The Journal of a Backwards Professor

[Rosseforp]

Sunday, March 8
GC68-P
Feather(3)
Omega 618
What the Puck Orange
RR Essential Oil of Lime

Tonight's shave was wonderful.

It has been so long since I used What the Puck the ring was drying out, so I decided to stick with it till it is gone. My daughter loves the scent and it is pretty slick, but it has no residual slickness to speak of. At $2.99 a puck, who is to complain?

The 1st ATG pass was so smooth I almost checked to see if I forgot to put the blade in. There was zero drag on my neck, nada. Same as the XTG pass on my face, just slicing effortlessly across my face.

A 2nd pass was warranted, WTG, and a 3rd light touch up ATG on the hollows of my neck.

The Witch hazel felt nice, but the RR Oil of Lime sure does burn. Nivea balm helped a lot tonight. My face is a little tender, I think from the aftershave splash........ Still a really comfortable shave.

DFS

 

[thombrogan]

Just wondering how your stubble-destruction tales will change once your P-30s crawl off the boat and into your ATT SE-1.

 

[Esox]

I bought the car for $150 and had a junkyard buddy yank the engine and trans, then he got $100 for it when he sent it to the crusher!

I sold my 99 Grand Prix to a local guy online that removes junk cars for $300. I wish I hadnt lol. The transmission in it had been rebuilt with a shift kit and the s/c 3800 Series II had 240,000 miles on it and didnt burn a drop of oil. It had rotted pretty bad though. The rockers on both sides were gone, the floor was starting and when the right rear strut came through the tower in the trunk, that was it. Not fun having a rigid suspension on one side haha.

I could add another shim, but it will never be as rigid as my GC's or Fatip's......

By that I assume you noticed the difference in rigidity between it and more rigid designs?

 

[Rosseforp]

I sold my 99 Grand Prix to a local guy online that removes junk cars for $300. I wish I hadnt lol. The transmission in it had been rebuilt with a shift kit and the s/c 3800 Series II had 240,000 miles on it and didnt burn a drop of oil. It had rotted pretty bad though. The rockers on both sides were gone, the floor was starting and when the right rear strut came through the tower in the trunk, that was it. Not fun having a rigid suspension on one side haha.




By that I assume you noticed the difference in rigidity between it and more rigid designs?

After reading through @rabidus ATT SE1/Journal, his thoughts on techs and the RR DE1 got me intrigued.

One interesting thing about my 53 Y2 tech, it has a very light cap and a steel baseplate, together they weigh 19.8 grams, with a 36.4 gram handle. The balance is perfect.
With a shim it felt remarkably like my GC68-P........


Prewar Tech on the left, Korean War Era Tech Y2 with steel baseplate on the right.

 

[Rosseforp]

Monday, March 9
53 Tech Y2
Feather(4)
Semogue 620
What the Puck Orange
Pinaud Clubman

The WTP lathered up pretty good and the Semogue boar is just a wonderful brush. It looks like a small brush, but it holds a ton of lather and just feels great on my face.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say lathering up my face tonight was the best part of the shave. Not that the rest of the shave was not good, it was.

I tried the shim in my favorite tech, and it responded. The 1st full ATG pass on my neck was as smooth as my GC68-P. When I got to my face the tech was just humming along as I shaved ear to nose. Even with the shim I was able to use as much pressure as I wanted to without fear of a nick on my WTG pass on my neck.

Alas, I still needed another ATG pass on my neck until I couldn't hear of feel the razor cut anymore. The Witch hazel felt fine, and the Clubman was refreshing as always. I still needed the Nivea balm, but my face feels pretty nice for all the work I did.

I'm gonna say this shave was on par with last night's shave with my GC68-P as far as comfort goes, but the GC gets the job done easier.

DFS

 

[Rosseforp]

Just wondering how your stubble-destruction tales will change once your P-30s crawl off the boat and into your ATT SE-1.

Look what just fell off the boat. Ordered one box from Ratuken and one box from Connaught on February 28, both showed up today.



I will probably wait until this weekend to try out the Prolines, I have been experimenting with shims in some razors that have not been in my rotation for some time. Now that I have joined the Steep Angle Shavers Alliance club, I am giving them another look.

 

[Rosseforp]

This is where mine lived for a year while we sorted out the engine.

Looks a lot like where my 'stang is right now!

Here is a pic from it's old home.

 

[thombrogan]

View attachment 1072709

I will probably wait until this weekend to try out the Prolines, I have been experimenting with shims in some razors that have not been in my rotation for some time.

Congrats on your haul!

I couldn't practice your restraint. Shimming a DE to make it more like an SE when your SE is right there with its best of the best blades is something I'd try two days after using the SE with a new Proline.

