- Thread starter
- #121
Sounds like an offer I can't refuse! Maybe we should compare notes and work a trade. I've got a pretty wide selection of interesting vintage blades, but not really a huge selection of new blades.
Blade journey
- Thread starter mgweatherly
- Start date
lasta
Blade Biter
Brave man! I'll PM you with a list when I get the chance.
Or do you want to do it mystery box style?
Nothing from my posts on this thread, promise! Unless you want to of course.
LOTS OF NEW BLADES on the market
Sri Lanka vendor , no mention of country of origin.....
www.badgerandblade.com
He hasn’t tried the Sharks yet
! Well they are actually quite ok depending on type - Platinum vs Stainless.Guido
- Thread starter
- #124
I peeked into your thread and there were a LOT of very mysterious looking blades. I couldn't imagine doing 20 shaves in a row using such blades. But, I could imagine throwing one in here and there just for the adventure. No promises on reaching for a BBS finish with any of them though. And, I'll definitely have my a backup razor at the ready loaded with a reliable blade.Brave man! I'll PM you with a list when I get the chance.
Or do you want to do it mystery box style?
Nothing from my posts on this thread, promise! Unless you want to of course.
LOTS OF NEW BLADES on the market
Sri Lanka vendor , no mention of country of origin.....
I'll post a photo later of my collection of obscure vintage blades. Maybe we could throw some of those into the mix.
- Thread starter
- #125
lasta
Blade Biter
I'm guessing Lady Weatherly doesn't object to you displaying shave gear!
BTW, is that stove fuel for outdoor burners to the right? Ingenious way to get rid of blade wax for sure.
- Thread starter
- #127
Lady Weatherly is a model of grace and patience, and I am blessed that she keeps me around. She lets me have my spaces to keep my interesting items. The blades are sitting on top of the "second" curio. I keep them in trays designed to hold dominos or scrabble game pieces. The blade tucks fit perfectly in those trays.
The stuff on the right is not stove fuel. It is Humbrol enamel paint for Red Tips and Blue Tips. You never know when you'll need to touch up one of those razors
. Right? 
- Thread starter
- #128
For my PIF'd Blade Journey shave #11 (rated 9.5/10), I used the following setup:
I very much enjoyed my first time using a Russian NACET. The first pass was super smooth and comfortable with very good but not amazing efficiency. Efficiency was better on my cheeks than on my neck (typical for me). My second pass was also very smooth and left me at a DFS finish everywhere except on the part of my neck under my left jawline (the most challenging spot for me). I used a full third pass to chase a BBS finish, and I mostly succeeded. I did the best I could on my pesky left neck area without overbuffing. I ended without any irritation, just the nice feeling of smooth and taught skin after a good shave.
During my post-shave routine, I discovered that my stubborn neck patch was only at CCS. This happens sometimes for me, and I don’t know why. Maybe I’ll figure it out someday. I had to give a slight downgrade on efficiency to a 9, but I did not go lower because the rest of my face was BBS. This trouble patch is the one place for which I sometimes use a J-hook stroke, but I didn’t use it today because it felt OK during the shave.
The post-shave witch hazel, splash, and balm revealed no signs of irritation, and left my face feeling great. At 12 hours, I had a DFS+ finish and felt no irritation. Excellent.
Summary sheet of my PIF'd Blade Journey is HERE.
Next up is the Lord Crown, which I’ve never used before. From the Lord website, it appears that the company obtained its manufacturing chops from 1978-81 during a joint venture with Wilkinson Sword UK. That bodes well to me because I really like vintage British Wilkinson blades. To avoid bias, I perhaps should not have done this bit of research before I used the blade. Oh well, I can’t unsee it. Here’s a TV commercial to get us all excited about LORD! While I was in the Lord rabbit hole, I stumbled upon (and bought) one of these for $7. I’m hopeless.
