Cal's "I don't do journals" Journal

[Esox]

I guess Cal isnt volunteering lol.

 

[Cal]

I guess Cal isnt volunteering lol.

Correct!

 

[Clay S]

I'll try anything

Except spending money

 

[Cal]

SOTD

Brush: Tiny Shavemac Silvertip D01
Soap: Mitchell's Wool Fat
Razor: RazoRock GC84
Blade: Polsilver SI (7)
ASL: Clubman Virgin Island Bay Rum

Today, a simply fabulous shave.

That's it. The RazoRock GC84 is my favorite DE razor, with its Yaqi mini handle at 70mm (2¾") long. I still love my Fatip OC very much, but it has to take second place. Of course the Tiny Shavemac brush remains my all time fave.

MORE LATHERING EXPERIMENTS (due to the intrepid @Esox)
I started out with my Tiny Shavemac completely dry. I gave the soap two splashes of water and loaded up. This went onto my face like Jim's @Chan Eil Whiskers "spackling" which I didn't like so I dipped the tips in water and got an explosion of excellent slick 'n' thin.

The lather was pretty much the way I always like it. The only difference was starting with the brush completely dry – one minute saved .

I intend continuing my "badger" shaves with completely dry brushes. Thank you Mike.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

The spackling step is just my way of making sure there's enough soap on my face and neck. It's a way of ascertaining that the soap amount/density is correct. Temporary only! Then water to build lather.

Amazing how sold on the GC84 you are, Cal. It must be a great razor! Is the 84 the gap? It's not like I'd never even try a razor with a big gap like that (if gap it is), but I tend to like blade exposure and not gap or guard span.

Whatever works for you, right.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Raven Koenes]

SOTD

Brush: Tiny Shavemac Silvertip D01
Soap: Mitchell's Wool Fat
Razor: RazoRock GC84
Blade: Polsilver SI (7)
ASL: Clubman Virgin Island Bay Rum
View attachment 929968

Today, a simply fabulous shave.

That's it. The RazoRock GC84 is my favorite DE razor, with its Yaqi mini handle at 70mm (2¾") long. I still love my Fatip OC very much, but it has to take second place. Of course the Tiny Shavemac brush remains my all time fave.

MORE LATHERING EXPERIMENTS (due to the intrepid @Esox)
I started out with my Tiny Shavemac completely dry. I gave the soap two splashes of water and loaded up. This went onto my face like Jim's @Chan Eil Whiskers "spackling" which I didn't like so I dipped the tips in water and got an explosion of excellent slick 'n' thin.

The lather was pretty much the way I always like it. The only difference was starting with the brush completely dry – one minute saved .

I intend continuing my "badger" shaves with completely dry brushes. Thank you Mike.

Thanks for the continued progress updates Cal!

 

[Esox]

The lather was pretty much the way I always like it. The only difference was starting with the brush completely dry – one minute saved .

I intend continuing my "badger" shaves with completely dry brushes. Thank you Mike.

You're welcome Cal.

Anything to save time! haha. It does work very well and it seems to me to be the most precise way of getting the soap:water ratio exactly how you like it. Wet the soap or wet the tips matters not, its the amount of water that matters. Its becoming second nature with my PdP now. I dont even need to think about how much of the tips too dip but now, they get dipped in hot water. Thats feels good and seems to really help relax my skin making it even more supple.

I dont even take my bowl from my shelf anymore.

Next thing you know you'll be shaving directly ATG first pass! That saves a lot of time lol.

 

[Cal]

Amazing how sold on the GC84 you are, Cal. It must be a great razor! Is the 84 the gap? It's not like I'd never even try a razor with a big gap like that (if gap it is), but I tend to like blade exposure and not gap or guard span.

Yep, 0.85mm is the gap which isn't really that big at all. Also it has ±0 blade exposure. Due to both of these things I expected not to like it at all. Normally if a razor has gap I want PLENTY of it and I like PLENTY blade exposure too.

I think what's happened is that I like the simple clean look of it so much that I've persisted till I can easily get great shaves out of it. You know what it's like when you fall in love and only see the good parts, only I fell in love realizing there were parts I didn't like... but that was due to my ignorance, so I needed to learn how to actually LIKE them. I hope that makes sense.

