I'm sad to discover that Thiers-Issard have discontinued all their half-hollow blades! Such is fashion, and I've written before that the fad for full-hollow blades was exactly that: a marketing arms race where one manufacturer claimed to have a sharper blade and the others had to follow. I had one o...

And the second did well, also. So I dug out the other two 5/8 SuperGnomes and sharpened them on the Chosera 1k, BBW, and coticule as previously described. For the first times in a few years I also bought another razor from eBay, another 5/8 Super Gnome. It is an older one with the stamped tang, rath...

I think I have always preferred soap, because they are cheaper and available in so many more varieties. It was once said that soaps gave a closer shave, whereas the thicker cushion of creams prevented ultimate closeness. And now I disagree, with all that and with myself. I don't have any modern crea...

I don't seem to be able to help myself, and I took out the 6/8 Super Gnomes and re-did them on the coticule under running water. No glycerine, no UF, no finishing at all. One of them just gave me a superb shave.

I don't think the UF added anything. My face was a tiny bit sore after the shave, but it was a consecutive day shave, not my usual (these days) two-day shave. I'll stick with the Super Gnomes finished on the coticule for now.

Turns out I repeated myself today, deciding to try a coticule-only shave with one of the two Dovo EnVogue stainless razors that were my first straights, twenty years ago. They felt pretty sharp, so I just did the coticule under running water and then with glycerine and water. Stropped and used the o...

I've used Tabac for 47 years! Not every day, obviously, but I do like the scent. I also enjoy the rather different scent of Tabac shaving cream, which lasts on your skin long after the shave is over (just as C&E Sandalwood cream used to do).

Chris

On the WTG pass I didn't feel or see any difference, but going ATG it was nearly without sensation. So, yes, the glycerine and water finishing stage on the coticule does add a little extra finesse to the edge.

Chris

I can't tell you, but I'd be very surprised if there have been no changes, given what has happened to everything else!

Chris

Another shave of two-day stubble to report, using the newer TI 5/8 Super Gnome. The razor has lost the brand-new edge feel, after being stropped three times, and is as close to the old one as makes no difference. I'm going to try an extra step just for fun, although I don't really feel the need to i...

Ah, but some people make a living out of straight razor repairs...
Ever notice the address used for classicshaving.com re-scaling?

C.

And it did outshine the newer 5/8 Super Gnome. The small stiff half hollow blade goes through stubble with that same quiet cloth-tearing sound that you hear from a big wedge. I'm going to say something I've said before: I could live happily with these razors. I guess I'm either lucky (or confused an...

Welcome, Bob. Like all forums, these days SMF is pretty quiet. Some of us don't care for Facebook-style interaction, and when all posts are shown consecutively it makes it hard to really dive into a topic without distraction. There's a ton of information here and we intend to preserve it, and even i...

Honed the 6/8 Super Gnome from scratch, and it was indeed very good. Not quite as good as the second 5/8. For tomorrow, I have taken the older 5/8 Super Gnome through the full set (Chosera, BB, coticule). It always was a better shaver than the newer one, and maybe it will outshine it now.

C.

Two more shaves to report. A second go with the ebony Livi showed that more stropping has calmed the edge, and it was smooth and comfortable. Then I waited two days and honed my second 5/8 Super Gnome (Chosera 1k, BB and coticule using the method described above). Stropped it well and just had one o...

Yes, and no, Murray. You let it cool to firm it up so you can cut it and have it hold together. But having cooled, you warm it up to serving temperature and then cut it: it doesn't fall apart again after re-warming. Same process applies to moussaka and lasagne.

C.

Having a pair of eggplants and some leeks to use up, I imagined this: Eggplant Terrine Two bread tins Two large globe eggplants 7-8 medium potatoes One medium onion Two tins flaked tuna or Equivalent amount of smoked salmon Grease the bread tins with oil. Slice eggplants into </=5mm disks Line bread...

So the ebony-scaled Livi gave me a very close shave, but just a bit "scrapy" - it feels like the blade will need to be stropped a few times to calm that edge down a little. So I don't need to come up with an explanation for why it is better to hone all the way to Arkansas level and then go back a st...

How times change, and how we may be embarrassed by our past pronouncements! Searching for my previous attempts at coticule only finishing, I found this thread. I cannot recall doing the things I describe above, though no doubt I did. Now I'm finding the coticule can be a good finish stone, if used c...

I did some careful searches and found I'm retracing my old steps: https://forum.shavemyface.com/viewtopic.php?p=699953#p699953 I wish I'd recorded then in detail how it felt. If it had been as good as today's shave I'd have been doing it ever since. And by the by, I see 3" wide coticules are hard to...