I used that exact method to get my DE89 on discount. Then I cancelled the subscription, easy peasy. I troll Amazon occasionally looking for similar opportunities with Parker razors, and I have a standing sub for GSBs every month which has been a good deal for me.Look at that! You can get a DE89 25% off if you...........subscribe? Yep I certainly need a DE89 monthly going forward. Makes perfect sense.
View attachment 1841733
Quest for less technology
- Thread starter blethenstrom
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #2,282
That is true! I completely forgot that you can do that. Thanks for the tip!
I'm glad you posted this, as that one was on my radar, I shall cross it off. I am pleasantly surprised with the Platinum black and blue-black, they work fine on my copy paper at work.
- Thread starter
- #2,284
Yeah I wanted to like this ink, but I cannot. For black I think the regular Noodler's black is the way to go like I mentioned. I am however going to try the Platinum Carbon Black which I have a bottle of and see how it is on cheaper paper. This ink is a pigmented ink so it is water proof. I have heard that it is not super great, but I will test it for myself. I have concluded that for work writing I have to use a fine or extra fine nib. There is no ands nor buts about it.
That’s a common problem. Bad experiences lingering around and no one notices the improvement in QC down the line. Same is true for Dorco blades although lately it has shifted to more positive press.
- Thread starter
- #2,286
I think you are right. Dorco when they moved production to Vietnam seems to have improved them immensely. I have not had issues with any Dorco blades. I do not think I have ever tried a Korean Dorco.
If blade companies or any other company for that matter have quality issues or not measuring up to the competition they HAVE to make changes.
Even in an EF Platinum nib, Noodlers 54th Massachusetts Regiment bleeds through on multi-purpose paper, I wanted to like that ink also. I did not buy a sample, instead I dove in head first and got the whole bottle. In the EF Platinum Preppy, it does write well enough on better paper.
- Thread starter
- #2,288
Absolutely there are inks that is hard to work with. Very flowy. I do have a sample of 54th Mass and I found that out and I wish I would have known you getting it ahead of time so I could have warned you. We all buy things that don't work out though. My first two ink bottles are the worst. I got two quick drying inks, since I wrote with my left back then, from Noodlers and quick drying = bleed fest. Horrible inks and I have 2 full 90 ml bottles of it. What do you do? It happens.
Andersons pens have among the best ink sample prices. I have some samples from them. There are even those folks who change ink so often that they only buy samples excepts for their "high runner" inks. I think however that that is the reason why I became largely a Diamine guy and buying the 30 ml bottles from the UK. An ink sample of Diamine from Anderson will run you $1.25, but a 30 ml bottle from Pure Pens like $3. What do you do? You end up with loads of 30 ml Diamine ink.
So far I like Diamine inks as well. The Alchemy ink I have was kinda $$ but it writes very nicely.
I hear ya.
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Yup
The damn things last forever too 
Most of my writing is done on "normal" mediocre paper, but I do have some better quality notepads too. The Diamine inks can bleed through in some of my medium nibs, but in the fine nibs the reverse of the page is perfectly usable, for general scribble purposes anyway.
- Thread starter
- #2,292
Yeah and it varies from ink to ink quite a bit even within a manufacturer and how it behaves. Oh yes a 30ml bottle is around 30 fills and that is a lot.Yup
Most of my writing is done on "normal" mediocre paper, but I do have some better quality notepads too. The Diamine inks can bleed through in some of my medium nibs, but in the fine nibs the reverse of the page is perfectly usable, for general scribble purposes anyway.
x3 for the Noodlers 54th, it is a 3 oz bottle. Sigh, it will take a while to use up.
- Thread starter
- #2,294
Evening shave - 5/6/24
Razor: Matador de Luxe
Blade: Derby Premium (5/5) (2)
Soap: BSS #1 (single lye)
Brush: Omega 81052 Banded Boar
Aftershave: Clubman VIBR
Rating: 10/10, BBS
Spectacular shave! Marble smooth and pleasant. Very intuitive shave with no issues. My single lye shave soap performed very good along with the banded boar brush.
Well have a look at that! A BBS shave! This with the Omega 81052 brush and my super hard single lye soap. I even face lathered with the boar brush and it really was not bad. It must be breaking in. It even splayed for me nicely. Such a great shave. Blade and razor absolutely no complaints. This morning 12 hours post shave I am still sporting a DFS+ so it was very close as well.
This coming weekend my Derby Premium tuck will come to an end and I will be starting my new blade use schedule. Like I have mentioned earlier I will be trying to use up a bunch of miscellaneous blade tucks that I have left over from sample packs and others that I have had laying about. This will probably take me about 1-1.5 year to finish. Here are the blades that will be used:
First out will be the Ladas, which I have heard good things about. We will see how they perform. Now a disclaimer. Indeed there are blades among these that I will not buy more of based on my reason that I have given before. Some if they are good I may considering getting a 100 pack of. I think that the Super-Max blades are even discontinued (please correct me if I am wrong in that). Some blades, yes I am looking at you Tiger Platinum, might be a bit challenging, but that is all in the game. Most of these blades I have not tried before so they will be brand new to me. As usual I will use each tuck completely before I move on to the next one. There are a few of these that are 10 blade tucks and I have not determined yet if I will spit those up and return to finish those up at a end or just use all 10 in a row.
As you may know I have been using no shampoo to wash my hair for about 8-10 months now and I have to say it has been a great move. I just rinse my hair with warm water every time I take a shower. My hair looks and feels healthier for it. It does not feel greasy nor unclean and no bad smells. Now after doing this for a good while I started having issues with dandruff so I did some research and found that apple cider rinse might help so I set out to try it. It is a mixture of 1:10 vinegar to water and I just use it twice a week and rinse it out good and my dandruff is gone! No it does not make your hair smell like vinegar. It is so counterintuitive with no-poo. I used to have problems with really oily hair that left a mess on my pillow to the chagrin of my dear wife, but now with no-poo I do not have that.