- Razor: Birth year 1961 G4 Tech with custom stainless handle by @Rosseforp
- Blade: Gillette NACET
- Brush: Semogue 820 Boar (superb)
- Preshave: Noxema dwell before rinsing (value pre-shave)
- Soap: Daveli Farms Sheep Fat Orange Cedarwood & Oakmoss (excellent)
- After shave: Thayer's unscented Witch Hazel splash followed by vintage Old Spice splash and Intesa balm
I very much enjoyed my first time using a Russian NACET. The first pass was super smooth and comfortable with very good but not amazing efficiency. Efficiency was better on my cheeks than on my neck (typical for me). My second pass was also very smooth and left me at a DFS finish everywhere except on the part of my neck under my left jawline (the most challenging spot for me). I used a full third pass to chase a BBS finish, and I mostly succeeded. I did the best I could on my pesky left neck area without overbuffing. I ended without any irritation, just the nice feeling of smooth and taught skin after a good shave.
During my post-shave routine, I discovered that my stubborn neck patch was only at CCS. This happens sometimes for me, and I don’t know why. Maybe I’ll figure it out someday. I had to give a slight downgrade on efficiency to a 9, but I did not go lower because the rest of my face was BBS. This trouble patch is the one place for which I sometimes use a J-hook stroke, but I didn’t use it today because it felt OK during the shave.
The post-shave witch hazel, splash, and balm revealed no signs of irritation, and left my face feeling great. At 12 hours, I had a DFS+ finish and felt no irritation. Excellent.
Summary sheet of my PIF'd Blade Journey is HERE.
Next up is the Lord Crown, which I’ve never used before. From the Lord website, it appears that the company obtained its manufacturing chops from 1978-81 during a joint venture with Wilkinson Sword UK. That bodes well to me because I really like vintage British Wilkinson blades. To avoid bias, I perhaps should not have done this bit of research before I used the blade. Oh well, I can’t unsee it. Here’s a TV commercial to get us all excited about LORD! While I was in the Lord rabbit hole, I stumbled upon (and bought) one of these for $7. I’m hopeless.
You may already have Mitch so in that case ignore my post, but I have had that too and there are two things that helped me in that area.
One is to lift up the skin on my jaw line (not skin stretching, but pulling up the skin) so that the skin just under the jaw line now finds itself on the jaw line and then I do my pass WTG or XTG.
The other one is tucking in my chin to my chest making the entire surface more flat and then do a XTG. Hard to explain in words for me, but what happens is that my jaw line ‘disappears’ and I can shave jaw line and the part just under the jaw line in one stroke/go.
Guido
- Thread starter
- #130
Thanks Guido! I've tried everything I can think of including the techniques you describe, and I usually get the job done on this patch. For some reason, today was not one of those days, and I wasn't paying close enough attention to know why. Onward and upward!
lasta
Blade Biter
Humbrol? Did you have to look up specific Pantones for that?Lady Weatherly is a model of grace and patience, and I am blessed that she keeps me around. She lets me have my spaces to keep my interesting items. The blades are sitting on top of the "second" curio. I keep them in trays designed to hold dominos or scrabble game pieces. The blade tucks fit perfectly in those trays.
The stuff on the right is not stove fuel. It is Humbrol enamel paint for Red Tips and Blue Tips. You never know when you'll need to touch up one of those razors
BOSC membership worthy for sure. I've recently been denied entry, but maybe you have a better chance!
BTW, what is it going to take to get through the final 0.5? If only one of them could make it, I would have bet on Nacet. I guess all hope lies with the Shark now.
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- Thread starter
- #133
Perfection. I'll know it when I see it (shave it?), and it may not happen with one of these blades on the first shave. It is possible that the Tech is a limiting factor because it is on the mild side. Maybe I'll switch to one of my British TTOs for round two, which are slightly more aggressive but still very controlled. I've had some amazing 10/10 shaves with those razors.
The best shave I've ever had I rated as 11/10 with the Wilkinson Bonded Blade single edge cartridge razor believe it or not. I've still only used that razor once, right before I started this journey. I was genuinely stunned by how good it was. No blade feel, but ridiculously smooth and effective.
- Thread starter
- #134
For my PIF'd Blade Journey shave #12 (rated 7/10), I used the following setup:
My first pass was very smooth and comfortable—top drawer comfortable. But, the blade did not feel particularly sharp. It did not tug; it just didn’t take down my stubble very efficiently anywhere on my face. I couldn’t find any information on Lord’s website about coatings on this blade, but the blade felt like it had some type of comfort coating that made it less sharp. The relative lack of sharpness made it tricky to get the whiskers closest to my nose. A photo of the 200-blade package on the Lord website just describes the Crown blades as “Smooth Blade,” which I can confirm.
