SOTD "FREE WEEK" May 11th - May 17th, 2020

[alessia15]

Hello
SOTD 17 may

 

[GlazedBoker]

CT*PT START .90 OC & Shark Platinum SS
Yaqi Brown 26mm Rainbow
LNHC Orange/Patchouli
LEA Classic a/s Locion
CK Euphoria Essence Man Eau de toilette

​

 

[uptown]

Charcoal Goods SS L3
Astra Superior platinum
Semogue owners club finest badger
Gillette Pure shave cream
Nivea Creme
Clubman brandy spice aftershave

 

[shadowman12]

SOTD 17 May 2020

Prep: Cold water
Brush: Wolf and Whiskers Illiad + Declaration Grooming B7
Razor : Union Japanse near-wedge mes
Soap: Noble Otter Two Kings
After-shave: Noble Otter Two Kings

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk

 

[preidy]

69 Black Beauty w/Stirling Sharp Dressed Man soap and AS

 

[120inna55]

Mickey Lee Soapworks | Réunion
APShaveCo. Elegant Emerald | SynBad 24mm
Durham-Enders | Enders Speed Shaver | Schick Proline B-20
Declaration Grooming | Dirtyver EdP

 

[cyclingsteveb]

17 May 20
Razor: Razorock Lupo
Blade: Nacet (1)
Brush: 24mm RR Silvertip barrel Badger brush
Pre-Shave: Fendrihan Bay rum pre-shave oil
Lather: Barrister & Mann Seville soap
Aftershave: Barrister & Mann Seville AS Splash / Duke Cannon Ice cold balm
Additional Care: Thayers Lemon WH

 

[Whilliam]

69 Black Beauty w/Stirling Sharp Dressed Man soap and ASView attachment 1101181View attachment 1101182

Black Beauty, indeed!

 

[Whilliam]

Mickey Lee Soapworks | Réunion
APShaveCo. Elegant Emerald | SynBad 24mm
Durham-Enders | Enders Speed Shaver | Schick Proline B-20
Declaration Grooming | Dirtyver EdP

Gorgeous photo! Verdant and relaxing. How do you like the APShave SynBad knot?

 

[Jgreenepa]

SOTD SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2020

Welcome to Single Edge Sunday! I was fortunate to acquire this Eveready Stropping Outfit about 9 months ago. The kit dates to the early 50s. It contains both a leather strop, a stropping tool, and a ‘Jewel’ Streamline razor. The Eveready ‘Jewel’ Razor is in like new condition. It’s not a particularly rare razor, but is an exemplary shaver. The shave is comparable to a Gem ClogPruf. I like the shorter handle on the ‘Jewel’. This is a great head shaver. For today’s shave I selected my MrEE Knurled Aluminum Handled Brush, rapidly becoming one of my favorites, a prodigious lather maker with great backbone. Proraso Green enhanced with 3 drops of M-Bomb lathered up beautifully with it.

I enjoy shaving with Gem blades, but really like the PTFE coated Pella Gem blades. I have more than enough to last until they throw dirt on my coffin. Don of Technichi Shave introduced me to them. They tend to last for 4-6 shaves For me, keeping in mind that I face and head shave daily. Today’s shave went well. I began with an iced water rinse prior to lathering up both mug and noggin. Pass #1(WTG) went well, although not as close as I get with a Feather Super in my AC razors. Whisker reduction continued with pass #2 (XTG), leaving me with only some selective buffing around my usual problem areas for pass #3 (ATG). The Alum check left me with some residual heat around my Adam’s Apple, but otherwise, another delightful BBS. I feel clean, velveteen smooth, cool and refreshed.

RAZOR: Eveready Jewel Streamline
BLADE: Pella PTFE Gem
BRUSH: MrEE Knurled Aluminum Handle w/ Hybrid Knot
PREP: Iced water rinse
CREAM: Proraso Green enhanced w/ 3 drops of M-Bomb
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with Glyce Glycerin soap followed by Thayers Lavender WH and Fine Accoutrements Platinum AS Splash. Finished with A&E Post-Shave Serum.

 

[Jgreenepa]

Mickey Lee Soapworks | Réunion
APShaveCo. Elegant Emerald | SynBad 24mm
Durham-Enders | Enders Speed Shaver | Schick Proline B-20
Declaration Grooming | Dirtyver EdP

Matt:
I’ve always admired your beautiful Enders shots. As I remember, you have one in every production color. Great green theme today. Enjoy your day! I may get an Enders eventually, but don’t know if I want to deal with the blade issues.

 

[120inna55]

Gorgeous photo! Verdant and relaxing. How do you like the APShave SynBad knot?

I haven't found an APShaveCo knot that I DON'T like. They're really what sold me on synthetics. I really, REALLY love these knots.

Matt:
I’ve always admired your beautiful Enders shots. As I remember, you have one in every production color. Great green theme today. Enjoy your day! I may get an Enders eventually, but don’t know if I want to deal with the blade issues.

