I tried the XPEC once. It has a unique scent that wasn't in my wheelhouse; but man, it's an outstanding performer - can't deny that.
Paintflinger's Postulations
- Thread starter paintflinger
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- #142
What I cannot figure out is if it has been discontinued.
With regards to the scent, with use it develops into a nicely balanced citrus scent. First use though the scent heavily rose tuber and musk with the citrus on the back end.
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- #143
Hmmm, so upon typing that I have no interest in using my straights, I did an about face and have been using straights for most of my shaves as of late. Specifically, I've been using my honed GD-66 and rehoning it with a different finisher for each shave. Most recent edge was a La Lune that I thought was pretty sharp, bordering on harsh. I plan to touch it up on the ice hone and try it out again.
Overall though, my shaves have been pretty good with the straights. No instances of Murphey, but it has been tough getting a nice BBS shave. The way that the hairs grow on my neck, I simply cannot get a true ATG pass to clean it up.
I've also been exclusively using Mike's Barbershop with Captains Choice Bay Rum/Myrsol Antesol. It's a lovely combination of traditional barbershop scents. Mike's has been a nice 3017, where the shaves are consistently good. However, they have not been exceptional either. Mike's doesn't seem to be as good at prepping the beard as I remember, although it could just be my experience with the high butter soaps talking. I've been lathering it up and then honing/stropping the blade while letting the lather soak in for 5 minutes. I've been finding that it is drying out on the face during this period and I cannot figure out, if it is too much water or too little water as the cause.
I'll try to post a picture of tomorrow's SOTD tonight. I'm thinking that my Scheon Berg needs a little attention and I'd love to see what kind of an edge it takes off the La Lune.
Lastly, is $70 reasonable for a nice Thuri from all you rock heads out there?
Wishing you all Murphey-less shaves,
-Derek
Overall though, my shaves have been pretty good with the straights. No instances of Murphey, but it has been tough getting a nice BBS shave. The way that the hairs grow on my neck, I simply cannot get a true ATG pass to clean it up.
I've also been exclusively using Mike's Barbershop with Captains Choice Bay Rum/Myrsol Antesol. It's a lovely combination of traditional barbershop scents. Mike's has been a nice 3017, where the shaves are consistently good. However, they have not been exceptional either. Mike's doesn't seem to be as good at prepping the beard as I remember, although it could just be my experience with the high butter soaps talking. I've been lathering it up and then honing/stropping the blade while letting the lather soak in for 5 minutes. I've been finding that it is drying out on the face during this period and I cannot figure out, if it is too much water or too little water as the cause.
I'll try to post a picture of tomorrow's SOTD tonight. I'm thinking that my Scheon Berg needs a little attention and I'd love to see what kind of an edge it takes off the La Lune.
Lastly, is $70 reasonable for a nice Thuri from all you rock heads out there?
Wishing you all Murphey-less shaves,
-Derek
Too funny! But good that you've been getting good results.
I've been using Mike's soaps more often the last year. I think it's one of the best available - works very well with me, best with one of my denser brushes.
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- #145
Chris, I am using my SV Manchurian with it. Massive and nicely dense brush. It's just that Mike's is a tiny bit too fluffy and it doesn't seem to hold the amount of water I like to put in. With that said, I've still had very happy skin since I've started using it, so I'm really just quibbling. I think Mike's lather makes a lot of the guys that like T&H, DR Harris, Pens, etc. (the old established creams and soaps) really happy because of that though because that is exactly the type of lather that those creams/soaps produce.
For my shave today, I honed up my Hart and Tcheon Berg on the mystery La Lune. Nicked my homemade Roo strop with the Tcheon Berg (no biggie) and got to shaving. The edge is quite sharp and borders on smooth, but there's also this hint of harshness. A lot of La Lune posts state that a bit a glycerine or oil is needed to keep the edge from getting too harsh, but I'll just strop for a couple days and see what happens to the edge.
The Mike's lather was the best I've gotten out of it for the past couple of weeks. Very much a nice thin yogurt (not Greek) that didn't break down badly while letting it sit on my face. Skin is quite happy as I sit here and type this.
