Hey you heavy handle boys! 'You tryin' ta tell me I'm outa' control?
Loaded razor head 30.7g, olive wood handle 12.8g, total razor loaded weight 43.5g.
The Wanderer's Journey
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Loaded razor head 30.7g, olive wood handle 12.8g, total razor loaded weight 43.5g.
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- #1,942
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
You and your fancy scales, @Cal 
I've only got kitchen scales. No decimal points here
Jagger DE3D14 loaded 71g
Razorine (with leather wrapped handle) empty 50g
Wilkinson Sword Classic empty 43g
Merkur 985 empty 42g
Gillette Super Slim Twist empty 41g
The Gillette has a much higher balance point though, much like your olive wonky chomp, I'd imagine. The plastic Wilkie on the other hand, has a very low balance point, which makes it feel even lighter than it actually is. The Merkur 985 is also head heavy, but being short handled makes it seem less unbalanced. The Razorine is so head heavy, the balance point is actually on the head, even with a leather wrap on the handle.
I've only got kitchen scales. No decimal points here Jagger DE3D14 loaded 71g
Razorine (with leather wrapped handle) empty 50g
Wilkinson Sword Classic empty 43g
Merkur 985 empty 42g
Gillette Super Slim Twist empty 41g
The Gillette has a much higher balance point though, much like your olive wonky chomp, I'd imagine. The plastic Wilkie on the other hand, has a very low balance point, which makes it feel even lighter than it actually is. The Merkur 985 is also head heavy, but being short handled makes it seem less unbalanced. The Razorine is so head heavy, the balance point is actually on the head, even with a leather wrap on the handle.
My inexpensive kitchen scales (courtesy of AliExpress) weigh to one decimal place.I've only got kitchen scales. No decimal points here
But I did use my "calibrateable" scale for the weights above. In general I like to simply round the weights to the nearest whole number... but decided to go to one decimal place as your standard DE blade weighs 0.5g.You and your fancy scales, @Cal
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- #1,945
AimlessWanderer
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Two for me please, no question!
I was asking how many mine qualified as, not what you prefer
I was asking how many mine qualified as, not what you prefer
Yeah, I realised that last night when I was thinking about it a few hours later, haha.
But actually, my answer still stands - two. For me, 1 complete pass is as a full lathering and removal, regardless of how many strokes are used, overlapping, repeated or otherwise. Touch ups and the like are not really a pass in my book.- Thread starter
- #1,947
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Eng. Wilk. Shave 11
Edwin Jagger DE3D14
Wickhams 1912 Irish Fern sample. Shave 1
Maggards synthetic brush
There's a pre-existing pattern with any soaps/creams that Mike @Esox recommends. If he lathers it thin, I have to run it richer than normal to get it to perform.
This was no exception.
I lathered up the Wickhams as I normally would Mitchell's or Palmolive, and it felt very tuggy, with no lubrication on the face. I've been here before, and went back to the soap. With a slightly richer lather, the performance was much better, though the cushion was fending off a little, and impeding closeness. I went for three passes, but had to follow up with a fair bit of lather free touch up against the grain.
The passes with lather were very comfortable, but I think I might need to run it richer yet, in order to be comfortable shaving with residual slickness only. That said, what I ended up with, was very close and very comfortable. Overall, a thoroughly decent shave for the first try, and I think I like this concoction better than other lather recommendations I've taken from Mike.
There is a qualifier needed here though. There was a fair bit of residue on the paper this sample came wrapped in, as though some oils had been lost, so this might not be exactly as per the parent soap. My other Wickhams samples are in small tubs, so they might lather slightly differently.
The scent was pleasant, and paired well with the Superdrug Forest Fresh I followed up with. The soap being a little brighter than the aftershave I think. Regular readers will know I'm not really a fan of scents, but the Irish Fern was pleasant and not overwhelming or disctracting. I'm certainly happy to continue with this sample, but it's not a game changer. It's a very welcome detour from my usual soap, but wouldn't replace Mitchell's long term.
Edwin Jagger DE3D14
Wickhams 1912 Irish Fern sample. Shave 1
Maggards synthetic brush
There's a pre-existing pattern with any soaps/creams that Mike @Esox recommends. If he lathers it thin, I have to run it richer than normal to get it to perform.
This was no exception.
