Super Speed

I love my Super Speed. It is a 1959 Flare Tip that belonged to my Grandpa.

Along with the love, there is however a fair amount of frustration. I have a few spots on the neck where it simply will not cut, but that's just me. OK, to the naked eye it just looks like a nice shave, but I can still feel stubble that other razors can catch on those spots. I got stupid a couple of times and kept going over those spots from various angles. I was rewarded with some ferocious burn. Now that I have come to terms with its admittedly limited limitations, I have thrown it back into the rotation after a long hiatus.The cognoscenti all concur that it it is a fine model, fairly mild, and ideally suited to the beginner. The build quality is simply incredible when you consider that these sold for $1 back in the day. The razor is fairly small, but has some heft as it is nickel-plated brass. The ingenuity of the mechanism is still pretty damned remarkable - its ease of use has never been surpassed. You just throw in a blade and go - everything lines up perfectly. The precision of the tolerances is amazing - a reminder of when the USA really had its shit together, and made all its own stuff well and with union labor. I remember playing with this very razor as a child (without a blade) and I obviously in no way damaged it, thank goodness. I'm very happy to have it.

Gibbs Open Comb Traveler

To round out my collection, I wanted to try an open comb. I read about this place Deutsche Optik that was selling what they call a "Gibbs French Army Razor" NOS. Sounded worth a try. First of all, I don't think this has anything to do with the army, I think it's just a nice vintage traveler. Second, I doubt that it really is a Gibbs, because Gibbs razors need proprietary blades and this one takes regular blades AND Gibbs blades (regular DE blades actually fit a lot better and require very little fiddling to seat). Build quality is superb, as is the shave. As with most open combs, this is aggressive without being dangerous. I you have trouble spots where hairs lie flat and no amount of skin stretching or angle adjustment can get them, this will mow them down with ease.

Shipping costs are extortionate. Even so, for $20 total delivered you could do a lot worse on a NOS razor, that won't perform as well or have the European cachet of this one.

Available here, while supplies last:

http://www.deutscheoptik.com/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=1403

Ghetto Straight Setup

OK, let's be honest - the classic straight razor is the manliest. "Gillette Fatboys" take note - you are in no way there. Like all of this "wet shaving" business, you can spend an absolute ton of money on NOS gold-washed Solingen seven day sets, combo coticule hones, Eschers, or a Shapton 50k. The fact of the matter is, you can indeed get a nice, smooth shave from a cheap Chicom razor, with hones and strops that are anything but fancy.

The idea I had was to see how cheap I could go on a setup that would actually work well.

THE RAZOR

I had read that of the currently manufactured cheapo straights, the Chicom ones were the best quality steel, and with a 'bit' of work could hold an excellent edge. In fact, certain straightrazor geek personalities fround themselves BANNED from straightrazorplace.com for daring to assert that one can get an excellent shave from these razors! The Solingen/Sheffield snobs just could not handle it! I bought the cheapest, most bare-bones Chicom razor available, the Double Arrow #66. The front 90% of the blade or so was actually very nice right out of the box, but the heel was a complete joke that required several sheets of 400-grit wet/dry to whittle down to where the blade would lie flat on a hone.

THE HONES

The first hone I got was a 1000 grit Naniwa Lobster waterstone, purchased from Great Sun in Seattle for $7. I have never seen a 1k Naniwa this cheap anyhwhere. An excellent "bevel setter" in addition to being a stone I can use on all of my kitchen knives.

Next I watched a number of barber hones on Ebay. The forums all sang the praises of the Swaty, so I was excited to win a Swaty-esque Austro-Hungarian hone in superb condition for only $6! This hone is pretty versatile but small even by barber hone standards.

My original plan was to have the barber hone be my finisher. I therefore required a midrange stone to use after the 1k. The straight razor establishment suggests the Norton 4k/8k combo, but that's $75! The barber hone being around 8k, I just needed a 4k to bridge the gap. I went with the Ice Bear 4k from my local woodcraft store - this has turned out to be a really nice stone to use.