I do have a SOC boar arriving today, so I think I'll be retiring the SV2.0 in order to break in the SOC with Mike's.
Best shaving wishes,
-Derek
Roger all, Derek. BTW, how do you like the Kangaroo for a strop (prior to the nick 
)?
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- #147
I use it for every shave, it seems to do a fair job of cleaning the edge up. This kangaroo leather has a pretty heavy draw to it, which I've found I prefer to light draw strops. The thinness of the leather is interesting too in use. That bit is hard to describe though. The leather itself is incredibly durable and not prone to the mosquito bite scratches from flipping blades.
I've got enough leather for 2-3 more strops. I'll see if I can whip one together and send it your way if you like.
I've got enough leather for 2-3 more strops. I'll see if I can whip one together and send it your way if you like.
I had heard that kangaroo strops were thin, but incredibly strong. And I prefer a heavier draw as well (that's why I don't have shell cordovan - that's like skating on ice)....and sure! I'd like to try one. Thanks!
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- #150
Cool, I'll try to cut a new one out in the next couple of weeks. Do you like 2, 2.5, or 3 inch width and what's your ideal length with a barber end (plain leather)?
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- #151
Thanks Dave.
As far as my shave goes today, it was interesting. I am breaking in my new SOC boar and have high hopes for the brush.
A couple of notes about it.
1. This is not a big knot. I've seen so many posts complaining about it being a lather hog and a beast of a brush. It barely held enough lather for 2 passes, so I'm not sure why it has the reputation it does, short of those coming from 19mm brushes.
2. The bottom of my handle is not flat. It will sit flat, but wobbles if touched at all. Not sure if this is a unique issue or common to all SOCs.
Razor today was my Hart Steel 6/8 square point that is from the batch of razors purported to be prone to micro-chipping and being unable to take a edge. Based on my edge off the La Lune thuri, my razor at the very least, can take a nice, smooth edge. The razor itself is a pain to hone due to the slight smile and the fact that the geometry is screwed up from the factory, but that can be worked around. I personally love the feel of the blade in hand, but wish the blade was a bit shorter in length, especially with the square point.
Soap is still Mike's Barbershop and it let me down quite a bit today. I loaded up with the SOC and thought that I had a nice slick lather. Due to running out of lather after the first 2 passes, I elected to use some Cremo Bourbon to finish the shave. The 3rd pass was like the hart was a skate and my face was ice. I love the Mike's lather, but it paled in comparison to Cremo and I've concluded that I really need to work on my Mike's lather to try and figure things out. For those that are wondering, Cremo Bourbon is a fantastic scent and everyone should have a tube in their den.
I'll probably try to hone the Hart on a Jnat and the Tcheon Berg on film in order to compare to the La Lune edges. That or I may touch them up on a small Thuri I bought from Gamma that is supposed to finish at an Escher level for comparison purposes.
I think that's all for now,
-Derek
I had an SOC boar once. I was very underwhelmed.
nice write-ups Derek. I just got to try out Mike's for the first time the other day, and it was nice but underwhelming after using L&L and Wholly Kaw the previous two days. Just a different type of lather.
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- #155
So it's been a couple days since I last update the journal. One big shaving change is that I'm going to be stopping use of Mike's and adding it to my sell pile (still need to put up a massive Sell thread). As you can see on Friday's shave, I used Mike's, but had to switch to the Cremo Bourbon due to lack of slickness and poor skin/beard conditioning. Mike's lathers up nicely, but the actual lather qualities really do not pass muster.
The actual shave with the Cremo was beautiful. The ERN Ator has an exemplary edge that I touched up recently on the la lune and then on the primitive Escher quality thuri in the SOTD. I do need to touch up the heel as the blade actual sticks past the scales a tiny bit. It hasn't bitten me, but I heard the tell tale sound of metal scraping on the stone as I went to set up the SOTD. Fine AB was a fantastic finish to the shave, as always. I am going to be utilizing acquatic or "manly" type aftershaves in the near future as SWMBO is complaining that I'm abusing the floral scents too much.
