Time To Open The Other One:

Well I finished off my first Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements shampoo & conditioner bar. According to Phoenix Artisan Accoutrement's order history, I bought the Cavendish scented one which is the one I finished off & this one which I just opened on October 9th, 2017. I was 12 days short of taking 7 months to finish off the Cavendish scent bar so they definitely last for those whom haven't tried these yet. Granted I didn't use it all of the time but still to get a shampoo bar to last that long isn't exactly an easy thing to do:

I will definitely be looking at getting some more of these. They cost almost nothing when you take into account at how long they last but they're about the same costs as some of your premium bottles of shampoo which is right around $5 U.S. Dollars.

Turkish Bath & The 100:

Today's shave was great. Today I was craving something unique and since it's Good Friday, I decided to go with Jeeves of Hudson Street and their barbershop scented soap, Turkish Bath. They have since changed the name to "Barbershop" but the scent is a deep & rich tobacco scent with notes of fresh talcum powder. And to finish off today's shave, I went with a nice healthy dose of Old Spice aftershave splash & a nice healthy dose of Soap Commander Endurance aftershave balm which has a Vintage Old Spice scent to it:

The 100 was great but I did have to take it to my fire hose strop a couple of times during the shave which really wakes up an edge. It won't be long before I will have to touch this blade up. But I'm going to wait until I get paid because I have finally decided on some stones. I will reveal which ones I bought when I get them because I want it to be a surprise.

WTF Cuban Tobacco & The Black Diamond:

Today's shave was great. Today I went with Wet The Face Soaps & their fantastic Cuban Tobacco scented soap which a is fresh semi sweet tobacco scent. And to finish off today's shave I went with the matching aftershave splash:

The black diamond turned out great. I first stropped it on the smooth leather but then went back to the fire hose strop because I wasn't sure about the edge. But after a couple of strokes during the 1st pass, I immediately went back & did 10 round trips on the fire hose strop and from there on it was gold. Beautiful & stupid comfortable edge & as smooth as black ice after 3.5 passes. After the shave I went & did 10 round trips on the fire hose strop which should be more than fine. If you guys don't have a vintage fire hose from Keith V. Johnson shame on you guys. His Etsy page is called TomoNagura & he's pretty fast when it comes to shipping too.

Honing Time! The Black Diamond:

After attempting to use my black diamond today, I had to re hone it yet again. It was duller than a butter knife so I broke out the stones and did my entire progression:

First I soaked the stones. My Apache Strata works best when it's soaked. Then I started with my Chosera 600 grit water stone. I started with just plain water then used my diamond plate and both sides of my Suehiro 1/3K combo stone as a slurry stone. The I put my slurry stone back in the water to soak some more. It's also a very thirsty stone:

My next stone I've not used in a really long time & I spent a lot of time here. This is my soft Arkansas oil stone & it's very slow:

After that I progressed to my Norton 8K. I also spent some extra time here as well. I started with plain water, followed my diamond plate & my Suehiro slurry stone:

Next I broke out my Shapton M5 12K water stone and did the same thing with it that I did with my Norton 8K stone. This stone right here is a tiny bit tricky to use. If you use too much pressure with it, you will kill your edge but if you don't use enough pressure with it, you are not only wasting your time but you will also kill your edge. Weight of the blade isn't enough with the Shapton M5:

After I finished on the Shapton 12K, I went to my Apache Strata & used only water this time around. This stone is very aggressive and really doesn't need much, which is where I messed up last time. After that I went to my Shoubandini type 100 and just did a diamond plate slurry to finish with. Next up after that I did 10 round trips on my fire hose strop seen below:

Next I went with 10 round trips on the scrub leather to clean the edge up a bit:

After wards I did my usual 10 round trips on the smooth leather. Might do 10 more before my next shave with the black diamond: 

I'm still looking at various stones out there & I am considering finishing on a Belgium Coticule. That might be the stone I need to finish on. If don't spend enough time on my Shoubandini, the edge will be gone in no time and/or not be sharp enough. If I spend too much time on there. The edge will be too wicked and uncomfortable to use. Right now I'm looking at Shapton Pro 1.5K & The Shapton Pro 5K stones and I'm also looking at a Naniwa 8K Snow White water stone. I'll be pushing the $250 dollar mark easy on my next stone purchases.

Reflection & The 100:

Today's shave ended up feeling & being great. Today I went with Soap Commander and their Reflection scented soap which was a spring scent for 2015 I believe. I may be wrong about the year but not really sure. And finish off today's shave, I went with Skin Bracer aftershave splash which has a nice cooling effect to it:

With a couple of strokes, I could tell right away that my black diamond was no good at all. I went from being way too sharp for my sensitive skin and not being able to use the razor to shaving with something was duller than a butter knife so I switched it out for my 100 & re lathered:

The first 2 strokes wasn't good on it either until I took the 100 to my fire hose strop for 10 round trips which really woke up the edge & then some. I ended up being squeaky clean after just 2.5 passes & 1 touch up spot. After the shave, I wiped off the blade and took it to my fire hose strop for 10 passes so it should be good for my next shave. I'll have to take my black diamond to the stones again but I won't be spending too much time on them this time around. That's the trouble with having a tough beard that grows fast. You tend to dull razors more quickly regardless of how good your technique is & when you have sensitive skin like I do, too sharp means evil irritation after the shave & extremely uncomfortable during the shave and I definitely don't want that. But it has to be sharp enough to cut the hair and that's where honing your razors repeatedly comes in handy.