THE STROPS

A straight user typically has both a linen or canvas strop for 'refreshing' and a leather strop for 'maintaining' an edge. This is 30-100 bucks I didn't feel like spending, so I improvised. I had a glass push plate from a swinging door left over from a remodel, but I could just as easily have used a board. For a "felt" strop I use a Trader Joe's made in Germany shamwow style kitchen towel. On one side I applied some classic Tom's toothpaste. This 'strop' polished the hell out the edge, but I still needed something to replace leather stropping. Sources for the last century talk about how great newspaper works as a finisher. The more black on the pages the better the action. So my strops were basically free. Do they work? Yes they do, and they cost nothing! Don't take my word for it, here's Popular Science magazine from August 1921:

Popular Science Newspaper Strop

Blade Bank DIY

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=54746

A commenter on the thread points out that if you turn a can opener sideways and make the slit just under the top rim of the can, you can maybe add a year to how many blades you can get in. When full, one sharp rap with a hammer above the slit and your BB is sealed, and will easily, efficiently, and safely be plucked magnetically from the mixed 'recyclables', posing no danger whatsoever to any workers who happen to be involved with the sorting of the materials. Assholes who say that razor blades are 'hazmats' and need to be disposed of accordingly need to look again at the inherent safety, security, and undeniable frugality of this blade disposal system. It is also very manly, provided you don't paint the damned thing with butterflies and unicorns. A regular sized can has a very small footprint in our medicine cabinet. I keep my chunk of alum on a small ceramic dish on top the can, so the can itself actually maximizes spatial efficiency, the only other space I need in the cabinet is the arko stick, 2 safety razors and a pack of blades, and my Chi-com straight. The footprint, both in area and eco-friendliness, is indeed a small wonder.

Of course, if you really want to be old-school, and live in an old-school house or apartment, you can just use the handy blade slot in the medicine cabinet. It just might already be there. Another manly choice would be to cut your own slot in the bathroom wall for classic between the studs disposal.

Djerba shave

Too bad there's nowhere around here you can get this done, I can see going once a month for sure if for no other reason than to get those unsightly nose and ear hairs "threaded".

#6 Horsehair brush

The #6 brush

Before WWI, most shaving brushes were, like this one, made of horsehair. There were some issues with anthrax and they fell out of favor in the West and were supplanted by boar and badger (depending on your class). This Turkish brush will deliver and hold a rich and luxurious lather once the ends begin to split after a week or so of use. Bruce on Shaving, a most respectable expert, claims these brushes have 85% of the good points of both boar and badger. I can neither confirm nor deny as I have never tried a badger. It's just a nice, effective brush that costs $2.50 - can you dig it? It may or may not have a strong animal stink when new. If so, try shampooing it a few times and it should be fine. After use, rinse all of the soap out. Shake. Squeeze bristles in corner of towel. Shake again. Now you can put it on the counter bristles up and it will actually dry. You want it to mold/rot? Don't do those things, and you'll be out another $2.50. Another point to consider is that some people who habitually soak their whole brush in the sink have had some problems, when you soak, just submerge the tips. Use a glass.

Another major point in favor of horse brushes? They dry much quicker than boar or badger - just a few hours standing up on its handle is all it takes for mine to completely dry.

buy it here:
http://shop.bestshave.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=67

After 6 weeks, it just gets better and has only shed maybe 6 hairs in all which is pretty incredible for any brush.

ARKO

ARKO!
Buy it!
Use it!
Be a man!

This is LITERALLY NOT FOR VEGANS! ARKO contains beef tallow, and the cognoscenti agree that is produces copious amounts of rich, slick, pillowy lather. My shitty RiteAid boar brush can hold enough arko lather for a full 3 pass shave. Because of the tallow, it actually has a pulldate. This shit is beyond economical - it will blow your mind. You can get a stick delivered CONUS for under 2 bucks. It will last for months. You may also appreciate the undeniable manliness, minimalism and eco-friendliness of the packaging, and the fact that you don't need a bowl or a fancy 'scuttle' or any of that girly-man crap to clutter up your bathroom. Use is simple: Wet face. Wet end of stick. rub end of stick on face just a few times. Watch the lather EXPLODE with the first few strokes of the brush. The beauty of the stick is that the more growth you have, the more soap is delivered - so it gives you what you need every time. Snobs and whimps object to ARKO because of its price (way too cheap to be any good) and the smell. The smell is strong, but pleasant and manly. I happen to love it. If you go back to the canned goo after trying this wonderful and frugal product, G-d help you.