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The wonderful excesses of acquisition disorders...and wet shaving
- Thread starter Dagwoodz
- Start date
Nice read Josh, and I have heard about the initial issues with Ali's Blades being a bit wonky on his "factory edge. Once you get her figured out I am sure she will be a stellar shaver, like she already is in the looks department
Beautiful razor bummer edge. Nice call with the audible.
Thanks Chris. You'll enjoy the Asian Plum, both from a scent perspective and a performance perspective. Chris's Rose Oud, knowing his soaps, should be just as good a performer, and the scent is very similar, so I think you made the right choice. One I would recommend to you is L'Orange Verte. I think you would enjoy that one!
Thanks Chris, LOL
Thanks Walt!
Thanks Eric...it was a better result today after a little work.
Thanks Dave...I wasn't aware of the problems with the factory edges from Ali's Blade, but that's not a difficult issue to fix.
Thanks Doug!
Thanks Don!
Thank you TJ!
SOTD - Saturday, 9 June, 2018
Soapy Science | Ali’s Blade Kamisori
Currently on Shave #515| Straight shave #312
So after a long day at work, I did some work on the edge on the Ali’s Blade. I didn’t want to do too much, as it was only some apparent micro chipping along the blade and it would just need some refinement. So I took it down to a mejiro nagura, through a tomo and then water only. The results were mixed, as it does indeed shave now, but there are still a couple of places along the blade that can be better. So I’ll probably end up resetting the bevel and working on up. I still used it this morning, and the results while not bad, weren’t where they should have been.
The soap for this morning was Soapy Science’s Doc’s Special Blend. No review on this soap, as Randall (Kingfisher) already has one written up. When I first smelled this soap, all I was getting was what I thought was menthol, but there is no menthol in the soap. It’s spearmint, (I believe), and it gives the soap a nice cooling effect. The remaining notes on this were nicely supporting the mint top not, (I belive I got a little bergamot and some darker notes, maybe tobacco or leather, underneath). Quite a nice, cooling soap for a hotter day. For those of you who cannot do a menthol soap, this might be something to look at.
From a performance standpoint, the soap was on top of it. A great, slick lather was produced with a little work and a lot of water, which was necessary for the blade. It did get me to DFS, but just barely, while the tip on it did catch me under my left jawline for a small scratch that closed with a little alum treatment during the post shave. Not a big deal at all, and honestly not as bad as I’ve been given when I take the top of a pimple off. Alum was quiet for the most part, with a little feedback under the jawline on the left side and the typical spot here and there. I followed up with Nivea sensitive with cooling balm and topped off with WSP Matterhorn. Both paired pretty well with the soap…
I did make a video of the honing job last night, but when I went to double check it, the audio wasn’t working. (need to restart the phone) So that’s 25 minutes of video down the drain. All good. Talking through the honing actually made me concentrate a bit more. Perhaps I’ll video the progression from the 4k all the way through the final water only laps….shouldn’t be any more than a 20 minute video covering about an hour of work after some editing. Have to re-lap the stone first…
Have a great day everyone!
Soapy Science | Ali’s Blade Kamisori
Currently on Shave #515| Straight shave #312
So after a long day at work, I did some work on the edge on the Ali’s Blade. I didn’t want to do too much, as it was only some apparent micro chipping along the blade and it would just need some refinement. So I took it down to a mejiro nagura, through a tomo and then water only. The results were mixed, as it does indeed shave now, but there are still a couple of places along the blade that can be better. So I’ll probably end up resetting the bevel and working on up. I still used it this morning, and the results while not bad, weren’t where they should have been.
The soap for this morning was Soapy Science’s Doc’s Special Blend. No review on this soap, as Randall (Kingfisher) already has one written up. When I first smelled this soap, all I was getting was what I thought was menthol, but there is no menthol in the soap. It’s spearmint, (I believe), and it gives the soap a nice cooling effect. The remaining notes on this were nicely supporting the mint top not, (I belive I got a little bergamot and some darker notes, maybe tobacco or leather, underneath). Quite a nice, cooling soap for a hotter day. For those of you who cannot do a menthol soap, this might be something to look at.
From a performance standpoint, the soap was on top of it. A great, slick lather was produced with a little work and a lot of water, which was necessary for the blade. It did get me to DFS, but just barely, while the tip on it did catch me under my left jawline for a small scratch that closed with a little alum treatment during the post shave. Not a big deal at all, and honestly not as bad as I’ve been given when I take the top of a pimple off. Alum was quiet for the most part, with a little feedback under the jawline on the left side and the typical spot here and there. I followed up with Nivea sensitive with cooling balm and topped off with WSP Matterhorn. Both paired pretty well with the soap…
I did make a video of the honing job last night, but when I went to double check it, the audio wasn’t working. (need to restart the phone) So that’s 25 minutes of video down the drain. All good. Talking through the honing actually made me concentrate a bit more. Perhaps I’ll video the progression from the 4k all the way through the final water only laps….shouldn’t be any more than a 20 minute video covering about an hour of work after some editing. Have to re-lap the stone first…
Have a great day everyone!
