Damn Comfortable Shave

[Cal]

I'd like a side by side, Cal, if it's not a bother.

No prob. I'll do one, and post it, tomorrow around this time.

You really like your wee knots!

Aye.

Do you use the Wee Scot much? Why or why not?

Hardly ever. Although it has "best" hair, it feels exactly like my two other small Simpsons in "pure"; i.e. scritchy which I do not like, although like yourself I do like "scrub." It's a bit on the floppy side too, but it does make a good lather.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

(I )hardly ever (use my Wee Scot). Although it has "best" hair, it feels exactly like my two other small Simpsons in "pure"; i.e. scritchy which I do not like, although like yourself I do like "scrub." It's a bit on the floppy side too, but it does make a good lather.

The more I read about Simpson's Best hair, the more I become convinced there is a considerably large range within Best when it comes to softness. Some say it's uncomfortably scritchy. Others can barely tell it from Simpson's Super Badger. I do not think the reviews of the hair are just subjective; I think there's a range of softness within Simpson's hair grades. Of course, that's just an opinion and it's derived almost entirely from reading reviews.

Speaking of Super Badger, I'm test driving a borrowed Vulfix 2236 Silvertip Badger. The Vulfix silvertip is, according to Jarrod at Superior Shave, identical to Simpson Super Badger.




I don't know the Simpson Super Badger (never used a Simpson brush) but I would have guessed any Vulfix silvertip to be quite a bit softer than this example turns out to be. Again, not saying the Vulfix should be softer to be acceptable, but it's not in the league of softness of my other silvertips. It's soft but not as soft as I expected.

In the thumbnail ^ the Vulfix is damp. It's a huge brush and a huge knot.



In transit I have a Simpson's Chubby 2 in Best. Purchased yesterday ^ from a member, it is brand new, and has never been used. In other words, I'm going to find out about Best for myself. It will be my first brush in Best and my first Simpson.

I'll look out for the Wee Scot and Mixed Midget photo, Cal. Do you ever use the Mixed Midget? Why or why not?

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Rosseforp]

I don't know the Simpson Super Badger (never used a Simpson brush) but I would have guessed any Vulfix silvertip to be quite a bit softer than this example turns out to be. Again, not saying the Vulfix should be softer to be acceptable, but it's not in the league of softness of my other silvertips. It's soft but not as soft as I expected.

You can read all you want about Simpson brushes, Jim, but until you have actually used one........
I got mine the same time that I got my Omega.
My Simpson is very soft, it is plush. I love the handle, the handle is perfect.
The knot is also a lot smaller than I expected. Did I say that it is soft? Very soft, with a ton of backbone as it is packed very tight.
The Simpson wasn't cheap either........

It will get a good workout soon, but I can say this, it will never top my Omega..........

 

[AshleyQ]

The more I read about Simpson's Best hair, the more I become convinced there is a considerably large range within Best when it comes to softness. Some say it's uncomfortably scritchy. Others can barely tell it from Simpson's Super Badger. I do not think the reviews of the hair are just subjective; I think there's a range of softness within Simpson's hair grades. Of course, that's just an opinion and it's derived almost entirely from reading reviews.

Speaking of Super Badger, I'm test driving a borrowed Vulfix 2236 Silvertip Badger. The Vulfix silvertip is, according to Jarrod at Superior Shave, identical to Simpson Super Badger.


View attachment 1091697

I don't know the Simpson Super Badger (never used a Simpson brush) but I would have guessed any Vulfix silvertip to be quite a bit softer than this example turns out to be. Again, not saying the Vulfix should be softer to be acceptable, but it's not in the league of softness of my other silvertips. It's soft but not as soft as I expected.

In the thumbnail ^ the Vulfix is damp. It's a huge brush and a huge knot.

View attachment 1091702

In transit I have a Simpson's Chubby 2 in Best. Purchased yesterday ^ from a member, it is brand new, and has never been used. In other words, I'm going to find out about Best for myself. It will be my first brush in Best and my first Simpson.

I'll look out for the Wee Scot and Mixed Midget photo, Cal. Do you ever use the Mixed Midget? Why or why not?

Happy shaves,

Jim

My Duke 3 in best is scritcy which I’m not a fan off, but my Commodore X3 in best is so soft with nice backbone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Saturday's shave was good.

3P is a good soap, but it's not as good in my view as Vitos Red (but, then again, what is?).

Man, this is a good razor!



Yummy.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

My Duke 3 in best is scritcy which I’m not a fan off, but my Commodore X3 in best is so soft with nice backbone.

That's what I hear everywhere about Simpson's Best. Variable. Highly variable. Glad one of yours is great!

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Cal]

I'll look out for the Wee Scot and Mixed Midget photo, Cal.

