What's new
The Shaving Cadre

Welcome to The Shaving Cadre, a forum dedicated to gentlemanly discourse about wet shaving and other topics of common interests. Membership is always free so register today and join in the fun

Words of wisd..... Yeah right.... We all know better than that!

ShawnF

ShawnF

Possibly Ironman
Hobbyist
Hi guys!

I've been meaning to sneak my way into the journals for a while, but just never got around to it. (My typing speed being about 3 minutes per word doesn't really make typing long posts fun either.) I do read other's journals even though I don't often comment. And in all honesty, I generally skip the shaving part of the journal to get to the personal side just to see how you guys are doing.
I know that may be a little blasphemous, but I'm so far behind in so many posts I go to the more important things.

I'm not going to promise that this is going to be daily, or even weekly sometimes, probably more of a when I get a few minutes and actually remember to do it type of thing. But since I'm here now, let's give it a go huh?

The last week I've been working a lot and getting some overtime, but I've also been sick. (A big part of why I've been MIA for a bit) So the low humidity in the building coupled with having trouble staying hydrated due to being sick has had my face super dry and irritable. So my shaves have been pretty much the same thing all week. I've been using either my Paladin or my brush from Eric, my Dandy Shave Co. DE razor, PolSilver blade, and MW unscented/sensitive skin soap.
Everything was really lighting up my face last weekend when I started to get sick, so I went with a milder soap for the week. Those PolSilver blades are ones I got in my trade with Dave a while ago, but they have proven to be very smooth. I'm really enjoying them despite not feeling my best. And the Dandy razor never lets me down. Very smooth mild shave every time with it.

On the personal side of things, work has been going good. I went in yesterday to change a motor on one of the shapers. It was a 20 horsepower 15kw motor. For those of you that don't know anything about them, it weighs right about 230 pounds and has no handles. And only room for one person in the back of the machine at a time to wrestle it in or out. So it's a fun time for a 160 pound guy to lift one out of the machine and onto the cart to take it back and change the wiring and mount over to the new one before putting it in.
1f61c.png

Home has been the usual one thing after another. Had to replace my boiler expansion tank that some of you probably knew from the other thread. Then the thermocouple went out last week, so I replaced that. Then woke up to a cold house again today. Figured I got a bad thermocouple and replaced it again. Well... turns out it's the gas sending valve that is bad this time, not the thermocouple. So, electric heaters all over the house it is until I can decide if it is going to be worth putting money into this one, or just replacing it since it is old and inefficient. (and a little too small for the house as well.)
If it wasn't for bad luck, I really wouldn't have any at all it seems. But at least I'm not sick any more....
1f60f.png
 
Best Cheers group voice, "Shawn" !!! Welcome to the journals man. I skip all the bad news of everyday life and focus on the shaves. Just kidding. Bright side is you're working and can catch up on things in time.
 
I’m the same way, I skip over the shaving parts of the journals most of the time. Unless it’s a product I’m curious about. But I mostly am interested in the personal stories from folks to catch up on their lives.

Thanks for joining the journals, looking forward to reading more.
 
Welcome to the journal happy to see in this corner! Looking forward to reading the updates.
 
Hi Shawn, welcome to the Cadre!
1f60b.png


Looking forward to to seeing how things are going a bit more often.
 
Hey Shawn's hey! Looking forward to your posts here whenever they happen.
 
About time my mentor / enabler got a journal
1f61c.png
I am surprised WET SHAVERS skip over the shaving part, but hey I get it. I feel my same old same old shaves are boring, but I do them for newbies reading through. I look forward to seeing what you write.

Dang, replacing that motor sounds like a hernia waiting to pop out! I bet a guy my size wouldn't even fit in that space
1f606.png
There'd be mammoth hair patches ripped off and clinging to the machinery as witness that I was in there or trying to get in there.
 
Thanks Shawn for letting us know what is going on in your life! Sorry to hear that you were sick and of all the issues you are having at home. But all in all things seem to be looking up for you. The job sounds like it working well for you and it seems as if your employer likes you as well. I know it sucks to fix things at home all the time...but if you didn't have the skills or the aptitude for problem solving...I venture those repairs would cost you a lot more! And dang! At three words a minute...that post must have taken you hours! We need to get you a voice to text app to make things easier! Glad to see you in the journals!
 
Thanks guys! I'll try to keep something going here and even try to remember to post my shaves occasionally.
1f606.png


Last night I actually left the safe route and went with some scented stuff.
MDC Fougere, Brush from Eric, Dandy Shaving DE, and a Voskhod blade.
Was nice to be able to switch up soaps again. The MDC didn't let me down. It's one of only 2 or 3 "vegan" soaps I've found that will work for me without drying or irritating my face.
The Voskhod blade I'm on the fence about. I got a decent shave from it, but it almost seemed like a training blade. It doesn't feel like it will cut you if you look at it wrong like a feather will, but it also doesn't tug or pull like a dull blade would. So not my favorite blade, but will do if needed.

The motor replacement was a chore. I also got my furnace going. Not really sure what was up with that though. Yesterday at work the one guy told me that his did the same thing a few years ago. His turned out to be the 110v to 24v transformer. He went over and grabbed one that he had salvaged off of a machine that had been scrapped and gave it to me to try.
I got home, and had the Mrs. turn the furnace back on. Went downstairs and took the cover off. I turned on my multi-meter and decided to check the 100v side to make sure it at least had power going to it. I put the probe into the hot side and was reaching for the other to put on the neutral side, and the burners kicked on...... ???
So I took the probe out and started to put the cover back on and it shut off again. WTH!?!?! So I started to take the cover back off and it came on again.....!?!?!? This time it stayed on though, so I came back upstairs and turned the electric heaters down and the thermostat up to see if it would keep going. It's been running ever since.
Which is really a good thing because it was 2 degrees out when I left for work this morning. Still don't know what was up with it, but I'll take the heat.
1f602.png
 
At least it's working. Drives me nuts when something stops working like that, then starts working again without you doing anything yet. we had an electric wall heater doing that a few weeks ago. Turned out that the neutral wire for the heater had come out of the connector cap and was just barely resting on the metal casing. it would eventually oxidize that spot and stop but me taking the cover off would jostle it enough to work again for a while. took a good 2 weeks to figure out what was up.
 
Well...take the heater as a win! Keep it going as long as you can. Sounds like you work with some pretty good folks!
 
Nick of time heater repair! I’d probably not have gotten out of the blankets this morning at a temp like that.
 
Dang that's weird, but sometimes it's a gift that you just can't explain. Glad you have some heat!

I didn't like the Voskhod's much either. I tried them a couple of times
 
Last night was a good shave. Ever Ready 1912 SE, Gem blade, CBL Black Rose Oud, and Brushman badger brush.

Hadn't shaved in a couple days, so it felt good to do so.

Home life is still all over. Still a bit too crappy to get out into the shop to get caught up there, but at least my mortgage is pretty much caught up now. One payment to get back to normal, so that stress is pretty much gone now. Then I just need to worry about my dying car....

Work has been good. A little boring as there was nothing to fix, so I went in on the lathe and mill to make myself a soft face hammer. Took a piece of aluminum and turned it down and turned some threads on it to make the replaceable faces. Took a piece of steel and turned it to the dimension of the faces, then drilled and tapped it so the faces could screw into it. Put it in the milling machine and slotted the center out for the handle.

It's not much, but I was impressed that I remembered how to do all that stuff since I haven't done most of it since high school, and that was a couple weeks ago.......



 
Welcome to the journals, Shawn. Glad things are working out so well at work. Seems like the perfect fit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top