I lathered up the Wickhams as I normally would Mitchell's or Palmolive, and it felt very tuggy, with no lubrication on the face. I've been here before, and went back to the soap. With a slightly richer lather, the performance was much better, though the cushion was fending off a little, and impeding closeness. I went for three passes, but had to follow up with a fair bit of lather free touch up against the grain.
The passes with lather were very comfortable, but I think I might need to run it richer yet, in order to be comfortable shaving with residual slickness only. That said, what I ended up with, was very close and very comfortable. Overall, a thoroughly decent shave for the first try, and I think I like this concoction better than other lather recommendations I've taken from Mike.
There is a qualifier needed here though. There was a fair bit of residue on the paper this sample came wrapped in, as though some oils had been lost, so this might not be exactly as per the parent soap. My other Wickhams samples are in small tubs, so they might lather slightly differently.
The scent was pleasant, and paired well with the Superdrug Forest Fresh I followed up with. The soap being a little brighter than the aftershave I think. Regular readers will know I'm not really a fan of scents, but the Irish Fern was pleasant and not overwhelming or disctracting. I'm certainly happy to continue with this sample, but it's not a game changer. It's a very welcome detour from my usual soap, but wouldn't replace Mitchell's long term.
Wickhams 1912 are absolutely brilliant shaving soaps.
You'll see the more you dial them in.- Thread starter
- #1,949
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Wickhams 1912 are absolutely brilliant shaving soaps.
You're probably right, Rave. I just need to find the sweet spot for my shaves.
This might even be a decent soap for trying a straight/shavette shave with, and I don't say that about many samples.
I tend to load Wickham fairly heavy and then end up adding quite a lot of water. If I dont have enough water theres way to much cushion but as long as I load it heavily enough, I cant add to much water. The more I add, the thinner and slicker the lather becomes.
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- #1,951
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Ah, that probably puts us on a more even keel with this one, as I didn't load heavy at all first off.
I don’t have Wickham’s 1912 Club Cola (yet!), but get the same learning opportunity using KMF shaving cream: One pump of cream from the bottle can be easily watered past the point of slickness. Add another third to half of a pump on top of that and gets slicker as it gets thinner.
Most likely not. Like Rave said, it can take a bit to dial in. Another reason I dont like sample size soaps/creams. As a way of deciding on the scent their fine for me, but to learn to get the performance I want from them, only Stirling makes large enough samples for that, that I've tried anyway.
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- #1,954
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Eng. Wilk. Shave 12
Edwin Jagger DE3D14
Wickhams 1912 Irish Fern sample. Shave 2
Kent Infinity
I switched brushes for this shave, to see if it lathered differently. It did. It made it a lot harder work. It was too thin, then too thick, then too thin again. Then I pulled the knot through my fist to release what was trapped in there, and that stuff was perfect. Then at another point, I painted with pressure to release more of the lather that was getting locked in the brush, and water ran down the handle. What...?
It just wasn't incorporating properly. This, I think, is what was happening with the Maggards brush yesterday, but it was happening more severely with the Kent. Then a lightbulb came on in my head. The Kent has been used a lot more with Mitchell's. Could it be a build up of lanolin in the brush? Maybe. I worked through the shave, then gave both brushes a good hand lathering with Vosene, which does an excellent job of stripping out unwanted buildup in brushes. We'll see if there's a noticeable change tomorrow.
Albeit a little frustrating wrestling with the lather, it was another decent shave in the end. I will say this for the Wickhams, the post shave feel is nice. I didn't use anything post shave today, and don't feel like I needed to.
Edwin Jagger DE3D14
Wickhams 1912 Irish Fern sample. Shave 2
Kent Infinity
I switched brushes for this shave, to see if it lathered differently. It did. It made it a lot harder work. It was too thin, then too thick, then too thin again. Then I pulled the knot through my fist to release what was trapped in there, and that stuff was perfect. Then at another point, I painted with pressure to release more of the lather that was getting locked in the brush, and water ran down the handle. What...?
It just wasn't incorporating properly. This, I think, is what was happening with the Maggards brush yesterday, but it was happening more severely with the Kent. Then a lightbulb came on in my head. The Kent has been used a lot more with Mitchell's. Could it be a build up of lanolin in the brush? Maybe. I worked through the shave, then gave both brushes a good hand lathering with Vosene, which does an excellent job of stripping out unwanted buildup in brushes. We'll see if there's a noticeable change tomorrow.
