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My Guess... 3017

Have taken delivery of a new 26mm silvertip.

The remains of the Arlington have been decimated by 3 test lathers.

Won't be long till I claim my first 3016 victory
 
Just checking in...I've finished a sample of Sterling and am now working on a 60g chunk of Cella from the brick. I like the soap, I'm just not a big fan of the scent. It's just OK.
 
I am very much enjoying the cream path I am going down at the moment. The last time I 3017'd TOBS it was a full size container of their now discontinued lavender. Remember the purple cream with the synthetic scent? I wasn't a fan. Performance was ok but I recall that 3017 effort seem to take forever.

This little travel tube of TOBS will be much easier and I'm happy to report I love the sandalwood scent and performance is quite good. This 3017 effort will be a breeze and a nice change from soaps.
 
I think I'm getting close to the end here. I'm starting to see the green of my bowl through what's left of the soap. I don't know how many shaves I have left of this, but I can't imagine it would be a lot.

Schafmilch is awesome stuff. I think when I run through some of my den and make some room, I'll grab more of this.

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Still working through the Blue Willy. The puck is disappearing at a decent rate now, but there is still enough in the puck to last me well into March.

Today was my first use of a RazoRock Big Bruce. That is a fabulous brush, and it seemed to pickup the soap very well. While not soap hogs, the synthetic brushes do seem to load on the heavy side. I am now the owner of four RazoRock brushes, three synthetic and one badger. So far I am very satisfied with all of them. (BTW, the RazoRock 400 is definitely worth checking out.)

All this talk about creams has reminded me that I have a tub of AoS Ocean Kelp and a tub of AoS Eucalyptus waiting in my den. Perhaps one of those should be my next 3017 project?
 
I've given up on my 3017 of the Fine Orange Williams Cream I created as a part of the February Willy Challenge. Lather was thin, bubbly, and dissipated on my face. I'm not sure if it were the process of over saturating the soap to make the cream or just the soap itself - but no matter what I did I couldn't get it to work for me. In the end, life is to short to deal with bad lathers.

So I've returned to my 3017 of Fine AB. What a better soap is fine compared to Williams - It doesn't even compare!!! Fune Lathers into a super slick, thick lather with almost no effort. It just works - and feels great. Why pass up on good shaves for prolonged experimentation and pain? No thank you.

I'm 34 shaves deep into the Fine AB puck, and have used an average of .71 grams per shave. I question if my measurements may be off as I have it in a mango bowl - which I am thinking may have absorbed some water weight, and thrown of my consumption calculations. At this rate I will have about 110 shaves remaining. I anticipate that it will go quicker than that though. I've seen others report usage of 68shaves/1.5grams average. So I'm expecting my rate to ramp up near the end.

Either way this soap should take me into the late spring. Time sit back and enjoy some effortless FINE shaves!




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Still working on my Lime Willy for the Williams 3017 challenge. Lathers are still thin, but slick, and very usable. The residual slickness continues to astound.

I'm looking forward to finishing this puck and returning to something a bit more conventionally performant. It's looking like that won't happen in February, but shouldn't last too far into March.
 
All this talk about creams has reminded me that I have a tub of AoS Ocean Kelp and a tub of AoS Eucalyptus waiting in my den. Perhaps one of those should be my next 3017 project?
And I'm thinking about Eucalyptus or CF Lavender after Williams. They are long term commitments, though! Gotta finish less than half a tube of Palmolive cream first...
 
I don't know how many shaves I'm up to with Da Fat, but it now has a definite crater in the middle. Should be able to see the bottom of the jar in a few weeks I reckon.
 
SJOL Lavender Geranium is crammed into the angle between the bottom and sides of the jar, and refuses to give up the ghost. A little of this cream goes a long way.
 
I am very much enjoying the cream path I am going down at the moment. The last time I 3017'd TOBS it was a full size container of their now discontinued lavender. Remember the purple cream with the synthetic scent? I wasn't a fan. Performance was ok but I recall that 3017 effort seem to take forever.

This little travel tube of TOBS will be much easier and I'm happy to report I love the sandalwood scent and performance is quite good. This 3017 effort will be a breeze and a nice change from soaps.

I too have been enjoying ripping through product at a fast pace since I made 2017 the year of creams. Tubes of cream go so much faster than any soap, so it's been really nice to see my stash begin to dissipate.
 
It is done. Finished off my puck of Haslinger Schafmilch this morning. There was so little left I had to bowl lather it and even then the lather was a little airy, but it still worked great.

I was going to burn some samples next, but I'm changing course and I'm going to use up my tub of RazoRock XX. It's a soft soap, so I think it'll go fast.

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I'm going to call the WSP Rustic Formula T Mahogany this weekend. It's deep in the corners of the dish and I don't want to chase it around. I may get one more shave but I don't want to do a super thin lather.