Yes, I have 3 greens, 1 red, 1 yellow, and an older "American Airlines" branded Speed RAZOR. The blade adaptation is nothing to shy away from. I can change blades at least as quickly as I can load a 3-piece razor.

Here are a couple write-ups I've done. This first one is basically my impressions of the razors, in general:


At the time of this writing, I have 1 Enders Speed Razor and 5 Speed Shavers. If eBay and Etsy are an indicator, it would seem the earlier model Speed Razors are more prevalent. I assume others, as myself, find the later model Speed Shavers to be a more attractive razor. I compare this phenomenon to that of a first generation Corvette versus the later Stingray. Both are beautiful works of art, but the Stingray got sexier through the years as the curves got deeper and longer.

Indeed the later Speed Shavers are a bit sleeker and curvier, but the head geometries are the same and the proprietary Enders Speed blades work for both models. If you weren't aware, the "Speed" moniker was attributable to how swiftly one can load the blade. There is no disassembly and no bay doors to open. The Speed blades have "wings" that facilitate perfect, protected, loading as well as tension that forces the back of the blade up against the top of the head. The back of the blade literally "clicks" behind a groove when fully inserted, removing any guesswork.

I do not know what metal is used for the heads, but they appear to be cast and chromed, so I assume a zinc alloy. As far as I can tell, there's no way to remove the head from the handle without destroying the razor.

I only have 1 Speed Razor, so I can't say for certain what the handles are made of, but mine feels like dense plastic and is a solid black color with texturing on the sides. It does not have a characteristic scent when exposed to hot water, so I don't know if this is Bakelite, Catalin, or some other resin.

I have 4 Speed Shavers. 3 green, and 1 each of red and yellow. These feature a chromed metal spine that's contiguous with the head and follows down the length of the handle and curves up into and presumably terminates at the distal tip of the handle. The spine features the italicized block-lettered "ENDERS SPEED" embossing. There are other models in the same time frame that do not have the metal spine but rather the composite handle has a raised area with the same effect only it's all one piece with the handle. The embossing is also there. I've never seen one with the lettering having been filled with a paint except for a user that did it aftermarket. Again, I can't say for certain what the material of the Speed Shavers' handles is, but mine are bright and translucent with interesting swirls visible throughout. The red one has some faint yellow swirls and the green ones have yellow swirling as well. The yellow one has, well, darker yellow swirls. As with the Speed Razors, these Shavers emit no scent when exposed to hot water, and I've not used Simichrome on them. They respond well to polish, but I haven't risked anything that has much abrasive qualities. I use a polymer (not wax) auto polish that I've been using for decades on my cars. Essentially anything that will enhance the ability for light to bounce around on these beauties makes them pop.

As far as I can tell, of the metal-spine Speed Shavers, I believe there are only 3 colors: red, yellow, and green. At one point, I thought I saw an ivory version, but I now believe that was just a yellow one with poor lighting. Of course, assuming these are phenolic resin in composition, one would expect wide variations in coloring over the years. I even saw a photo of one that appeared to be "tiger" pattern, but again, I can't say that it wasn't just one that had very dramatic color changes throughout its life. The most common change is that they should darken with time and UV exposure. I have seen some green ones that looked almost black. Interestingly, my red and yellow ones are remarkably bright. One of my green ones is brighter than the other two, but all three are quite vibrant.


Here's the write-up I did in which I expound upon the blade adaptation:

You can find the vintage proprietary blades that came with the razor fairly easily and, if you're into that sort of thing, you can strop and use them over and over. Personally, I'd rather use a modern blade, so here's how it's done. Note, this was not my original idea. This was being done long before I ever discovered the Enders Speed Shavers/Razors, and I've been unsuccessful at finding the origins of this "hack".

First, note I'm only familiar with the "Speed" varieties of the Enders razors. I have both the "Speed RAZOR" and the later model "Speed SHAVER". The head geometries of both variants are the same, but the cut-out on the earlier "RAZOR" is semicircular where the later "SHAVER" models have an angular cut-out. The proprietary blades work with both versions and the following adaptation is the same. Additionally, I find they all shave the same accounting for the weight and handle size variations.

Here's how to use a modern blade: You need only one vintage Durham-Enders Speed blade. Before you do any modifications, you may benefit from loading the native blade to allow you to get a mental (or even physical) picture of the intended stock blade exposure.

Then, blunt the edge of the Speed blade by grinding it down by at least 1 mm. If you have the time and patience, you might as well take the whole bevel off, but it's not required. This will be evident in practice, but the goal is to shorten this old blade to allow the modern blade to hang over into the correct blade exposure space.

Now, you need a modern blade. My preferred blade in this application is the Schick Proline B-20. There are likely other injector-type blades that fit, but I haven't explored them. I can say that my all-time favorite blade, the vintage Personna 74 injector blades do NOT fit as they are just a hair too wide. This obstacle along with recommendations from the SE shaving community forced me to pick up the Prolines, and I can attest they are very nice, comfortable blades in their own right. They don't last as long as the Personna 74s, but then again, what does? The Proline B-20 is a fine option for the Enders.

