Holy smokes man! I'm impressed!I've finally decided on my Fixed Four choices:
View attachment 1612105
And plan to use them as part of tomorrow morning's Maximum Effort™ shave
View attachment 1612106
Preshave Brush: RV Muhle 25mm STF EVH Edition
Preshave Soap: The Bowl of Death
Soap: Mike's Natural Soaps Barber Shop
Razor: Razorock GameChanger .68-P with RR UFO handle
Blade: Gillette Platinum
Brush: Omega Jade Boar
Post: Witch Hazel
Poster: Captain's Choice Bay Rum Balm
Postest: Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion
The fixed four are either old friends or at least familiar to me. I was loaned/given the .68-P by a co-worker in the very early days of my wetshaving adventure. Right around that time I was introduced to vintage gillettes by a local member and was loaned many, then given a Slim. The GameChanger only got a few shaves in before the magic of the Slim overwhelmed me.
The Slim almost ended my razor search, seriously, but then B&B ruined that whole plan.Well, @Guido75 mostly ruined that plan with his generous gifts, but the RAD is real here, which ultimately lead me to using a Tech for the last few months.
For the Fixed Four I'm revisiting that GameChanger and psyched about it. Tons of threads about it here and many brothers I respect are big fans. The rest of the kit are all good friends. The Gillette Platinum is a known great blade for me. I almost switched to a different brush for the event, but I've got 39 consecutive shaves (and two dozen cycles before that) in with the Omega Jade and it's 85% broken in I think - I want to finish it off.
And part of me is still seriously considering making 2023 the Year Of the Boar and only using boar brushes till January. I should talk to the Brotherhood of the Boar guys about that. I have some nice boars now with these new Zenith unbleached ones that just arrived plus the other two I have. I could make it I think!
I love how this Mike's soap performs and smells, I'll have no problem sticking with it for the month. I've been using it for a few weeks of SWS now and I'm thinking about actually 3017ing it. I'd like to be able to say I killed a soap in my first year of wet shaving.
Which is hard to contemplate considering I've got some reaaaaaly nice soaps stacking up (thank you @SgtCrppls, @Chan Eil Whiskers and @Time Bandit for your valuable soap advice). It's a personal impulse control test, really. One of several I seem to have stacking up these days. Seriously, I get into that cabinet and smell them all the time! lol.
Thanks to @thombrogan's suggestion I've got the synthetic brushes dialed in with the Preshave Bowl of Doom now. I kept at it, adding more and more water each time till I discovered I used too much.
But eventually I figured it out.
Compared to a shaving lather, this is practically soapy water. But it sure works great and I enjoy the additional ritual in these high luxury weekend shaves.
I'm looking forward to March. I know I'm going to learn a lot, it's going to be a month of discovery. And fun!
Flask's newbie adventure
- Thread starter flask28
- Start date
I decided, I'm having too much fun to join the The Fixed 4 for March. I'll be more likely to join next year but at the moment, I'm enjoying all the razors I have. I pretty much only use one soap and the SV brushes anyway. I could use one of several DE blades and one AC blade easily. I do think the Fixed 4 is worthwhile.... but I did use the same razor and blade for over 5 months, with just a few blade exceptions.
Nice 'Four'!
BTW, a certain unbleached Zenith got its first face lather assignment today, paired with a certain Scheerstaaf. Big Z is not broken in to the point of Santa lather, but I got slightly more suds than mere soapy water. Two winners!
BTW, a certain unbleached Zenith got its first face lather assignment today, paired with a certain Scheerstaaf. Big Z is not broken in to the point of Santa lather, but I got slightly more suds than mere soapy water. Two winners!
You are definitely not the only one doing artesian then artisan! Check this though, how about using artesian water with your artisan soap? Mind blown...
- Thread starter
- #165
Thank you my man!
- Thread starter
- #166
With your Super Six (or is it Super Seven now?) I wouldn't feel right limiting myself either
lasta
Blade Biter
I don't know about the title man. Making your own soap? I don't think you are a newbie anymore.
- Thread starter
- #168
Thank you sir! Oooh, that didn't take long to get a spin. That's super encouraging, sounds like the break in on these is not too bad.
Playing around with it, I'm finding this handle shape super comfortable. I was worried it would be too tall, too long in the hand. But it's great! It's beating out it's little brother, the 506 for me. Although I'd be happy with either, they are both great shapes. As is the 502, the eagle shape.
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+1 - I think I will go for Mixing Madness in March: enjoy as much of what I have as I can. But the smaller version is SWS and that I can do... at least sometimes...
- Thread starter
- #170
Dude. That's the nicest thing I've heard this week
But, you know, I melted someone else's soap. Barely.
Is it weird I'm still sort of proud of it?
Speaking of the abomination, using a brush and messing around trying to find the right about of water is burning through that soap. More than I'd imagined. I'm going to keep track of how many pre-shaves I get out of it, I bet it's like half normal for The Cube.
Did anyone see the wacky cube they released "only for this weekend?"
I want to call it baby borg. I was tempted for about 15 seconds then came to my senses.
- Thread starter
- #171
The spice of life!
Or my restlessness
Anyway, SWS in February had given me more insights into my collection and rotation than anything else.
I know I am looking very much forward to ending OBiF and loading sharper blades into that shiny GC2 of mine!
Guido
- Thread starter
- #173
You are making me feel old again! I was a little kid, sure, but Olympia blanketed all 36 channels of cable with that commercial here in the PNW.
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- Thread starter
- #174
Or my restlessness
Anyway, SWS in February had given me more insights into my collection and rotation than anything else.