Sorry to hear about the video woes...it happens, but is frustrating nonetheless. I for one would love to see your progression video...that is if you are not busy saving the world!
Sorry the honing, the video and the resulting edge as well as the nick were all disappointments. How is it that Murphy can traverse half the globe that fast?
You might consider backing up to Botan, and see if you can get the bevel completely set that way prior to backing into the 4K synth. Not a big deal, but I get satisfaction from a natural stone bevel set. They take longer, but very satisfying to me, at least. If the Ali was close to having a good bevel, and only micro chipping was the culprit, then it might make a solid plan. Another consideration, all of the contemporary makers that I own razors from all use tape on the spine to hone them before sending them out. This includes Tim and Nate Zowada, and Brian Brown. I have no idea what Ali does. If he honed with tape, and you did not, you may not have refined all the way to the bevel accross the length of the blade.
You might consider backing up to Botan, and see if you can get the bevel completely set that way prior to backing into the 4K synth. Not a big deal, but I get satisfaction from a natural stone bevel set. They take longer, but very satisfying to me, at least. If the Ali was close to having a good bevel, and only micro chipping was the culprit, then it might make a solid plan. Another consideration, all of the contemporary makers that I own razors from all use tape on the spine to hone them before sending them out. This includes Tim and Nate Zowada, and Brian Brown. I have no idea what Ali does. If he honed with tape, and you did not, you may not have refined all the way to the bevel accross the length of the blade.
Sorry to hear about the video woes...it happens, but is frustrating nonetheless. I for one would love to see your progression video...that is if you are not busy saving the world!
Thanks Don. It was mildly frustrating, but it's all good. I'll try and put something together here in the next day or few days.
Thanks Walt. I might do just that and do an extended run with the Botan and work through the Tenjiyou, Mejiro and Tomo on a full progression to solidify the bevel and get rid of the remaining flaws. I have to see if the video editing software allows me to speed up video...something I haven't played around with yet. Regardless of whether or not tape was used, if I take it down that far in progression I should be able to create a nice even bevel.
I bet you get that Ali edge where you want it on the next honing.
Ah so - good to know.
Ah so - good to know.
Nice shave and read, sorry about the video, but at least Cyberlink makde for fast uploads, I just upgraded to Director Suite 6 and it is much improved. As to the edge I think that is the right call on the bevel on up. Look forward to the edge updates
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Agreed! Not that I’ve done any honing yet...
But here’s a question for you guys:
Why Do SR vendors release their products in such a manner? (That is, basically not shave ready)
Do you think they just make the SRs but have little to no honing knowledge? Too costly and time consuming to have someone to do it for them? What is it?
Much of it has to do with the volume they handle. Some, such as Jerry Stark (at least in my experience), make very sure that the razors they send are in peak shaving condition. There are other factors such as how a razor is shipped, handled at the vendor/maker, and their experience honing. They might think it's a very sharp blade, but it might not be "razor" sharp.
Thanks Chris...it's going to be a work in progress for a little bit, but it'll get there.
Thanks Dave...
Question on the Director Suite 6. Are you using the embedded YouTube upload function within that app or are you uploading directly through YouTube? I've been using it straight through the phone, but want one on my computer, and am looking hard at the Director Suite 6.
Thanks Walt!
It wasn't a total wash...the razor still did shave, and the nick was a lot less minimal than the post made it out to be. Thanks Doug!
Thanks Chad!
SOTD - Sunday, 10 June, 2018
Mystic Water Sandalwood Rose | Feather SS Kamisori | Feather Pro-Guard (1)
Currently on Shave #515| Straight shave #312
I tried doing a honing video last night, and was partially through the progression and SWMBO called. By the time I got off of the phone, it was a little late to continue, so I put everything up to start all over again sometime in the next few days. The nice thing is I will be able to speed up the video prior to rendering so it won’t be a 50 minute long video of me rubbing steel on stone. I do like to talk, but I can only go so long before old habits emerge, the Soldier in me comes out and it’s not a PG program anymore. A couple of notes on the honing, however. The copper and nickel that was forged into the tang…some is on the spine over the top of the blade which alters the bevel angle, and it’s reflective in the straightness of the bevel itself. Also, I think there’s a couple of spots towards the very edge of the bevel which were a little defective, as I’m seeing a little bit of pitting under the loupe. Now that I know what’s going on with the edge, I can properly triage it. It’s going to take going to the 1.5k very briefly to take down the steel a bit, then another short progression on the 4k to remove the previous scratch patterns before moving on to the JNAT. I’ll try to get it on video, with quite a bit of editing. I’m shooting for <20 minutes due to bandwidth and data issues. With the spine angle changing, it just means that I definitely have to utilize a rolling X stroke when I want to hit the heel end of the edge. One positive, is that I did get the JNAT lapped flat. It was pretty out of true, so that made the night not a total waste. Onto the shave!
