Straight Of The Day

BlacknTan

Forum GOD!
4.21.2022

The razor...

A heavy grind was scheduled for today's shave. I was between the Sprecher and a Riga. I chose the Max Sprecher Custom, dressed in faux Ivory scales with blood red wedge, for no particular reason..

The brush... A Simpsons M6 Limited Edition .. little brother to the M7.

The soap ..

Martin de Candre Fougere .. Sublime!

The finish ..

Spanish Floïd Suave.. A much used favorite..

 
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Estariol

Forum GOD!
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First of all thanks to @Merkurologist for the video that ispired me to try shavettes. Next, thanks to @JamieM and @UKRob for the advices and info provided when buying this razor. And lastly, thanks to @BlacknTan for the strip of Shell Cordovan, the strop isn't completed yet, but i couldn't wait any more :laugh:
I used a piece of firehose to strop the razor after the shave, i'll see how it worked in 3 days.

Broke the ice today, my first shave with a straight razor.
Henckels Zwilling 70½ Stainless
Omega 10098
Dendi Bay Rum soap
Dendi Rose scented As

My oh, my... I should have done this earlier, it would have motivates me to speed up the works on the strop. This is something completely different to anything else. 4 days growth, 2 passes, one with the grain, the other also WTG on the cheeks and touch-ups in the neck as needed. No cuts, no nicks, but i do feel a bit of light burn from over shaving on my left jawline. An almost BBS, hell of a damn good shave. My only issue was that i messed up something when making the lather, so it lacked residual slickness (old issue of mine, solvable, the next shave will show if it was my impatience or the soap).
What i've noticed is that the feel on the face after the shave is completely different. A lot better than after a shave with an AC blade.
EDIT/addition:
As for the razor and shave itself, i had the feeling it lacked weight and tended to skip at the few spots on the neck where i needed to go ATG... So it made me think of a lesser hollow razor... Or should i strop it with a paste, say Linder's red and/or black (that's what is easily available to me) ?
So... :cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:
 
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BlacknTan

Forum GOD!
View attachment 114422

First of all thanks to @Merkurologist for the video that ispired me to try shavettes. Next, thanks to @JamieM and @UKRob for the advices and info provided when buying this razor. And lastly, thanks to @BlacknTan for the strip of Shell Cordovan, the strop isn't completed yet, but i couldn't wait any more :laugh:
I used a piece of firehose to strop the razor after the shave, i'll see how it worked in 3 days.

Broke the ice today, my first shave with a straight razor.
Henckels Zwilling 70½ Stainless
Omega 10098
Dendi Bay Rum soap
Dendi Rose scented As

My oh, my... I should have done this earlier, it would have motivates me to speed up the works on the strop. This is something completely different to anything else. 4 days growth, 2 passes, one with the grain, the other also WTG on the cheeks and touch-ups in the neck as needed. No cuts, no nicks, but i do feel a bit of light burn from over shaving on my left jawline. An almost BBS, hell of a damn good shave. My only issue was that i messed up something when making the lather, so it lacked residual slickness (old issue of mine, solvable, the next shave will show if it was my impatience or the soap).
What i've noticed is that the feel on the face after the shave is completely different. A lot better than after a shave with an AC blade.
EDIT/addition:
As for the razor and shave itself, i had the feeling it lacked weight and tended to skip at the few spots on the neck where i needed to go ATG... So it made me think of a lesser hollow razor... Or should i strop it with a paste, say Linder's red and/or black (that's what is easily available to me) ?
So... :cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:
Great Sebastian.. you're on your way!

Happy to hear that you had such a great experience on your first shave. It will only get better from here! :okay:
 

UKRob

Forum GOD!
Don’t overthink it - the next shave could be just as bad, or just as good. What I’m trying to say is - find out for yourself what suits you because that’s the only thing that matters. Whatever you do, just try and contain the experience to yourself and remember what made the blade, soap and brush so memorable..
 

cotedupy

Guru
Picked up quite this quite nice 7/8 Bengall last week in an antiques shop. And I had managed to clean up and hone quite well in my hotel room when isolating after catching covid on holiday 😬.

Then gave it a bit more of a sanding and tarting up yesterday, and put back on some stones that I haven't used very often; Dalmore Blue, Inigo Jones Dragon's Tongue, Coticule. Which unfortunately didn't really work, dunno why! Will have to come back to it another time (maybe go back and try to sort on a particular Washita which I want to give a proper spin on a razor, as a potential swap with @MichaelS).

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cotedupy

Guru
To put myself in a better mood after the above, remind me that I can actually hone a razor, and because I had to shave... I got out another another Bengall which needed a quick touchup.

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This big and rather pretty Charnley is one of my very favourite stones, both for sentimental reasons and because it's a cracking finisher. I gave it a little flatten / surface refresh on 800 WnD beforehand, which seemed to be a complete sweet spot, making it both fast and fine enough to put a screamingly good edge on. Just water, no slurry.

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BlacknTan

Forum GOD!
Intrigued :)
The M6 is a nice little brush Brad. It used to be in the Simpsons catalog 8 or 10 years ago, but I don't see it anymore. Simpsons claimed it was an old design from the back-catalog if memory serves. This example was a TSN Limited Edition in Manchurian. Because it's no longer available, and in Manchurian, I feel lucky to have it!
 

cairnish

Forum GOD!
It used to be in the Simpsons catalog 8 or 10 years ago, but I don't see it anymore.
Bit of a bummer. I like the M7 but would very much enjoy a slightly smaller version, (especially in silvertip, pretty please). That's a very attractive handle color, too. Long may it lather :)
 

MichaelS

Forum GOD!
Razor: J.J. Mechi, 112 Regent Street,13/16, quarter hollow.

John Joseph Mechi (1802 - 1880) was a London cutler and silversmith of Italian origin whose first premises were at 4, Leadenhall Street in the City. He gradually became more prosperous (even Alderman of the City) and in 1865 moved to a more prestigious location at 112 Regent Street. Today this site is occupied by Garrard & Co jewellers. But Mechi lost nearly everything in a bank collapse and at his death a subscription had to be made for his family.

Brush: ShedEleven/Zenith boar
Soap: Proraso White (Super Formula upgrade amazing)
Balm: Haslinger Marigold



Mechi's Leadenhall Street premises:



Leadenhall Street today is home to some fancy skyscrapers:



Garrard today at 112 Regent Street:

 
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