My second pass was very similar to the first. I may have subconsciously applied a little extra pressure trying to make up for the lack of efficiency and got one weeper at the right corner of my mouth. My third pass took a long time trying to achieve BBS, but still felt comfortable. Ultimately, I achieved a DFS, but no better. I did not continue buffing to a BBS finish for fear of generating irritation and to be fair to all the other blades for which I stopped at three passes.
As with my last shave using the NACET, during my post-shave routine, I discovered that my stubborn neck patch was only at a CCS level finish. I tried everything during the shave on this trouble spot to no avail. I wasn’t surprised this time because of how much work was needed to take down my whiskers everywhere else. I did touch up this patch again during the post shave, which helped a tiny bit. This blade just isn’t sharp enough on its first shave.
Even though the shave was very comfortable, the post-shave witch hazel and Old Spice splash stung a little more than usual. The Cella Extra Extra Bio balm is very soothing and felt great on my face. Despite the sting, I do not feel much irritation except a tiny bit in my moustache area and near the weeper at the right corner of my mouth.
At 12 hours, I had a CCS- level of stubble but still no irritation. So, the blade performed well on the smoothness and irritation axes, but quite poorly on the efficiency and closeness axes. In some sense, this shave felt a little like the result I get using a Harry’s cartridge, which is not a complement.
Summary sheet of my PIF'd Blade Journey is HERE.
Next up is the Vietnamese DORCO ST300, which I’ve never used before. I certainly hope this blade shaves better than its Korean ST301 twin.
- Razor: Birth year 1961 G4 Tech with custom stainless handle by @Rosseforp
- Blade: Lord Crown Super Stainless
- Brush: Semogue Owner’s Club Mistura Taj (my favorite)
- Pre-shave: Noxema dwell before rinsing (good value pre-shave)
- Soap: Mike’s Natural Tallow Soap, Barber Shop (excellent)
- Post shave: Thayer's Witch Hazel followed by vintage Old Spice splash and then Cella Extra Extra Bio balm (excellent)
My first pass was very smooth and comfortable—top drawer comfortable. But, the blade did not feel particularly sharp. It did not tug; it just didn’t take down my stubble very efficiently anywhere on my face. I couldn’t find any information on Lord’s website about coatings on this blade, but the blade felt like it had some type of comfort coating that made it less sharp. The relative lack of sharpness made it tricky to get the whiskers closest to my nose. A photo of the 200-blade package on the Lord website just describes the Crown blades as “Smooth Blade,” which I can confirm.
My second pass was very similar to the first. I may have subconsciously applied a little extra pressure trying to make up for the lack of efficiency and got one weeper at the right corner of my mouth. My third pass took a long time trying to achieve BBS, but still felt comfortable. Ultimately, I achieved a DFS, but no better. I did not continue buffing to a BBS finish for fear of generating irritation and to be fair to all the other blades for which I stopped at three passes.
As with my last shave using the NACET, during my post-shave routine, I discovered that my stubborn neck patch was only at a CCS level finish. I tried everything during the shave on this trouble spot to no avail. I wasn’t surprised this time because of how much work was needed to take down my whiskers everywhere else. I did touch up this patch again during the post shave, which helped a tiny bit. This blade just isn’t sharp enough on its first shave.
Even though the shave was very comfortable, the post-shave witch hazel and Old Spice splash stung a little more than usual. The Cella Extra Extra Bio balm is very soothing and felt great on my face. Despite the sting, I do not feel much irritation except a tiny bit in my moustache area and near the weeper at the right corner of my mouth.
At 12 hours, I had a CCS- level of stubble but still no irritation. So, the blade performed well on the smoothness and irritation axes, but quite poorly on the efficiency and closeness axes. In some sense, this shave felt a little like the result I get using a Harry’s cartridge, which is not a complement.
Summary sheet of my PIF'd Blade Journey is HERE.
