With this Modern May thing going on I forgot about Lather Catcher Sunday!
The Association of Lather Catchers: TALC
- Thread starter Flintstone65
- Start date
Improved Star and a Gem PTFE stacked/shimmed on a vintage Gem blade with the bevel ground away
I didn’t even know there was such a thing!
On another forum Lather Catcher Sunday is the first Sunday of the month. Or did you mean Modern May?
Ok. Looks like I am a few weeks late for Lather Catcher Sunday, but I did it anyway. I shaved with my only real Lather Catcher, my Star 1888-1902 by Kampfe Bros. This is around my fourth shave with it, IIRC. It is much less awkward now than my first run. I used my GEM PTFE (11) with my DIY AARP Shim Card. After many passes I got a shave rated at 8.5 out of 10, probably due to the age of the blade.
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Lather Catcher Sunday
Razor: Ever-Ready 1911 Lather Catcher
Blade: Personna GEM PTFE Stainless Steel Blade
Brush: Paladin Chief 2023 B&B Contributor Brush
Pre-Shave: Proraso White
Lather: Truefitt & Hill Apsley
Aftershave: Mem English Leather
Additional Care:
Thayers Facial Tonic Witch Hazel Unscented
Imperial Leather Talcum Powder
Razor: Ever-Ready 1911 Lather Catcher
Blade: Personna GEM PTFE Stainless Steel Blade
Brush: Paladin Chief 2023 B&B Contributor Brush
Pre-Shave: Proraso White
Lather: Truefitt & Hill Apsley
Aftershave: Mem English Leather
Additional Care:
Thayers Facial Tonic Witch Hazel Unscented
Imperial Leather Talcum Powder
~~~~120 Year Old Shave~~~
(One day late for Lather Catcher Sunday)
I was able to get a fairly decent shave with my 1888-1902 pat. Kampfe Bros Star Safety Razor and an original Kampfe Bros. old style wedge blade. The blade was sharpened with ceramic honing sticks, then stropped with leather. The shave was better in some areas than others, but I would average it out at 8.5 / 10.
The blade is not in the best shape, it has a chip in the corner. That corner rests against the blade stop, so it doesn’t sit completely square in the razor, although it is fairly close. (One day I hope to find a blade In better shape, and with some aggressive honing dial up the quality of the shave.)
(One day late for Lather Catcher Sunday)
I was able to get a fairly decent shave with my 1888-1902 pat. Kampfe Bros Star Safety Razor and an original Kampfe Bros. old style wedge blade. The blade was sharpened with ceramic honing sticks, then stropped with leather. The shave was better in some areas than others, but I would average it out at 8.5 / 10.
The blade is not in the best shape, it has a chip in the corner. That corner rests against the blade stop, so it doesn’t sit completely square in the razor, although it is fairly close. (One day I hope to find a blade In better shape, and with some aggressive honing dial up the quality of the shave.)
Razor: Dr Scott's 1896,Ever-ready 1907(back up)
Blade: Gem Blue Star Carbon with Adapter
Brush: Vintage Eveready boar, Vintage Badger
Soap: Vintage Colgate shave stick
Post: Dickinson's Witch hazel
After : Aqua Velva Classic ice blue
Notes:
This was my first shave with the Dr Scott's razor. I had to modify an adapter that was meant for a Swedish lather catcher to use in the Dr Scott's. It was a pain to get everything lined up right in the razor because of how it adjusts. The shave was awesome, took down a week's worth of growth like nothing three pass. Only had one cut due to operator error, and no irritation. That roller guard really isn't a gimmick, it's a shame this razor never took off. All in all a great shaving razor!
Oh, my! What a tremendous display!
Wonderful group of razors! I am glad that you use them and they are not "shelf queens". You have inspired me to make today a lather catcher day.
Thank you very much, my lather catchers are regularly in my rotation, I think they are beautiful, all the razors in my collection are used intermittently, I wish I shaved every day so I could use them more often. Unfortunately or fortunately the collection of vintage razor is a bottomless barrel.
Thank you very much!
"Intermittently" is a razor's fate in a passionate collection.
It has taken me a year to shave with with my latest lather catcher AND its wedge blade. I have 4 'true' wedge blade lather catchers, but only this Griffon was found with its accompanying blade. So all four normally make do with shimmed Gem blades.
With today's inspiration from @Pain , I finally took the Griffon 22 wedge through my full Naniwa synthetic progression:
600, 1000, 3000, 5000, 8000, 12000 (20 laps each).
Then through my diamond pasted balsa progression.
Then stropped on the Griffon Automatic Stropping Machine.
It was not a full blade restore. Some minor chips remained. I didn't rush, but I didn't dawdle. The hanging hair test was marginal. But the shave exceeded expectations.
Fully SAS.
After the splashes dried I could almost say CCS.
I had my other lather catchers close by for backup, but they never got wet.
Palmolive stick
Vulcan boar
Ron R
I survived a lathey foreman
Very nice collection of lather catchers, they do offer some great shaves from my experiences.
What beauties! Welcome!
Beautiful collection. Welcome to the Association.
I've been trying to get blades sharp enough for a comfortable shave for a long time. So far I haven't gotten remotely close to a modern DE blade. Just barely comfortable is the best I can accomplish. Will try again though.
My shave was perfectly comfortable, less sting from the Pinaud than a regular DE DFS. That might have changed if I tried to buff the Griffon shave towards DFS. In any case, it surprised me to get a shavable edge that easily.
I used the Griffon honing attachment for my work. It left some rust residue on my stones (easily washed away). The honing feedback felt appropriate going thru my grit progression.
The low effort told me that the bevel on the wedge blade was mostly intact. When I bought the set the blade was clipped into the stropping machine.
If you want to discuss my wedge blade honing process in more detail, PM me. Having done it once, I'm an expert! My next targets are my Rolls Razor wedge blades.
