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Damn Comfortable Shave

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
I need nothing!

It's the want I fight with. Especially now that Connaught is carrying RR razors! I could actually buy a Hawk V2 and Prolines at the same store! Seems I missed the boat on the NSS Signature soaps though. He who hesitates...

Connaught makes an effort to be a very dangerous store, but adding RR razors is simply unfair to us. They already knew they were shooting fish in a barrel. Now they've made the barrel smaller. Not fair!

What's next? Selling Grooming Dept soap?
 
Light box arrived today.
Bit on the small side, but useable.
Still, it convinced me it was a good idea to get out my DSLR and tripod with one of my favourite lenses.
lboxpic4.JPG
lboxpic1.JPG
lboxpic2.JPG
lboxpic3.JPG

Need to play around a bit more with settings and maybe try another lens. Just wish it was a little bigger though.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
You did a great job of it. All the photos are nice looking I think.

My computer, a Macbook Pro, allows me to easily manipulate the photos I take. Other than cropping them and sizing them, which I almost always do, I seldom fool with my pictures. What you see is what the camera on my phone gave me.

I would like to have one other set of lights! Even better, I'd like a light in the bottom at the front + lights on both sides. My current lights are on the ceiling of the box. Looking for lights of this sort on Amazon and eBay I fail to find them + I want them to be as cheap and inexpensive (and good) as the lights which came with my light box.

I hope I didn't steer you to the wrong box for you, Doug.

Light box arrived today.
Bit on the small side, but useable.
Still, it convinced me it was a good idea to get out my DSLR and tripod with one of my favourite lenses.
View attachment 1000610 View attachment 1000611 View attachment 1000612 View attachment 1000613
Need to play around a bit more with settings and maybe try another lens. Just wish it was a little bigger though.

Initially I wanted the light box to be bigger, but now I think it's the right size. To me, the next size up would be considerably larger and take up a lot more room, but that's not really it.

Of course I'm not much of a photographer nor am I very artistic at all so mostly I want the light box to compensate. I want to like my own photos or at least not see mine as terrible.

I'm pretty sure I've made progress. My wife who is an artist has once or twice commented favorably on one of my photos taken in the light box. Since I've not done anything but stick stuff in the box and move it around a little bit it's gotta be the box helping me.

If it were bigger I could take worse pictures.
 
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I usually take pictures with my phone. I get lazy to take them with my camera!

But the cool thing is when I do use my camera I can download them directly to my phone so no need to use the laptop.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
My Saturday shave was very nice.

7-20-19.Herder76.Kit.640.JPG


This Herder 76 spent about 120 round trips on the DCA prior to today's shave. I think an already sharp edge was improved. I don't know if I can get it even sharper but I think I'll try.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
I hope I didn't steer you to the wrong box for you, Doug.
Not at all Jim, I only have myself to blame for not checking sizes.
The pictures I took are at the limits of the box.
This was taken with my phone.
lightbox.JPG

It's not a good picture, but you can clearly see the size of the box.
The only thing I ever do to my pictures is resize them for the forums. I'm not good with photo programs, like Adobe Lightroom.

I usually take pictures with my phone. I get lazy to take them with my camera!

But the cool thing is when I do use my camera I can download them directly to my phone so no need to use the laptop.
I normaly use my phone as well, just thought it would be nice to try with my DSLR. I can download pictures from my camera directly to anything with WiFi - including phones and tablets.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
lboxpic2-jpg.1000612


Doug, this one's my favorite of the photos.

You'll get much better with the box. There are several tricks to using it and they'll become obvious pretty fast. I do find it necessary to avoid including the side of the box in my photos + I find cropping 100% necessary.
 
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I see you found your signature animal Doug. A Highland Bull. Brilliant! :thumbup:
Swiped from the wife's cabinet where she keeps all sorts.
Not convinced it's a bull though, the cows have horns as well. :001_tt2:
coo.JPG

Said hello to this one on Iona last summer.
 
Said hello to this one on Iona last summer.
:laugh: :001_cool:
The bulls' horns are a bit thicker than the cows' and grow out horizontally, whereas the cows' horns curl upwards at the ends. So the one you said hello to would be a bull, with a cow in the background (to the left). (Or so I've been told.)
 