Albeit a little frustrating wrestling with the lather, it was another decent shave in the end. I will say this for the Wickhams, the post shave feel is nice. I didn't use anything post shave today, and don't feel like I needed to.
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- #1,955
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Martin de Candre was a nightmare for that. I either got brush burn trying to get a lather started, or enough for several shaves. There was no "Goldilocks" point, just not enough, or too much.
Thats a result of too much water in the knot before loading. As you load, the soap traps the water lower in the knot and it stays there until you start lathering but doesnt mix, mostly because of gravity.
That happens to me sometimes too with my Maggard. When it does, I set the brush knot down while I shave first pass. That gives the excess water time to soak into the lather that has been made and then it gets thoroughly mixed when I lather for a second pass.
This is why I've said to start loading a synthetic mostly dry. I just dip the tips enough to give them some glide over the soap as I load it and I may do that twice. That way, theres no water that can be trapped in the base of the knot. Then I just add water in a little at a time until my lather is how I want it.
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- #1,957
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
For me, how representative the sample is of the full soap, is totally irrelevant. I won't be buying the full soap anyway
Samples are enough to give me a bit of variety. Trying to get variety with full soaps, would lead to me getting frustrated with having too much soap. The one soap for home, one soap for travel, and a few samples for a bit of novelty, is a level I'm happy with. Introducing another full soap would be too much. I've been there before, and wasn't happy.
That said, this sample might work a lot better now the brushes have been shampooed.
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- #1,958
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Nice try, Mike, but I only dip the tips, and the brush goes on a stand, bristles down, between passes
That's why I'm currently blaming the lanolin clogging up the innards, and not letting the bristles move around each other as freely as they should, and interfering with the flow of water and soap
For me, how representative the sample is of the full soap, is totally irrelevant. I won't be buying the full soap anyway
Samples are enough to give me a bit of variety. Trying to get variety with full soaps, would lead to me getting frustrated with having too much soap. The one soap for home, one soap for travel, and a few samples for a bit of novelty, is a level I'm happy with. Introducing another full soap would be too much. I've been there before, and wasn't happy.
That said, this sample might work a lot better now the brushes have been shampooed.
I have now, I think...5 or 6 soaps and 2 creams in rotation. Three are Rose because I wanted to find the one I liked best and have, CRS. The others will slowly get used up and not replaced.
Then I started with Sandalwoods and like them all. If I was forced to pick a single by scent alone it would be P&B Iceni but I enjoy them all and will replace both my CRS and Iceni, but not my Wickham Shangri La.
That leaves my Wickham Club Cola, which I will certainly replace and my Captain's Choice 45th Parallel cream, which I'll replace with Captain's Choice Sandalwood cream.
In another, likely three years, when I need more soap or cream, I'll worry about it then but I do find myself a bit bored with, really, only 4 different scents across so many soaps/creams. I'd like a bit more variety but I dont need it.
Nice try, Mike, but I only dip the tips, and the brush goes on a stand, bristles down, between passes
That's why I'm currently blaming the lanolin clogging up the innards, and not letting the bristles move around each other as freely as they should.
If you only dip the tips and the brush rests while shaving tips down, how does water get to the base of the knot? It doesnt run uphill!
Some soaps can be difficult to wash completely out of a brush. Wickham being one of those that is and CRS is worse.
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- #1,960
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Eight. A very streamlined number for a member of this forum, but I was going neurotic with three soaps and one cream
I did have even more at one point, but it hadn't sunk in how long they'll all last at that point. With roughly 750 shaves worth of Mitchell's in the drawer, plus whatever's left in the bathroom, plus over 2000 shaves worth of Palmolive, I really don't more than a few samples to stop the experience getting too stale I know what you mean. My preferred two are both just "soap scented", but I seem to need the occasional detour with something else to keep appreciating them. The samples add just enough punctuation.
If you only dip the tips and the brush rests while shaving tips down, how does water get to the base of the knot? It doesnt run uphill!
I don't stand on my head when I lather under my jaw line
I'll bear that in mind
Maybe I should start doing routine brush shampooing. Although I have said that before, but then never did it...Similar threads
