What I got in the post today!

MadsL

I got so many goodies in the mail* today that I just have to do a show and tell. I propose a new thread "What I got in the post today" for pics of stuff just out of the wrapping.

*mail - wife's American, it rubs off.

First up - Chris of shaving.ie was a good as his word (see the Mentored Shave thread) and generously, generously, generously packed my Merkur order with all sorts of goodies. Thank you so much Chris, we'll have some happy (and smooth) newbs.





Then a Gotta for restoration (still with goldwash yay!)



A Kropp equally in bits for the restore pile (with Selfridges engraving - nice) God knows what that gunk is on it.



And finally two mystery hones (I had hoped for a Charnley Forest, knew it wasn't but hoped , but this appears to be either a very off piece of slate or some type of Thuringian) The small one is chocolatey in colour so no clue what that is..



All in all very nice to come home to.

hitemfrank

Chris is pretty damn awesome.

Also that Kropp looks nasty. Is it just the picture or is there a fair bit of rust on it?

MadsL

No there is a fair amount of work on that kropp - I'm hoping the gunk preserved rather than destroyed but at least there isn't much hone wear.

I'll sand to 1500 grit and lob it in the tumbler.

hitemfrank

It'd be nice if the engraving is still legible once it's cleaned up. How big is the restore pile now?

That's Gotta number 3 for you right?

MadsL

That's Gotta number 3 for you right

Gotta number #2 was a fraud. Gotta scales only.

How big is the restore pile now?

Slightly bigger than the broken scales pile! I'm very good at breaking scales.

I really need to figure out what I'm doing with scales, my original plan was to make scales; but my plans for finding a reasonably priced workshop aren't working out. I refuse to spend €200 a month when all I need is a bench space.

So - plan B is to use newly manufactured scales - I found some awesome scales from Revisor (including red translucent) but they are on Summer hols now until September

hitemfrank

How about scales from here? http://thesuperiorshave.com/Scales_VintageStropsHones.html (it's the only place I can think of off the top of my head that sells them)

A bit more expensive but they aren't on holiday and your get the pins and washers too.

edit; a little searching and it turns out The Invisible Edge do some scales too. http://www.theinvisibleedge.co.uk/razorscalesandpinkits.html

There really isn't a lot of places selling just scales is there?

MadsL

Cheers for that - although Revisor are on holiday; they are significantly cheaper. But the free shipping from the US is tempting. I wanted to put out budget range restored razors similar to whipped dog. I might try from each...the orange translucents and ebony (well, Grenadille) scales at Revisor look cool though...

I got your razor (my god, that thing is an axe!) - there's a flat spot on the bevel that I spotted as soon as I opened it; I din't need the loupe. No wonder it doesn't shave nice - it will be on the stones tonight..

hitemfrank

Yeah some of the scales on the Revisor website are quite nice. Another source of budget range restores would be nice for people to have. If that Barnescone ends up being one of them (I hugely doubt it would be) I would consider adding a 9th razor to my useable lot

My razor isn't that big, it's only 7/8ths. It does have a decent bit of weight to it though which I quite like. Another thing I like is the fact I figured out a date range it was made in (1865 to 1882), so it's at least 129 years old. Pretty cool to be able to use something that old.*


*following a PM we'll see about that claim

MadsL

The Barnescone will be an Xmas present for my brother if he continues shaving with the Kropp I gave him. He's a lucky man - he has almost no hair on his neck !!

I have a 9/16 shoulderless wedge "Cross Daggers" by HG Long of Sheffield, and a Wade & Butcher 6/8 Special with almost no hone wear in the restore pile..some other interesting wedges too.

I'll post some pics of the pile (the waiting list) one of these days...

hitemfrank

Got some goodies in the post today.

Firstly a new soap (because I really needed one :rolleyes:)



And secondly a straight to practice honing with from the uber generous MadsL



Thanks Richard. I actually already have a Chas Clements razor and it shaves wonderfully, so that's what I'll be aiming for when I start honing this one when my coticule arrives.

MadsL

That soap looks amazing. review please

hitemfrank

It was down to about €20 shipped from Amazon.co.uk

Think there was £8 off.

Oh yeah, I'll post my thoughts on it after I've used it for a while.

hitemfrank

Coticule arrived this morning. Think I might give a razor a touch up tonight.

MadsL

^ That's a nice rock!! Enjoy it. I think they are actually 'spiritual' to hone on in some way; either that or they give off fumes

Today I got (I love when everything comes in the post at once)

This strop:



a restore project...a Hoffritz for Cutlery strop (an Illinois rebranded) not sure how old it is (I guess 40 - 50's) - or why it was being auctioned to raise funds for the Scottish Theatre Organ Preservation Society...but it is now mine - edit: Hoffritz are still in business http://internationalcutlery.com/index.html and the old shop in NY looked amazing






I also got a mini 4 piece DE. Nothing exciting, but it will clean up...







