is easily built into the two kinds of lathers I enjoy for my shave, thin and wet for the mug and a bit more yogurty for the noggin. The OC Gillette Big Fellow (1920) from that model’s second year of production cleared away the dome stubble nicely in the usual two ATG passes leaving yours truly velveteen smooth from the shoulders up.

RAZOR: H. Hobson 6/8 (Mug), Gillette Big Fellow (Dome)
BLADE: Feather DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Rooney Ebony Pure Badger
SOAP: Stirling Glacial Electric Sheep
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Krampert’s Frostbite and Canoe Original EdT.
 
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