jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
It really is!
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Natterings of a Nasal Barbarian
- Thread starter jgreenepa
- Start date
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
SOTD SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 5, 2021
Yesterday’s shave, while eye-opening, was nowhere near as smooth and close as I prefer. The Durham Duplex, is the design embodiment of the notion of “safety razor”. I truly believe one would have to work hard to hurt themself with that shaver. It would seem a great tool for the DE or SE shaver who has thought about straight shaving, but has held off because of a concern about badly cutting themself.
Today I selected one of my favorite vintage straight razors, the Manhattan Cutlery 13/16 for my mug shave. David Work restored this razor and did a magnificent job. The Sheffield steel sports a great 9 Ball slate edge. While I enjoyed yesterday’s shave, today’s two and a half pass mug shave put the velveteen back into smooth. DE and SE safety razors do the job, but there’s just something qualitatively different about a great straight shave.
I truly like shaving my dome with a Gem blade holder. My favorite is the Ever Ready Streamline, but a very close second is the Gem G-Bar. It glided through the two pass ATG noggin shave floating on that slick, yogurty Nancy Boy Signature Scent lather carpet. The Durham Duplex delivered a decent DFS shave yesterday, but this morning’s G-Bar shave delivered the level of velveteen smoothness I routinely expect and did not receive yesterday.
RAZOR: Manhattan Cutlery 13/16 (Mug), Gem G-Bar (Dome)
BLADE: Pella PTFE Gem (Dome)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: MrEE LE #005 Aluminum Handled SynBad Knot
CREAM: Nancy Boy Signature Scent
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Nancy Boy Signature Scent AS Balm.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
SOTD MONDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 6, 2021
I own and prefer two types of replaceable blade barber’s razors, those using hair trimmer/hair shaper blades and those using Artist Club (AC) blades. My two favorites are the Tedalus Essence, which can also accommodate DE and injector blades, and my Feather DX, strictly an AC blade razor. Before the arrival of the Tedalus and the hair trimmer/hair shaper blade razors, my regular and only goto barber’s razor was the Feather DX, the razor I selected for this morning’s mug shave. When equipped with a Feather Super, there’s no straight razor on the planet that shaves closer.
I’ve owned the Feather SS barber’s razors, but never cared for the lip around the blade which never quite felt right to me. Although I’ve never shaved with the newer Feather SR model which came out a few months ago, I understand it is designed as a midpoint between the lipped SS and the lipless DX. The beauty of the DX model is that it was designed from the gingold to shave like a regular straight from a shave angle perspective, and that is what I like about it. After loading a fresh Feather Super it put the baby to bed in two and a half passes.
The collaboration between Schick and the International Silver company back in the 70s resulted in what has come to be called the Schick Type L “Paul Revere” model. I’ve always enjoyed shaving my dome with any of the Schick models that accommodate the Schick Twinblade, and Schick Injector models from the Type L onwards can do so. The “Paul Revere” model’s unique extended handle resembles what one might discover attached to a piece of silverware. It feels great in hand, and this morning completed a two pass ATG noggin shave that left your very happy narrator velveteen smooth from shoulders to dome.
RAZOR: Feather DX (Mug), Schick Type L “Paul Revere” Injector (Dome)
BLADE: Feather Super AC (Mug), Schick Injector II Twinblade (Dome)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: MrEE LE #007 Knurled Aluminum Handle Hybrid Knot
CREAM: Nancy Boy Signature Scent
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys Lilac AC. Finished with Nancy Boy Signature Scent AS Balm.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
SOTD WEDNESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 8, 2021
Another excellent Nancy Boy Signature shave today following on the excellent Feather DX shave yesterday. Today I shaved with the Rigarazor 7/8 and my Eclipse Red Ring, both excellent shaving tools. Not much to comment on other than experiencing another superlative mug and dome shave. The Rigarazor’s 9 Ball edge smoothed out all my facial stubble, and the Kai blade in the superb Eclipse Red Ring blade holder did the same. I’m velveteen smooth from dome to shoulders.
Razor: Rigarazor 7/8 (Mug), Eclipse Red Ring (Dome)
BLADE: Kai DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Alpha Shaving T-400 with 24mm Hybrid Knot Ferrule
CREAM: Nancy Boy Signature
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Nancy Boy Signature Scent AS Balm.
Once again, I found myself looking up a razor you've used. Interesting history.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
Thanks, Bruce! It’s a terrific shaver, made in Sheffield, the home and source of many great straight razors. Unfortunately, the factory was destroyed by German bombs, and that was the end of production for this magnificent little razor.
Yup, another razor I have never heard from. I think you need to change the name of your journal to the "History of Shaving Instruments." Great shave!
