What I got in the post today!

To avoid this thread getting clogged up, I'll try answer in the straght razor thread.

It will also give that thread a nice bump which may catch a few peoples interest

My next little restoration project, sorry about the pic, it's the picture from the ebay listing. Not in the best condition but it was €15 + postage so I couldn't resist.

I was in the city centre today with a little bit of time to kill so I took a walk to Knights Barber Shop. Well, I was actually heading to Brown Thomas to see how much Penhaligons Sartorial is, and was passing by Stephens Green so dropped into Knights.

I wasn't planning to buy anything, just have a sniff of some GFT colognes, but I came away with a lime scented version of How To Grow a Moustache. The lime scent is very muted and it mainly smells of cocoa butter.

It's 8oz and comes in very a wide tin for easy loading. When I say wide I mean wide (not my picture below)

hitemfrank wrote: »

I was in the city centre today with a little bit of time to kill so I took a walk to Knights Barber Shop.

I may have to check that shop out next time I'm in Dublin. I wouldn't have expected good for Synergy in Ireland. I have their bay rum on order from Italianbarber. Read some great reviews. Would love to hear yours.

hitemfrank wrote: »

I've been tempted to pick up one of those old razors before. Looks like honing them is a right pain though.

Yeah they can be very problematic, an accurate rolling x-stroke is essential for getting these types of razor sharp. Also you need a good bit of experience diagnosing problems with the edge, that said, they are very good for progressing your honing technique's and you can learn a lot from these types of razor.

They definiately require a lot more time and effort to get shaving sharp but well worth the struggle if you can manage it and they give a great sense of acomplishment if you succeed. For instance it's taken 4+ hours of honing to get that particular razor to pass the HHT and I feel it's still not quite where I want it yet but very close. Working slowly and with care usually wins the race with these types, as it can be a real challenge to keep the bevel even.

I had a lot of problems trying to form the bevel near the heal of the razor as the shape of the blade frowns in this spot and it was causing excess hone-wear further up the blade when I tried to hit this spot using the usual methods. To solve this I had to do mini-circles with the blade flat at a 45 degree angle across the corner of the hone to avoid unwanted hone-wear further up on the blade. Once I was happy I then blended it back into the rest of the bevel with a combination of heal forward x-strokes and rolling x-strokes. Also to hit the toe of these razors you often have roll pretty high off the hone which feels really unnatural and is quite difficult to do accurately each stroke due to the unnatural feel.

Another problem I had was the width of the blade, I think when I mesured it, it was 3/8 at the widest point which ment that a strip of tape would actually reach the point where the bevel was so I had to manually cut each strip in half which was a pain and something I have never had to do before.

These just some examples of the types of problems you will face with a razor of this age but by all means don't let all this put you off as you will learn something new with each razor and the sense of acomplishment when you've finally got it to where you want it is far greater then spending a half hour honing up a hollow ground razor. So I would say if you can find one of at a good price and you feel like a bit of a challenge then go for it.

Lovely complex scent, without being overpowering.

I guess this is the best place fot this.

For anyone nearby, TKMaxx in Stephens Green shopping centre have a few Penhaligons English Fern shave soap for €13 which is under half price I believe.

It's not the tallow version however.

Hugh Cream wrote: »

best place to buy a not too expensive starter kit guys?

Shaving.ie!

His starter kit seems to have disappeared off the site, but these are the elements I'd recommend:

Edwin Jagger DE89L razor,
Semogue 1305 boar brush
Sample pack of blades
Proraso aftershave balm
And a tube of Proraso shaving cream or any of the creams and soaps that take your fancy.

Enjoy the experience.

dub_skav wrote: »

I've been using the Nomad exclusively for about 6 months (got the 2 for 1 offer in Kildare) and really like it, makes a quick lather and smells great.

Finally bought something else - MWF - so will be back to that for a while now.

For the thread that's in it I just got the MWF, 200 personna blades and 2 lotion samples - Proraso menthol and eucalyptus and GFT Bay rum.

I'll smell different anyway

I wish I had found some Nomad the other day instead of the Penhaligons English Fern.

No body should ever buy English Fern shave soap. It smells lovely but performs shockingly bad.

Rosahane wrote: »

Shaving.ie!

His starter kit seems to have disappeared off the site, but these are the elements I'd recommend:

Edwin Jagger DE89L razor,
Semogue 1305 boar brush
Sample pack of blades
Proraso aftershave balm
And a tube of Proraso shaving cream or any of the creams and soaps that take your fancy.

Enjoy the experience.

thanks mate, ordered the blade, brush and balm, got an arko shaving stick the other day along with a box of blades.

I know it's not a straight but i thought i'd give the Shavette a go, It's a Dovo
any advice before i try it out in the morning. I have the colored adapters but i think i'll use a long blade first and see how that goes.
Have a few long blades for the shavette.

I got a few different blades for the DE to try as well, although i'm really happy with the Feathers just wanted to try some others out.
Thanks to Shaving.ie for the speedy delivery.



Also had this soap bought for me by the wife, I've used it a few times and it's really nice.

hitemfrank wrote: »

Also use a light touch. I've heard that they can be unforgiving.

More so than a real straight

It hasn't arrived yet (in fact I only just bought it) but this. For 40 quid, I'm happy at the minute - hopefully I still will be when it gets here.

Now that it's arrived I can see it doesn't really need work done to it. It's the shame that the gold have nearly completely gone from the spine work.



I'm going to leave it as is for the time being but I might clean it up some more in the future.

Should look good once it's been cleaned up. Is that a trick of the light or is it a little nick at the heel?

Which do you think about the scales, real tortoise shell or no?

A lovely gift.

Not familiar with the brand. (http://www.verguldehand.nl/)

Look forward to using it.

I was looking for a thick razor handle, stumbled across..

http://www.maggardrazors.com/

Based out in Adrian, Michigan, USA. I picked up a Maggard Razors MR3 for $24.95. Razor head and handle tip in at 135g on the scales.







Alongside a 'normal' MÜHLE R106 handle.

The head is chromed, the quality is okay, leaning towards Merkur/Parker. The handle is lovely, proper steel knurl and heft.. somewhat at odds with the finish of the head, which is a pity.

Delighted with my purchase. The price is spot on, I think. Postage and packing add a sting though, but that's to be expected, given the weight.

Look forward to using it.

Picked up a razor on Adverts.ie. I knew when buying it that is was going to need work done to it.



First razor I've decided to unpin to clean up so I've already ordered some pins. I'm going to put it in a case tumbler for the day (I'll check on it every hour or so) to try save the etching and remove the worst of the rust.

The edge has some rust on it so I think I'll end up bread knifing the edge to get to good steel when I get around to honing it.


The scales are actually in pretty good condition so I'll just give them a bit of a polish I think.