Hang's Harangues
- Thread starter hangblague
- Start date
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- #223
Alright, noted! Too bad I just ordered some other stuff. Fix your timing, guys!
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- #224
Indian Gillette WS Blade (2)
Brass Karve Razor, SB B Plate
Barrister & Mann Seville Soap
Ace Silvertip Badger Brush
Fine Platinum After Shave
All my April shaves have been puzzling - this one included. Standard WTG, XG, ATG 3 pass shave with very light ATG touch-up. I went back to an old superior performance blade, but the experience was different, just as it was different going back to the Wizamet, and just as the Voskhods had become less satisfactory.
I don't blame the soap or brush. Today's lather was again excellent. I deliberately over-hydrated to see what would happen, but this did not cause the slickness to suffer. I don't blame the razor - after all this was the setup that was giving me such Tech-like comfortable shaves. I want to blame the blades because this is the fun part of the sampling processes - but this doesn't seem right any more. My shave today was far too different from shave 33 (post #127) where I first used this blade. The first two passes were smooth and easy, but the ATG work felt jagged and hot. I couldn't go over and over the stubble ATG as I used to. I couldn't dig in. No blood, but big AS sting. The overall result is something a bit less than a DFS.
My skin feels not quite right. It looks fine. It is not visibly irritated. But it has a kind of light carpet-burn-like feeling. And I think this is what I have been dealing with for the past few shaves, and I'm beginning to think this is more of a single longer-term issue that is interfering with my assessment of individual shaves.
I think that of all the variables that can cause an anomaly like this, the one constantly changing factor is us. Not only are there barely imperceptible changes in our technique and development, one way or the other, but our skin and hair is changing too. On top of that, our personal preferences change ove time as well. Sadly we have very little control over these. The Gillette WS is likely still one of your best blades, the soap, brush and razor likewise, but nothing is certain. I guess time will tell.
One thing I’ll say about SE shaving, there’s less blade choice / variables to worry about, or to blame for that matter.
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- #227
Indian Gillette WS Blade
Brass Karve Razor, SB B Plate
Barrister & Mann Seville Soap
Semogue Pure Badger Brush
Mennen Skin Bracer After Shave
Grabbed a new blade. 3 passes, no touch-up. Very smooth & close, but a few weepers as well. The funny sensitivity was still there - I could feel it even while face lathering.
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- #228
Indian Gillette WS Blade (2)
Brass Karve Razor, SB B Plate
Wholly Kaw Fougère Mania Soap
Semogue Pure Badger Brush
WSP Tobacco After Shave
A successful and smooth 3 pass shave with limited touch-up for a marginal and damage-free DFS. ATG went a bit better than other recent shaves. The new soap is remarkably dense and bubble-free.
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- #230
Indian Gillette WS Blade (3)
Brass Karve Razor, OC C Plate
Wholly Kaw Fougère Mania Soap
Semogue Pure Badger Brush
WSP Tobacco After Shave
I finally returned to the C plate for the Karve, and what a difference in closeness. Much of the result (cheeks in particular) is genuine BBS. I could feel more blade, and the scrape-iness of it was not overly pleasant, but my shaves were going that way with the B plate anyway. 1 weeper in an unusual spot. Big AS sting.
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- #231
Indian Gillette WS Blade (4)
Brass Karve Razor, OC C Plate
Wholly Kaw Fougère Mania Soap
Ace Silvertip Badger Brush
Fine Platinum After Shave
3 passes plus minimal touch-up for a dangerous feeling and remarkably close shave. I could never get this result under my chin with the B plate.
I just tried to remove the accent over the e in Fougere with my finger tip. I thought it was a speck of something on my screen, haha!
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- #233
Indian Gillette WS Blade (5)
Brass Karve Razor, OC C Plate
Wholly Kaw Fougère Mania Soap
Semogue 2010 Pure Badger Brush
Aqua Velva After Shave
A little rushed tonight and the last pass felt raw and dangerous. Still, I emerged with an excellent result, though not quite as good as the last two shaves. I'm getting curious about the straight bar C plate for the Karve - maybe that would be my sweet spot. Also, it feels as though the time has come for me to resume new exotic foreign blade locales.
According to Karve the straight bar baseplates are like a half-step between the open comb baseplates. I have the open comb C and D baseplates, but have been thinking of getting a D straight bar baseplate just to see how it compares.
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- #235
Tatra Platinum Premium Stainless Blade - Jevíčko, Czech Republic
Brass Karve Razor, OC C Plate
Wholly Kaw Fougère Mania Soap
Semogue 2010 Pure Badger Brush
WSP Tobacco After Shave
Blade travels are resuming at long last. This shave was not a fair one as I slept in until 6 and lost the hot water race with my family. Still, I managed a superior DFS with minimal damage. I will give this one a better chance.
The home of Czech Blades is Jevíčko (@TinyT: get those specks off your screen!) with a population of approximately 2,800. This must be a contender for smallest blade manufacturing city. A look at the map confirms it is not a bedroom community for a larger centre.
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- #237
Tatra Platinum Premium Stainless Blade (2)
Brass Karve Razor, OC C Plate
Wholly Kaw Fougère Mania Soap
Semogue 2010 Pure Badger Brush
Aqua Velva After Shave
3 passes and I resisted the post shave touch-up. Even so, I got a pretty good result, though the third pass felt dangerous. The soap is great, but doesn't go as far (volume) as other soaps I've used. It's very thin for the third pass.
Czech Blades factory:
Entrepreneurs Milan and Marian from their Forbes Magazine article showing 50's machinery still in use:
If I have the story right, they bought the factory from Gillette (which Gillette had earlier acquired from a local enterprise where Astras were first made). Gillette sold it in order to consolidate operations in St. Petersburg. These boys bought the old machinery and relabeled everything and now make Tatras, Tigers and others. They sell a lot of carbon steel blades in Africa apparently.
Moravian blade babes in action:
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Why do you write such wonderful prose as this?
I like how they left the machines the original colors. Back in those days green signified heavy duty machinery. The switches and buttons look like Allen Bradley. Standing the test of time.
- Thread starter
- #240
Tatra Platinum Premium Stainless Blade (3)
Brass Karve Razor, OC C Plate
Wholly Kaw Fougère Mania Soap
Semogue 2010 Pure Badger Brush
WSP Tobacco After Shave
This morning I decided to reload for the 3rd (ATG) pass. I had noticed was that the WK soap was not quite lasting for the 3rd pass, but felt that the residual slickness sufficed with a thin coat. Reloading resulted in a more comfortable pass, but it seems also to have resulted in more damage - maybe with additional misplaced confidence. I got some upper lip weepers that required the nick stick and I got some neck irritation from overly-aggressive touch-up. A very good result in closeness, but less so in terms of comfort.
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