................... Wee Scot . Mixed Midget
..............Knot: 15 ....... 22
..............Loft: 39 ....... 46
Handle Width (max): 24 ....... 32
.....Handle Height: 31 ....... 36
......Total Height: 70 ....... 86

These are my measurements and the knot is measured at the top of the handle. The actual knot dimension (quoted by manufacturers) is consistently 2mm less in my experience (giving 1mm play all round for placing and gluing in the handle).

Do you ever use the Mixed Midget? Why or why not?

I gave up using the Mixed Midget for exactly the same reason I gave up using the Wee Scot — too much scritch.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

View attachment 1091853
................... Wee Scot . Mixed Midget
..............Knot: 15 ....... 22
..............Loft: 39 ....... 46
Handle Width (max): 24 ....... 32
.....Handle Height: 31 ....... 36
......Total Height: 70 ....... 86

These are my measurements and the knot is measured at the top of the handle. The actual knot dimension (quoted by manufacturers) is consistently 2mm less in my experience (giving 1mm play all round for placing and gluing in the handle).

I gave up using the Mixed Midget for exactly the same reason I gave up using the Wee Scot — too much scritch.

Great and helpful post, Cal, and a lovely photo.

Thanks for all the actual measurements. As we know, what we measure is oftentimes different from what the vendors tell us (and sometimes for good reasons).

For me, the Wee Scot would be a novelty brush and maybe a pretend travel brush. I wouldn't take it on a trip unless I enjoyed using it. I kinda enjoy using the Mixed Midget on occasion, but I can't imagine using it every day. It's too scritchy for that. Besides that, it's not like I travel; particularly I seldom fly so it's not like I have a huge space and weight issue when going on a car trip (and I don't do much of that either). If I were going on a weekend car trip and concerned about my brush drying rapidly I've got the Omega Evo, a brush I actually like using.

I'm going to forget about buying a Wee Scot. At least for now I am. Surely it will surface again down the road, and I'll return to this information to hammer it down again.

I'm not entirely settled on these definitions of terms but I'm working towards it.

• Backbone is resistance to splay such that splay occurs long before you could feel the glue bump if it's there to be felt.
• Mashing is splay on steroids. It's necessary in the absence of sufficient backbone.
• Scrub is the feeling of the knot in its entirety as it exfoliates your skin. It feels good by definition to everyone who likes scrub. There is no bad scrub.
• Good scritch is the feeling of scrub provided by individual hairs and bristles. It's a component of scrub but also distinct from scrub. It's always good.
• Bad scritch is the unpleasant prickly feeling imparted by incorrigible hairs and bristles which need to be taught better manners. It's always bad.

These terms and qualities are more important for face latherers. Bowl latherers can use paint brushes but face latherers need shaving brushes.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Cal]

• Good scritch is the feeling of scrub provided by individual hairs and bristles. It's a component of scrub but also distinct from scrub. It's always good.
• Bad scritch is the unpleasant prickly feeling imparted by incorrigible hairs and bristles which need to be taught better manners. It's always bad.

Don't forget that ol' thread we both used to like (I still do).

Scritch: As per the Wiki glossary — a hybrid word of scratchy & itchy. I would toss “prickly” into the mix too (although I expect “scratchy” was in fact meant to include prickly). Is scritch a positive or negative characteristic though? I guess it depends on who’s perceiving the scritch and how much scritch there is. Personally, I don’t love it. Most examples of Simpson’s Best hair have some scritch. A few — the B&B LE/Simpson Eagle G3 in Best comes to mind — are virtually scritchless, similar to Simpson’s Super grade. Shavemac’s Finest has some scritch — although I think less than Simpson’s Best. Thater has no scritch. The original Rooney Heritage hair had no scritch.

Scrub: Distinct from scritch, scrub is a sense of friction from the brush hair as it is worked on the skin but is not connected to scritch. In other words a brush may be scrubby with or without feeling scratchy, itchy or prickly in any way (e.g. above-mentioned Eagle G3 in Best or Chubby in 3-band super). Conversely a brush may be scritchy without being scrubby — a Shavemac 22709 Finest comes to mind. Some knots, like the Thater 3-band, have neither scritch nor scrub. With a Thater, IMO, the feeling of the hairs working across the face is virtually imperceptible; the feel is indistinct from simply being able to feel that the knot is making contact with your face. Some people describe scrub as the brush exfoliating the skin.

So scrub is plenty fine with me, but NOT scritch.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Don't forget that ol' thread we both used to like (I still do).

So scrub is plenty fine with me, but NOT scritch.

I like that old thread and definitions, too. Thanks for linking to the information.

I don't like bad scritch but I like good scritch. I find the distinction useful, but maybe that's just me.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[shelby]

Welcome to the shaving obsessed world, Chan!! Take you time and enjoy the ride. You were smart not to mention the shoes. I enjoy many razors... different formats DE, SE, and straight. It's a hobby to me.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Sunday's shave was nice.

I'm pretty sure this brush is a silvertip.

Lots of yummy scents today.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Monday I got another good shave.

Great kit.





This is the only DE blade I have use.