:laugh: :001_cool:
The bulls' horns are a bit thicker than the cows' and grow out horizontally, whereas the cows' horns curl upwards at the ends. So the one you said hello to would be a bull, with a cow in the background (to the left). (Or so I've been told.)
Never really thought to double check. :1eye:
Normally they would seperate the bulls from the cows until it's "services" are required. It's not unknown for bulls to die of exhaustion if it has been left in a field of cows without a farmers knowledge. :001_unsur Thats why you should always shut gates when crossing fields. :001_rolle

Anyway, highland cattle are all over Mull and Iona, probably all the other Islands as well.
coo2.JPG

This was a few weeks ago when we decided to cross Iona from one side to the other, at the narrowest bit.
You also come across a few of these on Iona.
ionacross.JPG

It is a deeply spiritual place for some.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Swiped from the wife's cabinet where she keeps all sorts.
Not convinced it's a bull though, the cows have horns as well. :001_tt2:
View attachment 1000719
Said hello to this one on Iona last summer.

Doug, you go to the coolest places.

Where I live we have what are called barrier islands all along the coast. They are narrow, very close to the mainland, very low in elevation, and seem to be made of sand. Many of them, probably almost all of them, are now developed. Most are connected to the mainland by a bridge. Hilton Head is the best known I think.

One of our barrier islands is largely undeveloped, Cumberland Island, and accessible only by boat. There are a few residences and a national park and a few ruins, but mostly wild horses and such. I've been there only once but fell in love with it very quickly.

Your islands off the coast of Scotland are so beautiful and unspoiled.

In the summer we generally go to one of our barrier islands. Mostly our choice is Holden Beach off the coast of North Carolina (far south in the state). It's a very narrow island and very residential, but not too developed or too crowded as they go. Anyway, one of the requirements of visitors and residents who use the beach is that all umbrellas and beach chairs and such are removed from the beach at the day's end. It would be very convenient to not have to do that according to me! However, the reason for clearing the beach is known to me (and not to everyone). At night deer run on the beach. Stuff must be cleared to protect them.

I've not seen deer running but my daughter and her friend went for a walk on the beach one night a few years ago. When they returned to our (rental) house their way home was blocked by a number of deer occupying the dunes between the house and the beach. They found an alternative route but were very impressed with the deer.

Unfortunately I have no pictures.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
Doug, you go to the coolest places.

Where I live we have what are called barrier islands all along the coast. They are narrow, very close to the mainland, very low in elevation, and seem to be made of sand. Many of them, probably almost all of them, are now developed. Most are connected to the mainland by a bridge. Hilton Head is the best known I think.

One of our barrier islands is largely undeveloped, Cumberland Island, and accessible only by boat. There are a few residences and a national park and a few ruins, but mostly wild horses and such. I've been there only once but fell in love with it very quickly.

Your islands off the coast of Scotland are so beautiful and unspoiled.

In the summer we generally go to one of our barrier islands. Mostly our choice is Holden Beach off the coast of North Carolina (far south in the state). It's a very narrow island and very residential, but not too developed or too crowded as they go. Anyway, one of the requirements of visitors and residents who use the beach is that all umbrellas and beach chairs and such are removed from the beach at the day's end. It would be very convenient to not have to do that according to me! However, the reason for clearing the beach is known to me (and not to everyone). At night deer run on the beach. Stuff must be cleared to protect them.

I've not seen deer running but my daughter and her friend went for a walk on the beach one night a few years ago. When they returned to our (rental) house their way home was blocked by a number of deer occupying the dunes between the house and the beach. They found an alternative route but were very impressed with the deer.

Unfortunately I have no pictures.

Happy shaves,

Jim
Sounds idyllic Jim. Are you due to go there this summer again?
You need to take pictures this time.

Had some time to myself today, so thought I would do something useful for a change.
As you've been buying up Jarrod's stock of concave arks, Jim, and the price to get one to the UK is too much for me, time to try and make my own ark concave.
Not going to go into a great deal of detail as to how I did this, needless to say I spent several hard hours and used a pile of sandpaper on it today.
Not sure if it's exactly accurate, but the stone definately has a peak running up it and a small dome in the middle.

I'd forgotten how hard these stones are. One thing is for sure, I won't be doing this again any time soon.
I can understand why Jarrod doesn't want to start a production line for these, even although he has a useable template to make them.

Smoothed it out a bit with 400g w&d after taking this pic.
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Think I've made headway with the Scottish razor, using sewing machine oil.
ccark3.JPG

Definately seems sharper than it was. My hard black ark is pretty slow, probably why I never used it much.
But if it makes a big difference to my razors, i'll be using it more often from now on.

Going to try my Tanifuji and Fili 13 on it now.
Will do a test shave with either of those two later tonight, assuming all went well.
 

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Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Sounds idyllic Jim. Are you due to go there this summer again?
You need to take pictures this time.

Had some time to myself today, so thought I would do something useful for a change.
As you've been buying up Jarrod's stock of concave arks, Jim, and the price to get one to the UK is too much for me, time to try and make my own ark concave.
Not going to go into a great deal of detail as to how I did this, needless to say I spent several hard hours and used a pile of sandpaper on it today.
Not sure if it's exactly accurate, but the stone definately has a peak running up it and a small dome in the middle.