 

[Esox]

Thinking about that hot water now I'm reminded that idea came to me from a video Jim posted with a guy from I believe, Europe somewhere, shaving with a straight in what looked like his kitchen.

When he went for his brush it looked like he had his brush soaking in a cup of hot water on the stove and shook his fingers and laughed as if it was too hot, then started lathering his face. That got me thinking...

 

[Somerled]

This what your looking for?

It was me who posted that for Jim when he was starting with a straight.

The guy is using a scuttle. If you read the comments on you tube, he made the scuttle himself and the video is to sell them.

Still one of the best straight shaving videos.

 

[Cal]

Next thing you know you'll be shaving directly ATG first pass! That saves a lot of time lol.

I bet it does, but I can't see it happening to me. I'm one of those bluebeards whose whiskers grow virtually parallel to my skin. Even with a perfect BBS shave (like I have now) it looks like I need a shave. I just went to the mirror and checked. All my whiskers are showing about half a millimeter, but they're under (and about parallel to) my skin.

I might get away with it if I shaved every six hours.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I think this is the video that Mike is referring to...

 

[Somerled]

I think this is the video that Mike is referring to...

Ahh yes, I remember that one now!

 

[Esox]

This what your looking for?

It was me who posted that for Jim when he was starting with a straight.

The guy is using a scuttle. If you read the comments on you tube, he made the scuttle himself and the video is to sell them.

Still one of the best straight shaving videos.

I had to dig for it, but it was the one on page 243 in Jims thread.

Al found it first.

 

[Esox]

I bet it does, but I can't see it happening to me. I'm one of those bluebeards whose whiskers grow virtually parallel to my skin. Even with a perfect BBS shave (like I have now) it looks like I need a shave. I just went to the mirror and checked. All my whiskers are showing about half a millimeter, but they're under (and about parallel to) my skin.

I might get away with it if I shaved every six hours.

You might be surprised how well you can do if you try it. It may not work, but then again, it might. Just buff following ATG until you get no feedback. Rigid blades are King for that kind of shave.

Thats the only way @rabidus shaves now. You shave ATG at some point so why not just start in that direction. It makes sense in my mind but I've been told BOSC may need to up my meds lol.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Thinking about that hot water now I'm reminded that idea came to me from a video Jim posted with a guy from I believe, Europe somewhere, shaving with a straight in what looked like his kitchen.

When he went for his brush it looked like he had his brush soaking in a cup of hot water on the stove and shook his fingers and laughed as if it was too hot, then started lathering his face. That got me thinking...

I don't speak German but this is the video I think you're talking about. German man shaving in the kitchen with a straight razor. I think maybe he's done this a few times.

Is that the one?

He's totally using the razor wrong! Look at that angle. Scrapping the beard off. What is he thinking?

Happy shaves,

Jim

P.S. I missed a few posts. Had I not I would have not posted this again. Still, I enjoyed watching it again.

 

[Cal]

You might be surprised how well you can do if you try it. It may not work, but then again, it might. Just buff following ATG until you get no feedback.

An ATG only shave? OK, challenge accepted.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I can do it, but I don't enjoy it.

Too much effort required to drive through the whiskers, and too much skin deflection, which means more chance of the blade failing to stop on the correct side of the skin. I also lose too much feel of what's happening, because too much is happening. I'm not sure if that makes sense to anyone outside my head

Not an enjoyable shave in my book, but I'll be interested to hear Cal's thoughts.

 

[Esox]

Is that the one?

Thats the one. Cant watch it too many times!

Yep, I think he's done it a time or two lol.

An ATG only shave? OK, challenge accepted.

I can do it, but I don't enjoy it.

Generous blade exposure in a rigid design. All you need to do is skin stretch a bit and keep a nice shallow angle @Cal haha. It just wipes the stubble off with the lather and you'll wonder how it happened.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Generous blade exposure in a rigid design. All you need to do is skin stretch a bit and keep a nice shallow angle @Cal haha. It just wipes the stubble off with the lather and you'll wonder how it happened.

It's not the behaviour of the blade, but the behaviour of the skin/beard that's the issue for me. I can, and do, shave directly ATG in some areas with a straight, but not all over. The only reason I do that with a straight, is that it can be a royal pain in the derriere to manipulate the razor the other two directions first