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What straight did you use today? Now with PICTURES

Sorry, these should have gone in the acquisition section.

But I might not have seen them there!

Today's razor has no honing report. I feel lucky to own this one. It arrived via B/S/T, beautifully restored and rescaled with an excellent edge that I have simply maintained on balsa, linen, and leather.

T.R. Cadman&Sons LD. BENGALL, Sheffield, England
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I'm back with the Kamisori, and the feeling is beyond explanation.
Kamisori shave #9
Feather Pro Guard usage: 9
2 pass DFS

I took a break from shaving, and did some repairs, cleaning for the Summer season.

I'm getting better with the Kamisori and the SOC.
My SOC Boar has shorter than advertised bristles, and that's why it quickly drowns in water if I'm not careful.

I'll be moving on to the next level of blades after the current Project Guard blade is binned.

I'm able to find the angles naturally

After today's shave, I've decided to go with a Straight Razor as my main razor.

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Hard Solfen 50
La Toja stick
Maggard’s 18mm synth travel brush

The Hard Solfen is unique in my collection in that it makes a ringing sound when stropped, or when you put it down on a countertop. I originally got this because it looked like a Japanese version of a MK32, which I was struggling to find. Now I have at least an MK31, like them both! this is perhaps my 5th shave off of this edge, which was as-is from the seller. I may want to rehone after a few more shaves, but want to hold off for a bit. Meanwhile maintain with stropping on both cloth and leather. May want to up the passes.

The Maggard’s/La Toja combo gave me 3 passes off of 1 application. Not sure why the Maggard’s does this so well when my larger brushes struggle to give 2 passes in the same situation. Perhaps a smaller brush is an asset for this application.

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Second time using Tabac with zero (and I mean zero) irritation:

Wade & Butcher 7/8 inch near wedge
Semogue 1800 boar
Tabac soap
Clubman Special Reserve after shave

I did not trust my first experience on Monday, but it is now clear - Tabac is a phenomena. It feels like many other soaps while you are using it but afterwards there is just no irritation.

I like the scent, and I can understand why the scent is not everyone's favorite, but I do not get why the scent has a reputation for being so polarizing. I have used a lot of soaps over almost 3.5 years of wet shaving and have to say this is one hell of a soap!

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Just realized that this morning's (April 7th) shave marked my third anniversary of starting straights. I didn't do anything special to mark the occasion though. Same setup as Wednesday.
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PAX 178
Mojo Handcrafts
Tabac for the win, win, win.

I will say that this morning's shave went much better than the one three years ago...
 
Since I these days stick to the same razor for a week I don’t post as much as I used to, but I take this as an excuse to do something a little extra when I post. The short version of this post is C.V.H. No.7 but, for those that might be interested, it’s followed below by a text about Scandinavian design and its implications on the CVH No.7.
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Let me talk about Scandinavian design. For those of you that have heard about it means very functionalistic and minimalistic design. There are however differences between the Scandinavian countries.

The Danes as a people are generally known to be more easy going and jovial the other Scandinavians. They like their beer and food and to live a good life. Their version of Scandinavian design is the internationally most successful since it isn’t as stringent, but has as certain amount of flair. Georg Jensen, Le Klint, Poul Kjærholm and Louis Poulsen are good examples of classic Danish designers with a global reputation.

The Swedes are the people of the forests and the Norwegians are the sailors of the storms of the North Sea. Their versions of Scandinavian design are far more focused on functionalism. The form is the result of the optimal design and vanity is seldom seen hence designers like Malmsten and Bruno Mathsson.

Finally we have the Finns that don’t use two words if one can suffice. The proud people of the wilderness that would make any of Arnolds Schwarzenegger’s characters seem feminine. The people that fought four brutal wars during the last century and never lost their freedom. The people that for 600 years always composed the spearhead of the Swedish army. Such a people don’t go for fancy. With its reflection of the soul of the Finnish people their stripped functionalistic designs often are the most beautiful, like when expressed through Alvar Aalto.

This brings me to my razor for the coming week, a Swedish C.V.H. Heljestrand No.7 (the fancier export version is the M.K. No.31). The design of this razor is all about function seen from the view of an engineer. It is all a question of design as a result of functionality and as such it warms my heart so see the beauty of its seemingly simple form. To me it is as Swedish as can be.

Polarbeard has said more about the Heljestrand No.7 than I can contribute. By my measure it is 9/16.

This razor has been in my honing queue for a long time. Today I finally gave it the works. It passed the hanging hair test with flying colors and delivered the extremely satisfying shave that was foretold.
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Schick/Personna for sideswiping the neck whorls. Arko stick and a Solid Set boar, modern knot.
 
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