SMF

This video was posted elsewhere but I thought we might enjoy it here as well.

https://vimeo.com/268814380

I suspect there is a lot going on here that is not presented in the video. The shave at the end is pretty cool.

Hope you enjoy.

Chris

At about 10:22, Billy says, "You don't need expensive shavin' soap."

True, but I have it anyway.

Great video, Chris - thanks for finding and sharing!

Bill

Bill, did you notice when he says "back in the box"? He's putting used lather back in the soap dish. Depression Era mentality is all I can come up with.

Plus that video was shot, I believe, in the early 1990's. Bath soap back then was mostly tallow based with almost no glycerin in it. Today I believe it's different.

Also he has 20 some razors in rotation. Why do you think that is? I'll bet it's because the edges didn't last that long.

I also believe there are probably things going on outside the video that we are not aware of. How were his razors finished? Were they stropped on a pasted strop at one time? How does he maintain them and how often?

He doesn't do a second pass and feels his chin for stubble. How great was the shave? I think back then what they settled for was the look and not so much the feel, especially at his age. Very pedestrian and probably common for his era.

Great piece of history though.

Chris

Scary to see him shaving without stretching his old, lax skin. Maybe he needed the handheld magnifying mirror as he could no longer see well enough to manage with a flat hanging mirror.

I have more and more sympathy with shaving to look 'clean' and not trying for a BBS. Your skin generally looks healthier when not excessively scraped and the majority of women prefer us to have just a little stubble (presumably so they know it's a man they are smooching!)

Curiously, I have this week been playing with the very first pair of razors I bought - Dovo faux-damascus stainless steel 5/8 with Micarta scales. I knew no better, and soon discovered they had relatively heavy scales so they were a bit awkward for a beginner, and the stainless blades were well beyond my honing abilities. But that was then. I honed them up and they make a nice rust-proof pair to go in a travel case. I've shaved with them for a few days to check they are going to be satisfactory, and a single downwards pass with a Palmolive stick followed by a water only cross grain pass does a nice job. Now I just have to find the TI double-sided paddle strop and I'm set for the next road trip.

Thank you for finding and sharing this. I'm fascinated by straight razors and all of the related processes involved in making, using, and maintaining them.

drmoss_ca wrote: ↑Fri Aug 31, 2018 8:57 am ... the majority of women prefer us to have just a little stubble (presumably so they know it's a man they are smooching!)

That may be true, but I asked the most important woman in my life what she prefers and she said, "Smoothly-shaven cheeks." I am more than happy to oblige.

YMMV, and all that.

Bill

Most guys prefer women without whiskers

drmoss_ca wrote: ↑Fri Aug 31, 2018 8:57 am Curiously, I have this week been playing with the very first pair of razors I bought - Dovo faux-damascus stainless steel 5/8 with Micarta scales. I knew no better, and soon discovered they had relatively heavy scales so they were a bit awkward for a beginner, and the stainless blades were well beyond my honing abilities. But that was then. I honed them up and they make a nice rust-proof pair to go in a travel case. I've shaved with them for a few days to check they are going to be satisfactory, and a single downwards pass with a Palmolive stick followed by a water only cross grain pass does a nice job. Now I just have to find the TI double-sided paddle strop and I'm set for the next road trip.

I found five paddle strops in the basement! And also re-discovered that one single Damasteel Bluetongue Livi can out-perform any number of passes with the Dovos. Sell the Dovos and take the Livi on as may roadtrips as I can fit in. That's the way to do it.