I know I am looking very much forward to ending OBiF and loading sharper blades into that shiny GC2 of mine!
Guido
The Tiger trials have seemed like a real challenge! This is another display of why you are a better man than any of us.
How many times have you polished the GC2 now?
OMG, it just started snowing here again. I know that's not a big deal for many of you, but Portland's one snowplow has been really busy this week. I saw the guy, gave him a sandwich and said thanks as he rolled by.
Olympia was one of my dad's go-to beers in the 80s.
If I kept accurate count I did the cap 5 times - 4 x hand polish and 1x using a hand sander. I did the handle 3 times I believe and the baseplate only 2 times I think - the finish of the baseplate is actually really good and what they should have gone with for the entire razor. But we have to keep in mind they are not a razor company per se, so they will never overly focus on finish I guess.
It is now where I want it to be or where I can take it. I am not experienced enough to go beyond what I have now - and it feels very smooth and soft, so happy camper! And level III and IV on the wish list for later.
Good luck with the snow! It is very sunny here at the moment, usually bright for a winter's day. Winter is extremely mild this year. But when snow does fall here - and we have lots of snow plows - everything comes to a grinding halt as well, because we are less used to it nowadays.
Cheers,
Guido.
It is now where I want it to be or where I can take it. I am not experienced enough to go beyond what I have now - and it feels very smooth and soft, so happy camper! And level III and IV on the wish list for later.
Good luck with the snow! It is very sunny here at the moment, usually bright for a winter's day. Winter is extremely mild this year. But when snow does fall here - and we have lots of snow plows - everything comes to a grinding halt as well, because we are less used to it nowadays.
Cheers,
Guido.
In no particular order:With your Super Six (or is it Super Seven now?) I wouldn't feel right limiting myself either
The Blutt BR-1 1.20
The Green Cult 2.0 Level 2
Lambda Athena
Rocnel Elite
Wolfman WR2
ATT X1 AC Slant
with the Claymore Evolution around my nose.
I can use any of the 5 I have in house at the moment for 12 hour shaves. I hope to be able to say the same about the Wolfman.
I'm sure I'm still learning them all.... but I've developed my technique to a degree that I can learn with each of them every shave. Would I benefit from using them one by one, 4 weeks in a row? I'd probably learn the nuances more quickly that way... but 6 months of experimentation doesn't appeal to me at this point.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
I've finally decided on my Fixed Four choices:
View attachment 1612105
And plan to use them as part of tomorrow morning's Maximum Effort™ shave
View attachment 1612106
Preshave Brush: RV Muhle 25mm STF EVH Edition
Preshave Soap: The Bowl of Death
Soap: Mike's Natural Soaps Barber Shop
Razor: Razorock GameChanger .68-P with RR UFO handle
Blade: Gillette Platinum
Brush: Omega Jade Boar
Post: Witch Hazel
Poster: Captain's Choice Bay Rum Balm
Postest: Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion
The fixed four are either old friends or at least familiar to me. I was loaned/given the .68-P by a co-worker in the very early days of my wetshaving adventure. Right around that time I was introduced to vintage gillettes by a local member and was loaned many, then given a Slim. The GameChanger only got a few shaves in before the magic of the Slim overwhelmed me.
The Slim almost ended my razor search, seriously, but then B&B ruined that whole plan.
For the Fixed Four I'm revisiting that GameChanger and psyched about it. Tons of threads about it here and many brothers I respect are big fans. The rest of the kit are all good friends. The Gillette Platinum is a known great blade for me. I almost switched to a different brush for the event, but I've got 39 consecutive shaves (and two dozen cycles before that) in with the Omega Jade and it's 85% broken in I think - I want to finish it off.
And part of me is still seriously considering making 2023 the Year Of the Boar and only using boar brushes till January. I should talk to the Brotherhood of the Boar guys about that. I have some nice boars now with these new Zenith unbleached ones that just arrived plus the other two I have. I could make it I think!
I love how this Mike's soap performs and smells, I'll have no problem sticking with it for the month. I've been using it for a few weeks of SWS now and I'm thinking about actually 3017ing it. I'd like to be able to say I killed a soap in my first year of wet shaving.
Which is hard to contemplate considering I've got some reaaaaaly nice soaps stacking up (thank you @SgtCrppls, @Chan Eil Whiskers and @Time Bandit for your valuable soap advice). It's a personal impulse control test, really. One of several I seem to have stacking up these days. Seriously, I get into that cabinet and smell them all the time! lol.
Thanks to @thombrogan's suggestion I've got the synthetic brushes dialed in with the Preshave Bowl of Doom now. I kept at it, adding more and more water each time till I discovered I used too much.
But eventually I figured it out.
Compared to a shaving lather, this is practically soapy water. But it sure works great and I enjoy the additional ritual in these high luxury weekend shaves.
I'm looking forward to March. I know I'm going to learn a lot, it's going to be a month of discovery. And fun!
I'd say good choices for a Fixed.
- Mike's is an excellent base. Thanks for introducing me to it.
- The GC razors are very good indeed.
- Blades are individual. You know what you like.
- That's one synthetic I've not tried but have only heard great things about.
Jim
Loving it by the way that your preshave brush is the EVH Edition. Something Dutch in your shave after all 
.
Guido
.Guido
- Thread starter
- #180
Thank you!! whew, I'm getting good feedback here - I'm starting to relax.
Sorry, that was so confusing - my brush choice for the fixed four is the Omega Jade boar.
I used the STF for my preshave, it's outside the FFFTMM event, technically.I like the STF it but I'm finding synthetics too soft for me, in general. I'm staying openminded though!
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