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Shave of the day

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Something a bit different today with an old Wilkinson sword blade. It would have been bought from coles about 15-20 years ago, made in England. I have 4 or 5 in a plastic dispenser. Each blade is wrapped.

Anyway, mwf and gillette ss.
Shaved OK, pretty close shave. Doesn't feel as sharp as some current gillettes. It's comfortable enough, just not sharp enough.
 
Didn't look like this by any chance??

$(KGrHqN,!nUF!IRJUlPuBQFDk-5cDQ~~60_57.jpg

That is what as known as 'Light Brigades' and and are possibly the best Wilk blade ever produced. I have one 5-pack to my name.
 
Merkur 38C
Astra SP
Arko Stick
Ve Long horse hair brush
Speick After Shave Balm

Enjoying this combo. The 38C is a beast of a thing, still getting used to the size and heft.

Really liking the Speick balm too- I think this will be a regular.
 
2nd shave with the old wilk and Tabac today.
Just not that sharp, but it's forgiving enough to get a close shave with slower going.
 
Travelling for work at the moment, so my kit has changed entirely.

- Merkur Solingen Travel Razor (love it, like to think I'm assembling a tiny little sniper rifle when screwing it all together. :laugh: )
- Vulfix #406 boar
- Feather blade
- eShave Lavendar cream from sample kit
- eShave Lavendar balm from sample kit

After 3 days of not shaving, it felt absolutely fantastic to slice through all that with the feather -my success with the hatori hanzo of blades continues to surprise me, after a two pass wtg + xtg shave with the Solingen I have a 90% BBS shave. Might have to get out the 34C again when I get home and see if I can get any more joy with that. One last hurrah to either save itself from sale, or confirm it's time to give it an ultrasonic clean and list.
 
JugV2 said:
It's the angle..try different angles and you should get a better result.
Click to expand...

I hate it when other people are right...

P.160 Morbido
Schmoogie 830
PermaSharpSuper (2)
EJ DE86
Proraso Splash

Much better shave concentrating on a shallower angle. Not as smooth as in the 34C but very passable. Result was excellent.
 
After an obscure interval with a defective army issue DE followed by a stint with a fat handled NEW (the capital letters still make no sense to me but convention is convention I guess), I'm back on familiar territory with a Clog Pruf (I know, talk about weird spelling....).

SE is a strange beast. You're shaving away thinking that all this noise can only mean the thing is struggling only to discover it's just given you a superb shave.

Next up is a stint with my brand new 7O'Clock bakelite razor which has just arrived. It looks like it's never been used and has what appears to be an original wrapped 7O'Clock blade. Feels a lot stiffer than a contemporary blade. Who knows, maybe it's carbon steel or is this normal with vintage blades? I'm giving it a try anyhow. If it starts rusting I guess I'll know.
 
Had a shave off with Iridium Supers from G&C and Astras. Supers are far smoother. Astra will give a very good shave, but feels quite draggy in comparison (maybe I had a poor one?), and they've always been the sharpest smoothest blade I've used. Going back to Reds will probably be a shock.

Will probably get 50 Supers from G&C for about $20 posted.
 
Drubbing said:
Will probably get 50 Supers from G&C for about $20 posted.
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Thats a pretty good price for whats a very hard to find item. Impressive they've got so many SI's in stock they can still sell in 250 blade lots!

Also I think it's sensational that G&C give our lil forum a 10% discount (which still works) when the folks over at YKW only get a 5% one! How do you like them apples!
 
Nick the Knife said:
Thats a pretty good price for whats a very hard to find item. Impressive they've got so many SI's in stock they can still sell in 250 blade lots!

Also I think it's sensational that G&C give our lil forum a 10% discount (which still works) when the folks over at YKW only get a 5% one! How do you like them apples!
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I think they're re-introduced SI's, so still in current production, not the mythical 'originals' (although they're made at the same place).

Where's our discount code for G&C Nick?

2nd shave with it this morning and still stellar, although aftershave tells me it was a bit rough on the skin. Maybe the Arlington cream to blame? I'll give the SI its third tomorrow and see how it goes with Proraso or Cella.
 
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Ok I have returned!

In honour of my return to SOTD I went back to the TM - and lovely it was too.
Scrub up with Arko
Lather up with a Boar
Attack with a Featherweight.
Second Pass with the Slim (still using the Slick Schick)
Heaven on a stick. The lovely crunching sound of whiskers falling before the might of the SE, the smoothness of the Slim racing across in cleanup mode.
A perfectly smooth shave.