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
SOTD THURSDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 9, 2021
I enjoyed another lovely shave this morning featuring a very good soap with a great post shave skin feel. In fact, it was so good that the Florida Water AS Splash was almost an afterthought. The Viking Silvertip Badger did a terrific job whipping up the two types of lather I enjoy with my morning shave, light and liquidy for the mug and thick and yogurty for the dome.
As many of you know, Thistle Cut straight razors originating in NY and finishing in Fremont, OH used a particularly fine-grained NY/PA originated steel in their blades that is capable of holding an incredibly sharp edge, almost too sharp. I own two models, the beautiful little 5/8 I shaved with this morning and a little shorty model called the “Persian”.
This is one of only a few models of razor where I lightly score the completed edge along the corner of my finishing stone after running it through a regular honing progression, a trick I learned from Howard Schlecter here, a Boston based honemeister. This removes the accumulated burr buildup. Five or six very light laps on the Suehiro 20k restored a buttery smooth edge that left me “smooth as a peach” after two and a half mug passes, as a Swedish shave brother of mine likes to say.
I truly enjoy my dome shaves with my Ronson safety razor. I initially modified modern DE blades for it. The modification is virtually identical to the one for the Gibbs Adjustable, but I was never happy with the shaves I was getting. My friend, David, a true southern gentleman, patiently endured my concerns and then introduced me to the use of modern injector blades in it. My shaves since have been excellent, as it was this morning, leaving me velveteen smooth from shoulders to noggin.
RAZOR: Thistle Cut 5/8 (Mug), Ronson Safety Razor (Dome)
BLADE: Schick Injector II Twinblade (Dome)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Baume.BE
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Florida Water AS Splash.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
Thanks, Don, for the kind words, but the Eclipse Red Ring used to be relatively accessible. They’ve become pretty scarce over the last few years. If you ever get a chance to get one, the shave is unbelievably efficient.
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Very nice shave Jeff! Interesting finishing technique for the SR!
That is a cool razor. I think the whole notion of auto-strops is ingenious.
By the way, All of your razors are in such great shape!Great shave - I dig your brush!
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
Thanks, Chris. Howard Schlecter teaches this technique in his honing seminars.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
Thanks, Brian!
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
Thanks, Bruce. They generally don’t arrive in that condition.That is a cool razor. I think the whole notion of auto-strops is ingenious.
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
SOTD FRIDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 10, 2021
I do love rattler grinds, and this Frederick Reynolds 5/8 is dear to my heart, despite the wavy blade and the consequent honing challenge. Rattler grinds were ground horizontally as opposed to vertically like traditional wedge and hollow grinds. According to Tweedale’s Directory of Sheffield Cutlers, Frederick Reynolds began his career in the early 1840s.in Sims Croft moving to School Croft by 1849.
In about 1860, he moved to Gell Street and, according to the Census, employed fifteen men. He continued to trade into the 1870s, when the address was Monmouth Lane. Frederick Reynolds died on 22 October 1877, aged 63. His son, Richard Reynolds continued to manufacture razors in Monmouth Lane and Gell Street into the 20th century.
The company experienced financial difficulties in 1936. During WWII, the firm was restyled Frederick Reynolds (Cutlers Sheffield) Ltd. The company ceased trading in the late 1940s, after the death of the founder's grandson Harry Reynolds who died in 1946, aged 56.
This is the razor that that taught me honing feel. It was the jewel of my old barber’s collection. I purchased it from his son along with a few other razors. Old Harry was never able to get a decent even bevel on it. My son, Ben, showed me how I could use four fingers lightly on the flat of the blade with a traditional X stroke coupled with Lynn Abrams’s circle method to achieve an even bevel.
Although the razor doesn’t hold an edge as well as some of my other Sheffield steel, it always delivers a great shave after touch up. This morning’s mug shave was all I could ask. Two and a half passes put the baby to bed despite a very mild weeper during the first pass that seemed to disappear after the second. That’s one of the great benefits of consistent use of lanolin based soaps.
I have three Shake Sharp safety razors. I used to have two more but PIF’d them to friends who both seem to be enjoying the great shaves they deliver. This morning I loaded two stacked Kai blades into one of the two metal-handled unique SEs I own. The Shake Sharp is the only SE I’m aware of that uses whole unmodified DE blades. This particular nickel-handled Model 2 cleared my noggin of stubble in two quick ATG passes leaving me in velveteen bliss from noggin to shoulders.
RAZOR: Frederick Reynolds Rattler 5/8 (Mug), GE Jones Shake Sharp (Dome)
BLADE: 2 Stacked Kai DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: JR Rosewood Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Osage Rub AS Splash.
Another important razor history lesson! I am starting to think you knew all these people personally! Thanks for the info!
jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
Thanks, Don! I’m old (74), just not that old!
I would say you are just breaking in.