Next up is the Vietnamese DORCO ST300, which I’ve never used before. I certainly hope this blade shaves better than its Korean ST301 twin.
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- Thread starter
- #135
Two questions for everyone.
- Should I use this new arrival for the next time I use a Lord blade (shave #16: the Big Ben)?
- Should I incorporate the Lord Platinum blade into the journey at #21?
1. Maybe you should just use the razor as a break from your blade trials
2. Yes, find some way to include the Platinum class blades
2. Yes, find some way to include the Platinum class blades
- Thread starter
- #137
For my PIF'd Blade Journey lucky shave #13 (rated 8.5/10), I used the following setup:
My first pass was very smooth and comfortable—much more so than the Korean-made ST301. The blade felt sharp enough; it took down stubble with just the very smallest hint of resistance. It also seemed decently efficient, but not a stand out. My second pass was very similar to the first with no irritation or weepers at all—a good sign. The third pass required an average amount of attention and buffing to reach a BBS finish in most places. I was especially happy with the lack of any irritation at all.
During the post-shave routine, I did discover minor stubble (DFS level) on my troublesome left neck just below my jawline. I’m beginning to think that my Tech is the wrong razor to achieve BBS on this area; maybe it’s just too mild. No problem.
I felt very little if any sting with the witch hazel and Stirling splash, and the Stirling balm makes my face feel wonderful. The Stirling products are so good, and the Christmas Eve scent was perfect for my last shave before Christmas morning!
This was my first shave using my new Semogue Gallahad Horse Hair brush (or any horse hair brush). I have hand lathered it a few times to break it in a bit and reduce the odor. I found it to be quite interesting and different than my badger, boar, mixed, and synthetic brushes. The horse hair brush squeezes down to a pretty small volume, smaller than other hair types I think. It feels like it has a decent backbone when scrubbing and a softer backbone when painting; definitely different. The tips felt mildly scritchy but in an invigorating way. I’ll definitely keep it in my rotation.
At 12 hours, I had an oddly inconsistent level of stubble. My cheeks were DFS, but certain areas that I thought I had successfully shaved to BBS on my chin were only CCS. I still had absolutely no irritation. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised and quite satisfied by the overall quality of the shave delivered by this blade. It’s excellent on the irritation score and good to very good on other factors. The closeness factor was the lowest score at 7 for the difficultly with my neck and the inconsistency on my chin. DORCO must be doing something right in its newer Vietnamese factory.
Summary sheet of my PIF'd Blade Journey is HERE.
Next up is the Israeli Personna X-Series blade about which some of you have raved (@Alum Ladd). I’m really looking forward to my Christmas morning shave with it.
- Razor: Birth year 1961 G4 Tech with custom stainless handle by @Rosseforp
- Blade: Vietnamese-made DORCO ST300
- Brush: Semogue Gallahad Horse Hair (first use)
- Pre-shave: Noxema dwell before rinsing (good value pre-shave)
- Soap: Stirling Christmas Eve Soap (superb)
- Post shave: Thayer's Witch Hazel followed by Stirling splash and balm both Christmas Eve (superb)
My first pass was very smooth and comfortable—much more so than the Korean-made ST301. The blade felt sharp enough; it took down stubble with just the very smallest hint of resistance. It also seemed decently efficient, but not a stand out. My second pass was very similar to the first with no irritation or weepers at all—a good sign. The third pass required an average amount of attention and buffing to reach a BBS finish in most places. I was especially happy with the lack of any irritation at all.
During the post-shave routine, I did discover minor stubble (DFS level) on my troublesome left neck just below my jawline. I’m beginning to think that my Tech is the wrong razor to achieve BBS on this area; maybe it’s just too mild. No problem.
I felt very little if any sting with the witch hazel and Stirling splash, and the Stirling balm makes my face feel wonderful. The Stirling products are so good, and the Christmas Eve scent was perfect for my last shave before Christmas morning!
This was my first shave using my new Semogue Gallahad Horse Hair brush (or any horse hair brush). I have hand lathered it a few times to break it in a bit and reduce the odor. I found it to be quite interesting and different than my badger, boar, mixed, and synthetic brushes. The horse hair brush squeezes down to a pretty small volume, smaller than other hair types I think. It feels like it has a decent backbone when scrubbing and a softer backbone when painting; definitely different. The tips felt mildly scritchy but in an invigorating way. I’ll definitely keep it in my rotation.