And this baby for my baby My 14 yr old daughter came looking for a disposable from me to shave her legs. I suggested my Every Ready SE and a nice drop of Cade lather, she did a great job...so I asked her if she wanted a decent DE...we picked the Gillette Lady TTO from the sixties:



What makes this a bit special is that it was made the exact year and even quarter that I was born, and the date code is her initial!! I may have paid a touch over the odds but I was delighted when this arrived - the handle looks brand new. Not bad for a razor soon enough about to turn a half century. If she looks after it, it may last her another forty!! I guess I just need to buy forty years worth of blades

hitemfrank

MadsL wrote: »

^ That's a nice rock!! Enjoy it. I think they are actually 'spiritual' to hone on in some way; either that or they give off fumes

I couldn't help myself when I got some time to myself this evening and gave my Revisor a quick touch up with it. I'll see in the morning if I've messed up the edge or not.

I'm hoping a straight I won on ebay shows up in the morning so I can try hone it. I really don't want to dull the edge on the Clement yet as it's very nice.


That is a very nice example of the Lady Gillette DE's. Looks in great shape and they have the same head as a Super Speed which are pretty good shavers - although I didn't get on well with my '58 Super Speed even though my 40's Super Speed was an excellent shaver.

hitemfrank

So the straight razor I'd been waiting on from ebay arrived yesterday. It is in worse condition that I thought. There was quite a lot of pitting on the edge, the obvious hone wear, the scales are loose and also fairly warped.



The picture is after I spent about 2 hours trying to get the past the pitting. It's almost gone.

On the plus size it is also a 6/8ths (guessed it was 5/8ths by the ebay listing) and it only cost about €6.

Hopefully by the end of today the bevel will be at least set.

MadsL

Post it up to me if you want to throw it in the tumbler for a polish - 24 - 48hrs works nicely.

hitemfrank

I might just do that. Wait until you see the state of the scales.

hitemfrank

I got my Krauss back from Madsl today. It nice and shiney and sporting some spiffy new scales. Thank you sir!

Hopefully I will be attempting to hone it tonight.

I also picked up some empty cigar boxes this afternoon (€2.50 each & the money goes to charity ) to use as storage for my straight razors. They need some stickers removed, a bit of sanding and some blocks glued in to hold the straights in place but they should do nicely. I aim to get these done over the weekend but that could easily become any day next week (or longer if I get really lazy).

Smokeyskelton

Enjoy the new razor, may it give you many years of bristle free shaving pleasure.

I really like the look of the cigar boxes, and they're a pretty good buy at €2.50 each, especially if the money goes to charity. Where did you get them?

hitemfrank

If I figure out this honing lark it should last a lifetime.

I got the cigar boxes in James Fox on Grafton Street across from Trinity College (not exactly got in the post but ah well). They had a fair few of them - probably 20 at a guess.

Smokeyskelton

Thanks for that, I might pop into James Fox over the weekend and take a look.

hitemfrank

It wont be to everybody's taste but one of my straights arrived back after getting some steampunk styled scales made for it. I like 'em and thats all that really matters





Madsl the original scales from this were posted to you this morning.

Amalgam

hitemfrank, where did you source the Watkins?

hitemfrank

They are not my pictures. They were taken by the guy who made the scales. I tried taking pictures of it but they were really poor compared to the ones he took so I just used his.


In other news, another straight arrievd this morning (which brings the number of straights I have to many ). It needs a bit of work but for £11.60 I expect that. It's as near to being a wedge as can be without it being an actual wedge.

hitemfrank

I received a Japenese Frameback straight razor this morning. I've been wanting one for some time now.

13/16 Toyo Sheon Burg #666

Genghiz Cohen

Could you post a photo looking along the blade.
Looks like an unusual shape.

hitemfrank

Sure, I'll try get a decent picture of it. My phone doesn't quite want to focus in the right spot to see it so it may be a bit of a blurry pic I put up.

Blurry picture:



I'll attach another picture that might show it better (not my picturee or razor)

Genghiz Cohen

That is very strange.
Beautiful though.

Let us know how it handles.

hitemfrank

I shaved with the Toyo this morning and it was really nice. It's surprisingly heavy for the size of it but it's pretty nimble. It did give me a little cut but that was me not paying enough attention to what I was doing.

Frameback straight razors are fairly common. You could make more razors with high quality blades by using a frameback than by making the entire razor from the high quality steel. The frame is made of a cheaper and lower quality steel (the dark parts of the Toyo) while the blade is made from high quality stuff.

Some older frameback razors had a blade that was held in place by a small screw. Presumably if the blade got damaged back in the day you could just remove the screw and blade and go to your local cutlery seller and get a new blade for the razor. Here is my old French frameback showing the screw.

CyberJuice

very nice mail you got there,i bet you felt like a little kid on christmas morning