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Nurse Dave's Journal

Good thoughts on Long Rifle Dave...I used to think it was an Elite level soap, but after about a year, it's not quite there. Tier 1 box 3 on Chad's old scale now, though the Hawkeye I have is a phenomenal scent. A little light, as you mentioned...which seems to be a theme across all of their scent choices.
 
Cvargo said:
I'm looking forward to pictures of the wine sitting area. Sounds like it is going to turn out awesome! We are in the process of looking for a wine fridge but definitely going to be getting one smaller than yours lol.

And hey Birthday Cake isn't bad but have you ever had Birthday Pie??? That's what I get every year.
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I'll post some after the desk is up. Not really impressive as our house is tiny, but trying to do what I can.
 
Dagwoodz said:
Good thoughts on Long Rifle Dave...I used to think it was an Elite level soap, but after about a year, it's not quite there. Tier 1 box 3 on Chad's old scale now, though the Hawkeye I have is a phenomenal scent. A little light, as you mentioned...which seems to be a theme across all of their scent choices.
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Good info. Trying these samples, it's not always 100% if weak soaps are just weak or lost their scent over time in the small quantity.
 
That box 4 is a beast! A lot of really good stuff in it. Long Rifle was a solid soap, but others are much better. The scents are spot on though. Really nice. Though that was no hunting lodge smell I have ever sniffed. I thought hunting lodges smell like beer, sweat, and farts.
 
dangerousdon said:
That box 4 is a beast! A lot of really good stuff in it. Long Rifle was a solid soap, but others are much better. The scents are spot on though. Really nice. Though that was no hunting lodge smell I have ever sniffed. I thought hunting lodges smell like beer, sweat, and farts.
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Maybe you're thinking of the CBL soap High School Locker Room
 
nice mini-review and shave and if you get the towels and she gets mad blame me, LOL
 
2018 shave #158 (DE:35 SE:53 Str:68 Cart:2)

Asylum "The Doctor" RX w/ Feather Proguard (2)
Crowne & Crane Thuringian Forest and Crowne & Crane Tobacco Leaf & Amber
RazoRock synthetic 24mm
Witch Hazel & Alum
Nivea post shave balm

As you see, it's Crowne & Crane day for testing out the samples. The scent from the samples was better than Long Rifle by far. Probably a good 3-3.5/5 for what you get right from the soap. I lathered Forest first. This one is what most people are looking for I think. It started with a nice sticky paste that easily grew into a thick and rich lather. I thinned it a tad for my SE shave. Scent strength seemed about the same or a touch less at 3/5. The scent was much more of a fern and fresh scent than what most forest type scents are. I'm used to the sharper smells of pine needles and pitch. As soon as I started lathering the Tobacco, my immediate thought was wondering if they are the same base. Which is funny, because I really don't know what base any of my soaps have, nor do I really care. The Tobacco didn't start as pasty or get as rich
and thick. It was a fine lather, but much thinner than the other. This scent I was hoping more of as I liked it in the sample, but it just didn't evolve. And like the other might have gotten a touch weaker on lathering. It was a nice scent though. Maybe the only tobacco soap that didn't smell like honey to me.

Shaving with Forest was great. Like I said, a nice rich lather that provided top level cushion and average to slightly above slickness. From a performance aspect I might put this as one of my top soaps. They just need to crank the scent up a couple of notches for it to bump something out of my den. The Tobacco was not as good of a shave. After my 2nd pass I was feeling a touch of irritation all over. I wasn't sure if it was because I wasn't really getting any protection from the soap or it had something in it that didn't agree with my skin. I added a little more water and got the soap to that nice shiny consistency straight shavers like. 3rd pass was ok, again lacking in cushion, but it had slickness for days. I again had a little irritation and did the pass quickly to get the soap off in case that was the problem. I was expecting plenty of alum burn, but there was none at all. So I'm leaning to something in the soap being the issue, rather than no protection causing a rough shave.

We got the desk replaced yesterday, but I still need to bundle up the wires so they aren't hanging down. Next step is getting rid of at least the couch. I think having a couple of "mature" chairs with a small table between them in there will really transform it. For those that hadn't seen it before, the wine barrel table I made from a Napa winery barrel and put one end of the barrel on the wall. We on the wall is a map of Napa wineries that I mounted on foam board so I could mark were we've been with push pins. We also have wine print from Goddard in there and the larger wine fridge.
 
Tried to add these pics to the last post, but they won’t go.

 
Nice shave and pictures Dave. I agree with you the chairs should look really nice in there. I really like the map idea! So many great wineries in California, it is a great conversational piece or just a way for you and your wife reminisce about the awesome wineries you have been too! Awesome idea!
 
Glad at least one of the scents/lathers was a little more favorable for you.

Cool table!
 
My wife would LOVE a table like that....now to make sure she doesn't see these pics. Lol
 
Thank you all. I'm super happy with the table. It's easy to find them where the barrel is cut in half the other way, but not many like this. It was one of those projects where not being a woodworker meant that I learned the best way to do things the NEXT time. But at least it was an excuse to buy a sawzall.
 
2018 shave #159 (DE:35 SE:54 Str:68 Cart:2)

Asylum "The Doctor" RX w/ Feather Proguard (3)
Razor Master Pekka & Razor Master Juha
RazoRock synthetic 24mm
Witch Hazel & Alum
Nivea post shave balm
L&L After the Rain

I don't believe I'd ever heard of Razor Master before. They are out of Finland and according to their website don't have any US retailers, but I've had good luck and cheap shipping from The English Shaving Company. Both of these soaps lathered easily and into a fairly rich lather without much water. I got the sense that you need to be careful with the water on these. It took less than I usual use to get the to creamy stage and I think it wouldn't take much more to push it over the edge. Scent for both was ok off the sample 3/5.

Now, let me make a comparison that I'm just now figuring out. If you've even been on a large cruise ship, you've quickly learned that a lot of the food is made pretty mildly and without strong flavors. The cruise line is doing this because they are having to cater to the palettes of thousands of customers. I get now, or assume, that soap manufacturers are doing the same thing with their scents. I find many soaps out there have a mediocre scent strength. And while I wish everyone would just crank it up, that would be like the cruise serving very spicy food. Those that like spice will love it, but many people couldn't eat. If your scent strength is mild, most people can use it, even those for who that scent isn't a favorite.

Anyway, these are a couple more cruise ship power scents. I like the scents, but I want t
o SMELL them. I will say they were better than other's I've used this round. Pekka being 3/5 on application, and Juha a good 3.5 maybe 4/5. Juha I think is a good blend of scents and without some of the harsh notes some woody soaps have. Performance of both was similar and I think top notch. There was excellent cushion and also excellent slickness for both. After 3rd pass final rinse of Juha, my skin was still nice and slick and soft. It felt almost like a moisturizer. For me, Razor Master is a definite use, and an maybe buy. A year ago they would be a definite buy, but as I'm only keeping really top performers in the den now, I may not buy these based on scent strength. But who am I kidding, I bet sometime this year there's a mail call with Juha in it.

In other news, this is my Friday. Tomorrow is 5th grade graduation for the smallest one. My parents are rolling in this afternoon for a week with us and watching the kids for the first week of summer. Man, the years just fly by.
 
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