So for the time being, this is the last new soap in the den, Mystic Water Sandalwood Rose. I went ahead and did a video for the shave, found in the normal places, since I couldn’t get the honing video done last night. After only a 20 second load, I was able to get a great lather, much better than previous lathers with MW. I enjoyed this scent profile, though wish it were just a bit stronger. Another Kamisori style razor today, the Feather SS, with a fresh Pro-Guard blade. A full three passes, with a little ATG action on the cheeks mixed in left me DFS+, bordering on BBS-. Very little feedback from the alum as well. I went with the Club N’ Roses aftershave, as it’s rose and wood. And while I’m at it, let’s just make it another Ferny day with the wonderment that is English Fern. A good start to the day.
Mail call entailed getting my new-to-me computer that I picked up for a song. It’s already been cleaned up and is running great. I have a couple of other A/V stuff on its way out here, so hopefully my video quality will increase here in the near future. Also got a couple of wooden cases for my straight razors…specifically the Kami and one other. They were pretty inexpensive on the ‘Bay, coming from China, but are of reasonably good quality. No soap today…though that just means I’m going to get flooded with it over the course of the next week. LOL. Whenever the brush gets in, that’s going to be my GTB shave. I originally planned on doing that today, but figured I want to christen the brush with the goodness of GTB, not some random soap.
Thanks for reading and have a blessed Sunday everyone!
Mystic Water Sandalwood Rose | Feather SS Kamisori | Feather Pro-Guard (1)
Currently on Shave #515| Straight shave #312
I tried doing a honing video last night, and was partially through the progression and SWMBO called. By the time I got off of the phone, it was a little late to continue, so I put everything up to start all over again sometime in the next few days. The nice thing is I will be able to speed up the video prior to rendering so it won’t be a 50 minute long video of me rubbing steel on stone. I do like to talk, but I can only go so long before old habits emerge, the Soldier in me comes out and it’s not a PG program anymore. A couple of notes on the honing, however. The copper and nickel that was forged into the tang…some is on the spine over the top of the blade which alters the bevel angle, and it’s reflective in the straightness of the bevel itself. Also, I think there’s a couple of spots towards the very edge of the bevel which were a little defective, as I’m seeing a little bit of pitting under the loupe. Now that I know what’s going on with the edge, I can properly triage it. It’s going to take going to the 1.5k very briefly to take down the steel a bit, then another short progression on the 4k to remove the previous scratch patterns before moving on to the JNAT. I’ll try to get it on video, with quite a bit of editing. I’m shooting for <20 minutes due to bandwidth and data issues. With the spine angle changing, it just means that I definitely have to utilize a rolling X stroke when I want to hit the heel end of the edge. One positive, is that I did get the JNAT lapped flat. It was pretty out of true, so that made the night not a total waste. Onto the shave!
So for the time being, this is the last new soap in the den, Mystic Water Sandalwood Rose. I went ahead and did a video for the shave, found in the normal places, since I couldn’t get the honing video done last night. After only a 20 second load, I was able to get a great lather, much better than previous lathers with MW. I enjoyed this scent profile, though wish it were just a bit stronger. Another Kamisori style razor today, the Feather SS, with a fresh Pro-Guard blade. A full three passes, with a little ATG action on the cheeks mixed in left me DFS+, bordering on BBS-. Very little feedback from the alum as well. I went with the Club N’ Roses aftershave, as it’s rose and wood. And while I’m at it, let’s just make it another Ferny day with the wonderment that is English Fern. A good start to the day.
Mail call entailed getting my new-to-me computer that I picked up for a song. It’s already been cleaned up and is running great. I have a couple of other A/V stuff on its way out here, so hopefully my video quality will increase here in the near future. Also got a couple of wooden cases for my straight razors…specifically the Kami and one other. They were pretty inexpensive on the ‘Bay, coming from China, but are of reasonably good quality. No soap today…though that just means I’m going to get flooded with it over the course of the next week. LOL. Whenever the brush gets in, that’s going to be my GTB shave. I originally planned on doing that today, but figured I want to christen the brush with the goodness of GTB, not some random soap.
Thanks for reading and have a blessed Sunday everyone!
Interesting about the razor - sounds like it will be a bit of a honing challenge but one you’ll be successful at now that you know the issues.....BTW, I had a full tub of that Sandalwood Rose at one time (blind buy) - pretty good at first, but then I sort of grew weary of it - not sure why other than it seemed like an odd combo. Now the Yellow Rose was one that I quite enjoyed.