Friday's shave
So, now that I've decided to bin the Mike's, I was looking through my stash and decided to try the Savonniere de Moulin again as I only used it for one shave when purchased. Immediately I could feel the difference with the donkey milk soap and how hydrating it is. This soap will lather if you look at it funny. I expect 2 months of some quality 3017 lathers.
The SOC boar is starting to break in nicely. I keep forgetting to try the cold water break in method with it, but may try to do it tonight.
The razor is a Hart 6/8 square point that I have been struggling to whip into good shape. Supposedly Hart hones these with a massive Escher stone and one layer of tape. I personally hate tape and have been honing it without since I received the razor. What drives me bonkers is that the blade has terrible spine geometry and a rolling X stroke is required to hone it properly. The problem is that the heel requires such an exaggerated roll that I almost never hit the edge properly. I think I'm going to take it to the DMT again with the edge taped it try to correct the spine so that I can hit the heel and toe smoothly.
With that said, the actual shave wasn't half bad. The edge was nicely smooth and almost as sharp as I like it. Definetely DFS and actually on par with the Ator shave yesterday.
Saturday's Shave
Couple of final postulations. I've got a Koraat #14-2 on order with the ice scales, single shoulder, and extra thinning (basically the one in Koraat's images). Pretty dang excited for that.
I've also got a Vintage Certifyd 165A Russia Shell strop coming in. I believe the Russian shell is hide taken from the belly area and not true Cordovan, but this strop looked pretty impressive and it was New in Packaging. I can probably track down a photo from the ebay listing, but the photos weren't the best. I'm hugely interested in the secondary component. It looks like soft pillowy heaven.
The actual shave with the Cremo was beautiful. The ERN Ator has an exemplary edge that I touched up recently on the la lune and then on the primitive Escher quality thuri in the SOTD. I do need to touch up the heel as the blade actual sticks past the scales a tiny bit. It hasn't bitten me, but I heard the tell tale sound of metal scraping on the stone as I went to set up the SOTD. Fine AB was a fantastic finish to the shave, as always. I am going to be utilizing acquatic or "manly" type aftershaves in the near future as SWMBO is complaining that I'm abusing the floral scents too much.
Friday's shave
So, now that I've decided to bin the Mike's, I was looking through my stash and decided to try the Savonniere de Moulin again as I only used it for one shave when purchased. Immediately I could feel the difference with the donkey milk soap and how hydrating it is. This soap will lather if you look at it funny. I expect 2 months of some quality 3017 lathers.
The SOC boar is starting to break in nicely. I keep forgetting to try the cold water break in method with it, but may try to do it tonight.
The razor is a Hart 6/8 square point that I have been struggling to whip into good shape. Supposedly Hart hones these with a massive Escher stone and one layer of tape. I personally hate tape and have been honing it without since I received the razor. What drives me bonkers is that the blade has terrible spine geometry and a rolling X stroke is required to hone it properly. The problem is that the heel requires such an exaggerated roll that I almost never hit the edge properly. I think I'm going to take it to the DMT again with the edge taped it try to correct the spine so that I can hit the heel and toe smoothly.
With that said, the actual shave wasn't half bad. The edge was nicely smooth and almost as sharp as I like it. Definetely DFS and actually on par with the Ator shave yesterday.
Saturday's Shave
Couple of final postulations. I've got a Koraat #14-2 on order with the ice scales, single shoulder, and extra thinning (basically the one in Koraat's images). Pretty dang excited for that.
I've also got a Vintage Certifyd 165A Russia Shell strop coming in. I believe the Russian shell is hide taken from the belly area and not true Cordovan, but this strop looked pretty impressive and it was New in Packaging. I can probably track down a photo from the ebay listing, but the photos weren't the best. I'm hugely interested in the secondary component. It looks like soft pillowy heaven.
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- #156
Check out that secondary. Not sure what it is, but I wanted it.
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- #158
Thanks Dave, that Hart drives me batty trying to hone it though. Love the scales.
Great post, Derek!
Great update, Derek! The linen component looks great, looking forward to your views on it.
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