I'd forgotten how hard these stones are. One thing is for sure, I won't be doing this again any time soon.
I can understand why Jarrod doesn't want to start a production line for these, even although he has a useable template to make them.

Smoothed it out a bit with 400g w&d after taking this pic.
View attachment 1000871

Think I've made headway with the Scottish razor, using sewing machine oil.
View attachment 1000870
Definately seems sharper than it was. My hard black ark is pretty slow, probably why I never used it much.
But if it makes a big difference to my razors, i'll be using it more often from now on.

Going to try my Tanifuji and Fili 13 on it now.
Will do a test shave with either of those two later tonight, assuming all went well.

Super interesting, Doug.

I would have zero idea how to go about making a convex stone and admire you and Jarrod for figuring it out.

Actually I can imagine the broad outlines of a device of my devise which might do a good job of it and be easy enough to use. Building such an item would be a major undertaking. Worse, various links in the chain would have to be tested. In other words, just working it all out and building a prototype would cost a small fortune and take a ton of time.

Besides that, I have no idea how to get the exact amount of curve.

I have a friend who is a very practical guy. He can fix anything. To him it's all easy. Anyway, he's also a mechanical engineer. I'll see if he's interested in discussing this.

Obviously we're just playing with this, but I also have a friend who is a computer engineer. He designs automated industrial tasks. Some he's described to me have looked to be very very complex. Automating the grinding/lapping of a convex stone should be easy for him. I just have to come up with a million bucks or two for testing, prototypes, salaries, etc.

I'm pretty sold on convex stones.

You must be fairly or more than fairly confident you've done it right and made a good convex stone. Otherwise I wouldn't think you'd trust your good blades to your new stone.

I know Jarrod and others say the convex stone is fast. I assume they mean fast for an Ark. My convex experience isn't extensive but I've not noticed my convex stone's speed.

Well, it's faster than molasses I guess.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
Super interesting, Doug.

I would have zero idea how to go about making a convex stone and admire you and Jarrod for figuring it out.

Actually I can imagine the broad outlines of a device of my devise which might do a good job of it and be easy enough to use. Building such an item would be a major undertaking. Worse, various links in the chain would have to be tested. In other words, just working it all out and building a prototype would cost a small fortune and take a ton of time.

Besides that, I have no idea how to get the exact amount of curve.

I have a friend who is a very practical guy. He can fix anything. To him it's all easy. Anyway, he's also a mechanical engineer. I'll see if he's interested in discussing this.

Obviously we're just playing with this, but I also have a friend who is a computer engineer. He designs automated industrial tasks. Some he's described to me have looked to be very very complex. Automating the grinding/lapping of a convex stone should be easy for him. I just have to come up with a million bucks or two for testing, prototypes, salaries, etc.

I'm pretty sold on convex stones.

You must be fairly or more than fairly confident you've done it right and made a good convex stone. Otherwise I wouldn't think you'd trust your good blades to your new stone.

I know Jarrod and others say the convex stone is fast. I assume they mean fast for an Ark. My convex experience isn't extensive but I've not noticed my convex stone's speed.

Well, it's faster than molasses I guess.

Happy shaves,

Jim
I watched a few of Jarrod's videos about them and he did say in one that it doesn't matter if the peak isn't exactly down the centre. Once you start using it you'll get a feel of the stones shape.
I think the important thing is the stone is not flat, but curved all over, in all directions. That means the edge will not make full contact along it's length when laid down on the stone. But by doing various types of strokes (X-strokes, circles, etc) you can assure that all of the edge will at least touch one part of the stone during the stroke. This makes it ideal for honing wonky razors.
I don't have a soft ark (yet), so for now I can only use mine for finishing.

After trying it out with my "mule" razor and then the Glasgow razor, I saw that it wasn't doing them any harm. It does appear to be doing what it's supposed to be doing. Certainly, after honing the Fili and Tanifuji, I'm confident they will shave ok.
How much better? They were pretty good to start with, I'll find out soon enough.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Sunday's shave was okay.

7-21-19.Herder76.Kit.640.Off-DCAJPG.JPG


Late in the afternoon on a day when I didn't require a shave I made very little effort to get a good one. Mostly only one lathered pass + a bit extra on my lower lip and chin. It was a pretty decent shave considering how little work I did.

My kit included some good stuff.
  • The Herder 76 freshly following more finishing work on the DCA.
  • Grooming Dept duck based soap.
  • Zenith Manchurian.
  • Grooming Dept Preshave and Serum.
The edge may be max'd out. I'm not 100% sure but I'm sure it's close to that point.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
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