Hyaluronic acid after every shave, applied to damp skin. A couple of globs. Not much.

Great scent. One of my top three daily splashes. Currently favored for sure.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Tuesday my shave was good.

Nice. Nice. Nice.




Yummy. Yummy. Yummy.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Rosseforp]

My Type E showed up today

It didn't have a blade installed when I got it, but was in pretty good condition, as far as I can tell. Looks pretty aggressive. Impressive blade exposure too.

It doesn't appear to be an open to clean, but what would I know?

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

My Type E showed up today View attachment 1093325

It didn't have a blade installed when I got it, but was in pretty good condition, as far as I can tell. Looks pretty aggressive. Impressive blade exposure too.
View attachment 1093329
It doesn't appear to be an open to clean, but what would I know?

Good looking. Especially the handle. From what I can see it looks to be in good shape. Can you take a picture of the same side is that photo but showing the spring? Other photos from various angles?

If it opens like this ^ the spring will easily be turned to the left.

It really does't matter if it's an open to clean. Not in terms of the shave.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Rosseforp]

Good looking. Especially the handle. From what I can see it looks to be in good shape. Can you take a picture of the same side is that photo but showing the spring? Other photos from various angles?

If it opens like this ^ the spring will easily be turned to the left.

It really does't matter if it's an open to clean. Not in terms of the shave.

Jim, it does look like it opens that way. I'm afraid of bending the spring. Is there a special tool used to open it with?
The blade when installed fits firm, but the plate has a little play, is that normal?
This is the first injector razor that I have even looked at. And, yes, I think the handle looks rad.......

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Jim, it does look like it opens that way. I'm afraid of bending the spring. Is there a special tool used to open it with?
The blade when installed fits firm, but the plate has a little play, is that normal?
This is the first injector razor that I have even looked at. And, yes, I think the handle looks rad.......

Yours is definitely NOT an open to clean E-2.

You'd damage it if you tried to open it.

Let me show you how and why mine opens, etc.

See how at the top of my spring there's no tab notch and no tab in the center of my spring? Yours has a tab notch and a tab in the tab notch; that tab is to keep yours from turning to the left or the right.

This ^ is a closer view of mine. See how there's nothing stopping me from rotating the spring towards the viewer here?

On the other side of mine there's a little bump which prevents me from rotating the spring in that direction.

I can open mine only by rotating the spring in one direction.

If you try to open yours you'll probably damage it. I don't know if it will even open, but I'd not try it. Yours is designed to not open.

The blade when installed fits firm, but the plate has a little play, is that normal?

I'm not sure what you're saying when you say the plate has a little play. Tell me in another way what you mean cause I'm not getting it.

You'll be interested in this gentleman's excellent material and photos as well as other Schick injector model classification systems you'll run across. Notice how there are several interesting variations of everything.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Rosseforp]

I'm not sure what you're saying when you say the plate has a little play. Tell me in another way what you mean cause I'm not getting it.

Jim,

After looking further into it, I found that I had what is called a problem head.


It appears that this end of the spring was bent, probably from either me fiddling with it, or it might have already been bent. Instead of twisting the spring at the base of the rivet, I straightened the tab of the spring so that it looked like the tab on the other side. Only one side was bent. And only a little bit.

This is the after picture, I didn't think to take a picture before

In this picture you can see the bottom plate firmly in contact with the corner of the top plate.

In this picture you can see that the lower plate is firmly contacting the top plate, ensuring proper pre-load. (I read that)
The end of the spring was bent and not contacting the lower plate. This is how it looks now after straightening. It involved toothpicks and needle-nose pliers. And other implements of destruction.............and some cussing.

I know a lot more about these injector razors now, and what to look for. The blade gap on this particular E2 is right at .035", so expect it to be fairly "efficient".......... Of course, yesterday I knew nothing, so that isn't saying much.

I am looking forward to trying it out, but I need to load up a Polsilver SI in my GC84 and see if that helps it. The SuperMax BD(16) gave me a BBS last night in my Piccolo, though it was not the most comfortable shave. WTG and XTG great, ATG tugged.

I will probably be looking for another E2, and maybe an M3 and L type, not to sure about the tennis racket handle, though it might grow on me.......... the O types seem to be priced for people that only want to collect them, and ebarbeshop website is down at the moment......

Then there is the MMOC and Bullet Tip that showed up earlier this week. They are both cleaned up, with no apparent mechanical problems. I must say that I am pretty impressed with their construction. Not sure when I will try them out......... I have some CVS blades, and some GEM SS blades coming from Connaught. I know nothing about the blades for those razors.

Thanks for all the help, I really do appreciate it.
Doug

 

[Esox]

Then there is the MMOC and Bullet Tip that showed up earlier this week. They are both cleaned up, with no apparent mechanical problems. I must say that I am pretty impressed with their construction.

Soviet build quality lol. You'd have to try pretty hard to make either unusable.