You then place the Proline in the head using the exposure you choose. This is more easily achieved by flipping the razor upside down. There are text and groove landmarks in the head that conveniently allow you to keep the blade straight and achieve a good degree of consistency in exposure. If you find that your clubby fingers keep bumping the unsecured blade from its position, try wetting the blade and the razor head. The adhesive effect of the water will help secure it until you've locked it in as demonstrated further.

Once you have the modern blade where you want it, slide the blunted Enders blade behind it. After you've started sliding the blunted Enders blade behind the modern blade, you may find it necessary to flip the razor upright and inspect it face-on. If you find the insertion of the Enders blade is moving your modern blade's position, let your thumbnail act as a stop. Then you can continue to insert the Enders blade until it clicks into position. At this point the modern blade is secure and will not move while you're shaving.

This sounds like more trouble that it's worth, but it's actually quite simple. Once you've made the blunted "shim", you don't have to do that again. While sliding the Proline into place may sound precarious and random, as stated there are landmarks in the head that can be lined up visibly through the holes in the Proline. Once you've done this a couple times, you won't have issues with moving the Proline while the Enders is being inserted because you will have figured out the nuance that prevents this.

Still sound like a lot of trouble? Well, since I've been going back and forth between the green, red, and yellow razors using the same blade, I've gotten accustomed to it such that I can load the blade at least as quickly as I can load a 3-piece razor.

Jim Roe demonstrates the blade adaptation here:

Mr. Roe has also dabbled with adding "bumps" to the blunted Enders shim with J.B. Weld, thereby making it an effective blade carrier and removing the guessing. He has some other tips as well, but ultimately, I'm quite happy the aforementioned method.

In terms of performance, these razors aren't just pretty. They are light-weight by nature, yet well balanced across the board. I hold these in high regard, and place them in the top 4 of my all-time favorite shavers.

 

[ChrisVanMeer]

SOTD - Sunday 17 May 2020

• Safety Razor: Razorine - Premium Chrome-Silver
• Blade: Polsilver - Super Iridium
• Shaving Brush: Morris & Forndran - 1XL - 24mm Bulb (Blonde Badger)
• Shaving Bowl: Yoresh
• Shaving Soap: Fitjar Islands - Slåtterøy
• After-Shave: Fitjar Islands - Slåtterøy - Balm

 

[A. Feitar]

Shaved this morning with a new testing version of Grooming Dept.’s Mallard base. It was excellent.

 

[ackvil]

Sunday’s Shave ​

A beautiful, sunny Arizona day. Today’s soap is from a generous sample from Grooming Department: Mallard RC. The second day with this soap. The slickness of this soap impresses me. The soap does well with water to maintain razor glide. I used a Rudy Vey brush that had a Muhle synthetic knot. The lather was very slick and protective. The razor today is a Feather AS-D2 razor with a Feather blade. After a four-pass shave, I used cool water to remove any excess lather. I then applied Thayers Rose Petal WH followed by Pinaud Clubman. After a shower, the fragrance was Jimmy Choo Man Intense.

 

[primotenore]

Sunday, May 17

Klar Kabinett~~Simpson CH2 Synthetic~~Feather AC/Feather~~DRH Pink
Have a great day!​

 

[J-MN]

First shave with the new Wolfman today. Fantastic razor!

Razor: Wolfman WR2 .95 SB
Blade: Derby Extra
Brush: MacFix (Shavemac Silvertip knot & Vulfix Grosvenor handle)
Soap: Art of Shaving, Sandalwood (Tallow)
Post Shave: WSP, Unscented Splash/Tonic
Post Shave: Every Man Jack, Signature Mint Face Lotion

 

[CapnPanther]

Sunday
Preshave: Imperial Glycerine Soap / Stirling Executive Man Pre-shave Oil
Razor: RazoRock Little Bastone
Blade: PermaSharp Super Stainless
Brush: WSP High Mountain White
Soap: Bath House Spanish Fig & Nutmeg
Aftershave: Alum/Quinn’s Rose Petal Witch Hazel
Balm: 444

 

[It's Hedley]

Razor: Gillette New Short Comb
Blade: Astra SP
Soap: Barrister & Mann Le Grand Chypre
Brush: Simpson Duke 3 Faux Sapphire Manchurian
Aftershave: PAA Atomic Age Bay Rum​

 

[Whiterook]

Razor: Schick I2 Hydro-Magic Injector Razor
Blade: Schick Injector
Brush: Omega 80265 boar
Pre-Shave: Proraso White
Lather: L'Occitane Cade
Aftershave: Old Spice Classic
Additional Care:
Thayers Facial Tonic Witch Hazel Unscented
Pinaud Finest powder