Poor Man's Strop Kit

If you intend to get off of the shaving sucker grid for good, there are only a few ways to go.

First is the obvious manly solution - the straight razor. Way down the manly scale but still pretty butch are vintage/reclaimed SE blade in a pre-Micromatic ASR razor. Either way, you are going to need and want a leather strop to keep that edge in line.

May I suggest, to beginners and/or cheapskates alike: the Poor Man's Strop Kit from Whipped Dog Razors.

For a mere $19 delivered CONUS, you get a hell of a lot of value. The leather strop looks as cheap as it is but it works great. The major bonus is the pasted balsa strop with included extra baggies of Chromium/Iron powder to recharge... I can personally testify that one can get an incredibly wicked edge on straight blades as well as SE blades using the PMSK. The kit was recommended to me by a gracious SRP member and it was great advice! Oh, and delivery is FAST. Get over there and order one today!
Poor Man's Strop Kit

Vintage SE Blades

I love OLD SE blades! Here are a couple of shots of my collection of "reclaimed" SE blades! They work great, and there is something inherently satisfying about using today a 'disposable" product that in some cases is pushing 100!

If you have any of these blades that you have thrown away because you thought they were useless, shame on you! The old blades are much better quality than their modern counterparts. Send them to me before you bin them!

SOTD - Reclaimed Shamrock

I've been enjoying using 'vintage' SE blades for a while now, but today I really wanted to push it. Today's blade reclaim was a rusty if unused American News Company "Shamrock - the lucky shave" blade from 1935. A basic carbon (unblued) blade with notches to fit the Micromatics. The whole process of getting this blade shave ready took about 20 minutes. Here is the process:

HONING:
25 laps 4k stone with slurry
25 laps 4k stone with water
25 laps C12k stone with slurry
50 laps C12k stone with water

STROPPING:
30 laps on shamwow
20 laps on Cr-Ox
20 laps on Fe-Ox
50 laps on newspaper
30 laps on leather.

In the GEM 1912, an incredibly smooth, comfortable, faceturbation shave in 2+ passes. This might seem a lot of trouble, but Hell I find it satisfying! FYI the only reason for the coarse/slurry honing in this case was the rust on the edge that needed removing. The good news is that once you get a blade like this shave ready, all you need to do to maintain it is strop on leather before the shave. You should be able to go a number of weeks before it will need refreshing on the pasted balsa. After that, all you need is 20 laps or so on a C12k followed by the full strop progression.

I have refreshed/reused the following brands of blades, with uniformly excellent and satisfying results:

Treet Carbon
Blue PAL
GEM Blue Star
GEM SS
Ever-Ready
Sha-ve-zee
Shamrock

Talk about stickin' it to the man! Anybody doesn't believe and has some vintage blades - send them to me, don't bin them! I'll send you one back and you can see for yourself!

DE "Technique" convention destroyed

I think this guy may be on to something here - this may be the reason that a half DE blade lasts longer in a 1912 or 1924 shovelhead than a whole DE blade lasts in any DE razor you'd care to name - it's the efficiency of the cutting angle... Experience this earth-shattering thread from B&B for yourselves:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/249569-20-Shaves-from-a-Feather-Razor-%28!-%29

All hail the mighty internet, without which we may never have learned! Everybody needs to try this - NOW.

Fresh Derby. Gillette Slim on "7". I tried this press the head into the flesh technique and GAWDAYUM! It's fucking NUTS. It throws all the conventional wisdom on its ear. I knew it was going to be something great when I saw this technique did WAY more WTG than I had ever experienced with the Slim. After 3 passes my face SQUEAKED it was so smooth!

The efficiency of the razor was exponentially increased - and ZERO IRRITATION, NICKS OR WEEPERS. Get on it, men!

UPDATE:
This technique sadly did not do well with my non-Gillette TTO razors, but I gotta say that it adds a dimension of closeness/comfort to the TTO experience. Just one more reason why everybody should own a Super Speed, 40s or Flare, made by the millions and readily available in decent shape for $10

Prep, Schmep!

I'm of the opinion that a lot of whimps and phags make a big deal about 'prep'. They put on some Yanni, light some aromatherapy candles, and go through a long and convoluted process of 'prep', in the hopeless attempt to steel their sissy selves for the blade. Give me a fucking break, people!

To the whole 'prep' issue I have 2 words - FACE LATHER. It's all the prep any man needs. I have found the results to be the same (great) even without a hot shower before the shave. It matters not how shitty and cheap your brush is - face lathering gets it done. If I'm coming out of the shower I'll do a minute on the face with the brush - if I'm coming 'dry' to the shave, maybe a couple of minutes.

It needs to be said, bowl lathering is great - if you're going to shave the fucking bowl! I scoff as you gently paint your sissy bowl lather on your delicate pantywaist skin using your $200 silvertip badger - please, that is shaving like a WO-MAN!

Seriously, if you need all these various scented candles, Wyndham Hill, potions, oils, creams, hot towels, fancy brushes/soaps/bowls/mugs/scuttles/razors/blades in order to get your fucking shave accomplished then G-d love you, but I will not!

S. Doll Simple Razor

So I was waiting in line at Mekong Rainier in Seattle and saw a box of these right before the 1st checkstand, next to the ear spoons and the like.

Jesus! The shoddiness of this thing defies belief - a piece of pressed tin and a large carbon half DE blade. I refuse to believe this thing is made in Japan in spite of what it says. If anyone can help me out with the Kanji on the back, I would be interested. This "Simple Razor" is simply terrifying - qualitywise it makes the Ali Biyikli look like a gold-washed Solingen. Safetywise, it makes the Ali seem like a Gillette Tech - check the edge-on pic and feel your sack contract...

So I stropped the hell out of it in my jeans and did a WTG with the Doll, nice and easy, and to my surprise it worked pretty well, and no nicks, weepers or burn. Not bad for $1.50, performancewise.

If any of you are man enough to attempt a complete shave with one of these, I want to hear about it!

Derby

Many HATE them, but I happen to really like Derby blades, a great all-around bargain performer. They do well on my face with every DE razor I have tried them in:
Gillette Old Type
Gibbs OC Old Type knockoff
Flare Tip Super Speed
Slim Adjustable
Lord L6 Premium
Yuma

They also do VERY well in some of the pre-micromatic SE razors, using the half DE blade mod.
I do have one gripe with the full sized ones, though - the packaging - 20 stupid little plastic boxes per 100 blades. At least for the "profesyonel" half blades, the packaging is minimal, recyclable, and/or compostable. Why don't they do 100s of the full sized blades? My guess is that the plastic is locally produced recycled refuse, and probably cheaper than dirt, but if they dropped it they would have to use a hell of a lot less cardboard...

Maybe if enough enthusiasts contact them at derby@azmusebat.com we could get them to change their pollutin' ways.