 

[Esox]

Prewar Tech on the left, Korean War Era Tech Y2 with steel baseplate on the right.

Yep, the difference is in the baseplate and how much support it gives to the blade.

 

[rabidus]

Look what just fell off the boat. Ordered one box from Ratuken and one box from Connaught on February 28, both showed up today.

What was the prices of each shipped?

 

[Rosseforp]

What was the prices of each shipped?

Connaught was $18.25 USD shipped. Ratuken was $13.18 USD shipped.
I have lots of blades now, but will go with Ratuken next order for sure.

 

[rabidus]

I have lots of blades now, but will go with Ratuken next order for sure.

I have about 400 Proline blades, if 60 is a lot, then what is 400?

 

[Esox]

Thats two boxes of 30 blades each?

 

[Esox]

if 60 is a lot, then what is 400?

At 30 shaves per blade its 12,000 shaves or 32 years lol.

 

[rabidus]

At 30 shaves per blade its 12,000 shaves or 32 years lol.

Shaving 10 or so times a month at the moment, that comes to 100 years of shaving, if my math is correct.

I'll only be 152 years old!

 

[Esox]

Shaving 10 or so times a month at the moment, that comes to 100 years of shaving, if my math is correct.

I'll only be 152 years old!

Yeah lol. Figure somewhere between a 130 and 150 year blade supply lol.

 

[Rosseforp]

Thats two boxes of 30 blades each?

Yes. 30 shaves per blade, huh? I did get 26 good shaves from a Gillette Platinum, #27 not so good.

 

[rabidus]

Yes. 30 shaves per blade, huh? I did get 26 good shaves from a Gillette Platinum, #27 not so good.

I've hit 60 face shaves on one Astra SS in a postwar Tech. It had more, I was bored.

One February challenge I got 28 face and head shaves from one Polsilver Si. That equates to over a hundred face shaves as one head shave equals about 3-4 face shaves. That blade was done at the end, still comfortable, just didn't cut anymore. I used a number of different razors including a DEvette.

 

[Rosseforp]

Yep, the difference is in the baseplate and how much support it gives to the blade.

The 53 has always been my favorite tech, I only found out the baseplate was steel by accident, my ruler was magnetized and stuck to it...... Just being steel makes it more rigid, but adding a shim makes it that much stiffer to make more of a difference than a shim in my prewar tech.
The Heritage benefited the most from using a shim, as it tops all of my Gillette's but my New SC in terms of efficiency. It also clamps the blade in a tighter arc, resulting in a stiffer blade, and a steeper blade angle.

I calculated the blade angle on my techs at 10.32°, and 13.53° on the Heritage. The angle on my New SC is only 9.55° but is clamped the most securely.

I have measured some of my razors on an Optical Comparator, but it is difficult, if not impossible to get a clear view on some razors to get an accurate measurement.


However, with the use of a simple set of calipers, a calculator, and my Handy Dandy American Drill Bushing Co. Trig Table, I found an easy way to accurately measure the blade angle.

I picked up this pamphlet around 1975, and before we had CAD, this is how we programmed NC mills and lathes.
It was brutal


And in true BOSC fashion, I made a chart...........

Blade Angle Calculation Chart

Blade width=BW; Blade width clamped=BWC

BWC÷BW*Cos¯²=Blade Angle

Using a standard blade width of .865" and a clamped blade width in a Razorock DE1 of .830", this is the formula that I will use as an example.

.830"÷.865" * Cos¯²=Blade Angle=16.35°

With that for an example this is my chart.

DE1=.830" angle=16.35°
SLOC=.849" angle=11°
GC84-P=.835" angle=15°

Fatip Gentile=.844" angle=12.65°
Fatip Mk1=.845 angle=12.34°
Fatip Piccolo SE=.847 angle=11.7°
Schöne=.847 angle=11.7°

Merkur 15C=.845 angle=12.34°

53 Tech Y2=.851 angle=10.32°
New SC=.853" angle=9.55°
Heritage=.841" angle=13.53°

ATT SE1 angle=15°
For my ATT SE1, I just used a machinist' protractor.

It appears that the ATT SE1 and Game Changers have the same blade angle.........

 

[Rosseforp]

I couldn't practice your restraint. Shimming a DE to make it more like an SE when your SE is right there with its best of the best blades is something I'd try two days after using the SE with a new Proline.

The tech was already shimmed and at the ready when the Prolines showed up. I had never used shims before, and wanted to see which razor responded the best with a shim. It was a toss-up, the Heritage was the most efficient, but the 53 tech the most comfortable razor with a shim.

However for me I found the Heritage with a shim to be slightly more efficient than my GC68-P, but not as comfortable. I was gonna use the GC84-P tonight along with the SE1, but that didn't happen. Lol