Retail weight is 133g and I had about 45 shaves for 2.6 grams per shave. At $16 per tin, that's 31 cents per puck which is one of the more expensive soaps.

Scent is 2/5. I didn't like it much. It smelled like cigarette smoke and funky patchouli or something.

Ease of lather is 3/5. It worked great when you loaded a dry brush, but a wet brush got too foamy and I had to wash away a few lathers and start over.

Shave quality is 4/5. Can't argue with that. For the most part shaves were smooth to very smooth without much tugging.

Overall I'd give it 7/10 and I wouldn't buy it again, likely won't buy other WSP Formula T soaps either. There are better performers, especially for the money.

Up next is a full puck of AOS Sandalwood NOS tallow formula. I'd expect about 83 shaves out of that.

I *might* pull the trigger on a big Haslinger order from TVB.
 
I *might* pull the trigger on a big Haslinger order from TVB.

Now would be a good time. He seems to sell out of Haslinger often and it takes several weeks to get back in stock. Looks like he has the full line in stock at the moment. As I recall, shipping to CONUS, 7 pucks of Haslinger was the sweet spot for shipping. Add another puck and you hit another weight threshold and pay more. It is a commitment up front, 7 pucks of Haslinger is about a year supply of soap if you shave every day, but its the most inexpensive way of obtaining Haslinger in CONUS that I've found yet.

Speaking of Haslinger, my wife saw that I use Haslinger shaving soap and ran across a bottle of Haslinger SPA Sandalwood aftershave balm on one of her New York shopping expeditions last Fall. I had set it in the drawer next to the TOBS cream and proceeded to forget about it. Which is odd because its a product I've been curious to try for quite some time. I'm going to break it out next week and give it a go. I hope it performs as well as their soap.
 
Up next is a full puck of AOS Sandalwood NOS tallow formula. I'd expect about 83 shaves out of that.

I *might* pull the trigger on a big Haslinger order from TVB.

Very specific estimate. Is that based on past use?

I'm still plugging along with my Williams 3017. Probably about 2 weeks or so left. I'm using a vintage mentholated puck. It's really good soap! I'm very tempted to follow it up with a Haslinger or volabra tallow just to compare because I'm really loving the old Williams.
 
Very specific estimate. Is that based on past use?

I'm still plugging along with my Williams 3017. Probably about 2 weeks or so left. I'm using a vintage mentholated puck. It's really good soap! I'm very tempted to follow it up with a Haslinger or volabra tallow just to compare because I'm really loving the old Williams.


That would be a GREAT comparison Phil. Volabra tallow is one of my favorite modern soaps. Vintage Williams is one of my favorite vintage soaps. It would be interesting to see how they compare in performance.
 
That would be a GREAT comparison Phil. Volabra tallow is one of my favorite modern soaps. Vintage Williams is one of my favorite vintage soaps. It would be interesting to see how they compare in performance.

Then it's settled. I have a sample of volabra fougere that'll be on the clock following up the Williams and I'll report back.

I made this same statement in the Williams thread and I stand by it - really, how much more would it cost Combe to go back to the old formula? Even if they tripled the price to pay for it we're at a whopping $3! Do it!
 
I did some math on the Schafmilch I just used up. Assuming the puck actually was 60 grams brand new, I averaged about a gram per shave. I got 58 shaves from the puck, and I had shaved with it a couple or three times before I did the 3017 on it. That takes me to just around 60 shaves total from it.

I'm not sure how much I'll get from the XX I'm going to use next. It is soft, so I'm not sure how heavily I'll have to load up. I just hope it performs well.
 
Now would be a good time. He seems to sell out of Haslinger often and it takes several weeks to get back in stock. Looks like he has the full line in stock at the moment.

I wish I never read this. Been contemplating and order despite my yearly sabbatical. I really don't need it - as I have a huge stockpile of other soaps. But it's noticeable absent a stock of Haslinger I've been wanting to stock up on it as I fear the TVB deal will disappear some day. I've heard there is a place in Germany selling it for a similar price now too.



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Then it's settled. I have a sample of volabra fougere that'll be on the clock following up the Williams and I'll report back.

I made this same statement in the Williams thread and I stand by it - really, how much more would it cost Combe to go back to the old formula? Even if they tripled the price to pay for it we're at a whopping $3! Do it!

I have an unopened tub of Volabra Fougere. Its on my 3017 list. I've never used their fougere scent so not sure how that compares to others, but I'm sure the performance will be good.

I've been very critical of modern Williams. I know the pluses; its available at B&M stores, inexpensive, etc and many people get good enough performance from it. I get all of that, but having used "vintage" Williams many many times I just cant get past what Combe did to a great US brand. Modern Williams is similar to the Williams of 20 years ago in name only. I agree with you, would their sales truly suffer if they improved the product and doubled the cost? Its a shame. If I could buy a new puck of Williams off the shelf at the corner store that had the performance of vintage Williams for $5 per puck its all I would use.
 
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