I will in the interests of scientific study be using some other DE blades I have. Especially as I was going through my razor stash and discovered a second Slim I didn't know I had.
 
Drubbing said:
I think they're re-introduced SI's, so still in current production, not the mythical 'originals' (although they're made at the same place).

Where's our discount code for G&C Nick?

2nd shave with it this morning and still stellar, although aftershave tells me it was a bit rough on the skin. Maybe the Arlington cream to blame? I'll give the SI its third tomorrow and see how it goes with Proraso or Cella.
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Really? Gawd poor buggers who paid mega prices for them if thats the case - seems kinda odd. I know there's the Polsilver Super Iridiums - which are completely different looking - dunno about the blades being better, worse, same. Seems odd they're making again but stranger things have happened.

In the vendor forum from memory it's : P&C

10% off everything. Pretty good work by RM to get that. Well done.
 
Oh well, as I keep saying, blades IMHO are on the whole much of a muchness. Now too, so it appears, are the legendary SIs. Can't say I feel too sorry for people spending loads on discontinued blades that haven't really been discontinued. In spite of the fact that they appear to be made in the same place, out of the same materials, with the same name and packaging I'll put money on "blade aficionados" claiming the legendary ones are vastly superior.

I can tell you without hesitation that vintage blades, at least based on the the vintage 7O'Clock I tried, are pretty useless. I'm sure age would dull it no matter how it's stored. Anyhoooo....BOT.

Back in travel mode with La Toja. Wicked stuff.
7O'Clock with an Astra (after changing out the vintage blades within 10mm of the first stroke)

Superb as usual.
 
Pjotr said:
Oh well, as I keep saying, blades IMHO are on the whole much of a muchness. Now too, so it appears, are the legendary SIs. Can't say I feel too sorry for people spending loads on discontinued blades that haven't really been discontinued. In spite of the fact that they appear to be made in the same place, out of the same materials, with the same name and packaging I'll put money on "blade aficionados" claiming the legendary ones are vastly superior.
.
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Yep, mine don't say polsilver on them which makes it only more confusing there's two SIs out there.

I've always found that out side of the big names, blades get very same same. But the SI so far seem something better than the ordinary, but Ill see how they go for a while longer yet.
 
Pjotr said:
Oh well, as I keep saying, blades IMHO are on the whole much of a muchness.
Click to expand...

Haha you'd better be careful, RM will have you up on a charge of Heresy!

Hmmm well I think its just VERY, VERY tough to be completely subjective on blades......without stating the obvious one can definitely pick good blades from bad blades and once again within these 2 broad groups some will stand out very obviously at being towards the top/bottom of their respective groups. Where it gets really tricky is saying is this blade better than another blade when both are in the same ball park.

That said in a shave and between individuals there are so many variables at play...hence why we find such completely opposite views on the same blades at times. Perhaps they do get a tad much attention in the grand scheme of things.

Is an interesting question in it's own right, whats the most important variable amongst the shaving hardware? Razor? Blade? Soap/Cream? Brush? Outside of this I'd definitely say the skill level of the user is #1 by far but amongst these alone which one is most important?

IMHO.......soap/cream > blade > razor > brush.
 
I think each component is equally important and can have a similar impact on your shave as each other.

Bad brush? Then your lather will be bad and you will shave poorly.

Bad blade? Then you will suffer cuts or razor burn from trying to drive the blade into your face and you will shave poorly.

Bad lather? You will end up with a drippy lather or dry lather and clog the blade or it will all slip off the face and you will shave poorly.

Bad Razor? Then you won't feel the tactile response or you will shave too closely and have a bad shave.

If you had one of these things nailed, it could improve some of the others but I don't think you can conclusively say "perfect your lather and everything else is gravy" because it isn't that simple.

The only thing that can help you is a good forum for advice :)

see what I did there??

[User was elevated to Marketing Manager for this post]
 
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#16 Aristocrat (thank you Mark)
Gillette Platinum Blue
TOBS Sandalwood
Omega boar
Speick After Shave Balm

First shave with the Aristocrat. It is very similar to my Rocket HD (which is a good thing!).

I think that if your main aim was the best shave possible, a Rocket HD would be a great choice. If you want Rhodium goodness AND a great shave, Aristocrat is where its at.

As before, very happy with the Speick balm.
 
  • Pureman 'Prototype' Open Comb
  • Spoiler, 2nd Shave
  • ARKO!
  • Vie-Long 13710

3 days growth mowed down ridiculously quickly. Aggressive Razor, Sharp blade, slick lather.

Couple of spots with irritation though, was in a hurry!
 
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