At 12 hours, I had an oddly inconsistent level of stubble. My cheeks were DFS, but certain areas that I thought I had successfully shaved to BBS on my chin were only CCS. I still had absolutely no irritation. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised and quite satisfied by the overall quality of the shave delivered by this blade. It’s excellent on the irritation score and good to very good on other factors. The closeness factor was the lowest score at 7 for the difficultly with my neck and the inconsistency on my chin. DORCO must be doing something right in its newer Vietnamese factory.
Summary sheet of my PIF'd Blade Journey is HERE.
Next up is the Israeli Personna X-Series blade about which some of you have raved (@Alum Ladd
). I’m really looking forward to my Christmas morning shave with it. 
I found it to be a very pleasant blade to use mg, as I have noted on the X-series Mysteree Blade thread. Rather like an IR with less longevity. I recall finding it perfectly acceptable with a nice mix of smoothness and edge. Some obviously disagreed.Next up is the Israeli Personna X-Series blade about which some of you have raved (@Alum Ladd
Mind you, that was nearly a year back, and I was younger and more carefree then, as was my technique, possessed of a skin downy and youthful, and all seemed possible.
The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. Much like the recollections of a single past blade.
I hope you get some good shaves out of it Brother mg!
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Glad you enjoyed the shave with the Dorco. These do not get a lot of love here mainly because reviews are about the old versions. Great yours is to the contrary.
Guido
Guido
For my PIF'd Blade Journey lucky shave #13 (rated 8.5/10), I used the following setup:
View attachment 1576658
- Razor: Birth year 1961 G4 Tech with custom stainless handle by @Rosseforp
- Blade: Vietnamese-made DORCO ST300
- Brush: Semogue Gallahad Horse Hair (first use)
- Pre-shave: Noxema dwell before rinsing (good value pre-shave)
- Soap: Stirling Christmas Eve Soap (superb)
- Post shave: Thayer's Witch Hazel followed by Stirling splash and balm both Christmas Eve (superb)
My first pass was very smooth and comfortable—much more so than the Korean-made ST301. The blade felt sharp enough; it took down stubble with just the very smallest hint of resistance. It also seemed decently efficient, but not a stand out. My second pass was very similar to the first with no irritation or weepers at all—a good sign. The third pass required an average amount of attention and buffing to reach a BBS finish in most places. I was especially happy with the lack of any irritation at all.
During the post-shave routine, I did discover minor stubble (DFS level) on my troublesome left neck just below my jawline. I’m beginning to think that my Tech is the wrong razor to achieve BBS on this area; maybe it’s just too mild. No problem.
I felt very little if any sting with the witch hazel and Stirling splash, and the Stirling balm makes my face feel wonderful. The Stirling products are so good, and the Christmas Eve scent was perfect for my last shave before Christmas morning!
This was my first shave using my new Semogue Gallahad Horse Hair brush (or any horse hair brush). I have hand lathered it a few times to break it in a bit and reduce the odor. I found it to be quite interesting and different than my badger, boar, mixed, and synthetic brushes. The horse hair brush squeezes down to a pretty small volume, smaller than other hair types I think. It feels like it has a decent backbone when scrubbing and a softer backbone when painting; definitely different. The tips felt mildly scritchy but in an invigorating way. I’ll definitely keep it in my rotation.
At 12 hours, I had an oddly inconsistent level of stubble. My cheeks were DFS, but certain areas that I thought I had successfully shaved to BBS on my chin were only CCS. I still had absolutely no irritation. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised and quite satisfied by the overall quality of the shave delivered by this blade. It’s excellent on the irritation score and good to very good on other factors. The closeness factor was the lowest score at 7 for the difficultly with my neck and the inconsistency on my chin. DORCO must be doing something right in its newer Vietnamese factory.
Summary sheet of my PIF'd Blade Journey is HERE.
Next up is the Israeli Personna X-Series blade about which some of you have raved (@Alum Ladd
I purchased Stirling Christmas Eve and LOVE IT! You have excellent taste
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