Another thing that I have just started to do is to use alum (Yep it is the same as what we use post shave. Yes I bought a separate alum deodorant stick for this) for underarm deodorant. I am only a handful of days in, but I have to say that I like it. We will see how it goes once the hot weather hits.
Happy shaves everyone!
Razor: Matador de Luxe
Blade: Derby Premium (5/5) (2)
Soap: BSS #1 (single lye)
Brush: Omega 81052 Banded Boar
Aftershave: Clubman VIBR
Rating: 10/10, BBS
Spectacular shave! Marble smooth and pleasant. Very intuitive shave with no issues. My single lye shave soap performed very good along with the banded boar brush.
Well have a look at that! A BBS shave! This with the Omega 81052 brush and my super hard single lye soap. I even face lathered with the boar brush and it really was not bad. It must be breaking in. It even splayed for me nicely. Such a great shave. Blade and razor absolutely no complaints. This morning 12 hours post shave I am still sporting a DFS+ so it was very close as well.
This coming weekend my Derby Premium tuck will come to an end and I will be starting my new blade use schedule. Like I have mentioned earlier I will be trying to use up a bunch of miscellaneous blade tucks that I have left over from sample packs and others that I have had laying about. This will probably take me about 1-1.5 year to finish. Here are the blades that will be used:
First out will be the Ladas, which I have heard good things about. We will see how they perform. Now a disclaimer. Indeed there are blades among these that I will not buy more of based on my reason that I have given before. Some if they are good I may considering getting a 100 pack of. I think that the Super-Max blades are even discontinued (please correct me if I am wrong in that). Some blades, yes I am looking at you Tiger Platinum, might be a bit challenging, but that is all in the game. Most of these blades I have not tried before so they will be brand new to me. As usual I will use each tuck completely before I move on to the next one. There are a few of these that are 10 blade tucks and I have not determined yet if I will spit those up and return to finish those up at a end or just use all 10 in a row.
As you may know I have been using no shampoo to wash my hair for about 8-10 months now and I have to say it has been a great move. I just rinse my hair with warm water every time I take a shower. My hair looks and feels healthier for it. It does not feel greasy nor unclean and no bad smells. Now after doing this for a good while I started having issues with dandruff so I did some research and found that apple cider rinse might help so I set out to try it. It is a mixture of 1:10 vinegar to water and I just use it twice a week and rinse it out good and my dandruff is gone! No it does not make your hair smell like vinegar. It is so counterintuitive with no-poo. I used to have problems with really oily hair that left a mess on my pillow to the chagrin of my dear wife, but now with no-poo I do not have that.
Another thing that I have just started to do is to use alum (Yep it is the same as what we use post shave. Yes I bought a separate alum deodorant stick for this) for underarm deodorant. I am only a handful of days in, but I have to say that I like it. We will see how it goes once the hot weather hits.
Happy shaves everyone!
I see a lot of Mentions of Noodlers ink and while I thought it prudent to share this from indy den dance.
"Empirical evidence collected over several years has made it clear that some Noodler’s inks can and will destroy pens. Many vintage pens, because of the materials of which they are made, are especially susceptible to destruction by these inks. For this reason, our guarantee is void if a pen you purchase from us fails after you have used any Noodler’s ink in it. For more information, read our article on inks."
I have a popular blue from noodlers, but, because of the above message haven't been using it except in my parker 45 with a modern converter.
"Empirical evidence collected over several years has made it clear that some Noodler’s inks can and will destroy pens. Many vintage pens, because of the materials of which they are made, are especially susceptible to destruction by these inks. For this reason, our guarantee is void if a pen you purchase from us fails after you have used any Noodler’s ink in it. For more information, read our article on inks."
I have a popular blue from noodlers, but, because of the above message haven't been using it except in my parker 45 with a modern converter.
Looking forward to your thoughts on Ladas, Boris. I enjoy them and have several hundred in my stash.
I just started shaving with safety razors late last year, so I have missed out on Rapira, Rubies, Personna Reds, Ladas, Polsilver, Wizamet, etc.
The fear of missing out is real, and I have to tell myself rationally there's no reason I should seek out expensive, sanctioned, and next-to-impossible to procure blades, given the multitude of options I have already.
- Thread starter
- #2,298
The key is that they are referring to VINTAGE pens that is what they sell and repair. I am aware that some of the Noodler's inks have issues like baystate blue, apache sunset and others. Yes I would not use Noodler's in any vintage pen that uses a sac of any sort. However, they are making some inks that also none other make and in modern cartridge pens with plastic feeds they are perfectly fine. Like their "bulletproof" inks which are water proof/resistant without being an iron gall nor pigmented. On the same note I would also be hesitant using any pigmented, sheening, shimmer and maybe even iron gall inks in a vintage pen. For vintage pens I only use plain vanilla inks like Parker, Lamy, Pilot, Pelikan, Waterman or similar.
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- Thread starter
- #2,299
I think this is key and a very very very important point. We have so many options and many of them work really well. I personally do not see the point in going down one of those paths either. I want a group of blades that performs well that is readily available. That's it! I am not a vintage blade nor difficult to get blade guy. Might be fun to try one once in a while, but not as a regular blade.
Razor blade economics are interesting. I've bought Nacets and 7 o'clock Permasharps from eBay sellers in Jordan and India at substantial discounts from what a USA-warehoused seller would charge. Part of me hopes these people are mom-and-pop sellers making a living on the commodity arbitrage (actually I know the Indian lady I dealt with was one such).