High Jump 47 & The 42C:

Today's shave felt great. I wasn't planning on shaving today but when I got up this morning & looked in the mirror, I pretty much had to shave. So I went with Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements and their classic High Jump 47 scent which is really nice. The scent is a citrus cologne & musk type scent. Think of walking into Admiral Bird's personal barbershop in the 1930's. And to finish off this shave, I paired it with Aqua Velva's sensitive aftershave balm:

The Merkur 42C was perfect. I'm pretty sure that this was the 3rd shave on this blade so I might have a couple more left. Don't really know for sure and probably won't for a while because I'm a full time straight razor user & won't be using DE razors a lot. I ended up squeaky clean after performing 3 passes. My beard seems to grow back much faster using straight razors & DE safety razors.

Honing Time! Black Diamond:

Earlier today I discovered that I had gotten my black diamond too sharp which is what I call over honing. Going from 3 sessions on the Norton 8K to 3 sessions on the Apache Strata followed by 3 sessions on the Shoubandini type 100 is way too keen for this razor:

First I soaked my Suehiro 1/3K combo stone which I use for a slurry stone & my Shoubandini which is the only ones I used today:

Then I killed the edge of the razor on my 600 grit diamond plate:

Last night I picked up one of these sauce bottles in the BBQ isle at Walmart for $.88 cents which is what I'll be using from now on. My spray bottle took a dump & it usually got water every where but where I needed & wanted it:

I only used the 3K side of my Suehiro stone and performed 20/20, 10/10, 5/5 seconds on each side followed by 10 round trips to clean up the edge a bit. The razor was sticking really good to the stone so that tells me it should be fine:

Next I did 5 round trips of my fire hose strop:

Next I did 10 round trips on the scrub leather:

Then I did 20 round trips on the smooth leather:

This should be more than enough for this razor. It doesn't take a lot to get a razor shave ready once the bevel is set for the most part. I've had a few vintages that would take an edge no matter what you did to them but I guess that's part of it. 

Proraso Green & The Black Diamond:

Today's shave was great. I was craving some refreshment so I went with Proraso green which has a fantastic Menthol & Eucalyptus scent. And to add an extra punch to the refreshment, I finished off today's shave with Pinaud's Osage Rub which puts the menthol feel over the top:

The black diamond was great but I may have gotten it a tiny bit too sharp so I will be toning down the edge a bit on this monster here in a little while. I'm pretty much squeaky clean after doing 3 passes but could have very easily stopped after 2 passes. That's how sharp I got this razor.

Stone Storage:

I've got so many water stones now that I needed something to store them in. So earlier tonight, I grabbed a small plastic tote from Walmart to store my stones in. I also plan on adding a couple more stones here pretty soon:

I was a little reluctant to put my soft Arkansas oil stone in there since it's stored in a very nice wooden box but I figured why not:

My next couple of stones will be synthetics. I need to rebuild my lower to mid range back up & there's a strong possibility that I might toss out what's left of my Norton 4/8K combo stone. That's if I don't get a certain razor I found on EBay first which I've always wanted.

Ike & The 100:

Today's shave ended up being great. Today I was craving something unique but refreshing. So I grabbed my sample of Strike Gold Shave that was made by Jennifer Mason Marting who is a really sweet lady & their "Ike" scented soap. The scent is almost an exact match of the classic Skin Bracer aftershave scent which is still available & awesome. Speaking of Skin Bracer, that's what I finished today's shave off with:

The wedge got tossed out today. I made 2 strokes with it & nothing happened. So I bread knifed it & put it in the garbage then I re lathered and grabbed my Gold Dollar 100 and it was like a night & day difference for the better. I ended up being squeaky clean after 3 passes & a couple of spots got touched up. I did see a spot or 2 of blood from where I mowed off a couple of bumps but other than that, my shave was pretty much blood & cut free. And the previous shaves have been totally blood free. I've also had no irritation and have not been getting much of a burn from my alcohol based aftershaves either which is always a good thing. The best part is the fact that I know how to hone a razor & will always have a shave ready blade with zero chances of having a dud or bad blade. So I guess I can call this an end to having bad shaves at this point.

Honing Time for the Wedge!

Earlier today I thought I would test my wedge with my shave & not good was an understatement. So I rinsed it off, wiped it down & killed the edge on one of my stones and finished my shave with my Gold Dollar 100 which was an ultra fine shave. So lets get started:

First I soaked my stones. The Norton 8K slab that I have left is on its last leg. My Suehiro mighty mini sounds like an Alka-Seltzer tablet when it gets soaked and I also threw my Apache Strata in there to soak as well. It tends to be a really thirsty stone:

I reversed the progression & started with my diamond plate which creates a 600 grit slurry. The wedge needed A LOT of work at this level. I like to have never got that bevel set:

Next I went to the 1K side of my mighty mini and spent quite a bit time here as well. Lots of uneven wear & took quite a while to get it where I wanted but I eventually got it there:

Once I got to the 3K side of of my mighty mini it was like gold. Everything fell into place and the razor started to progress a lot more quickly:

I pretty much did the same thing on my Norton 8K slab that I have left. In truth it's more like a 6.5K with slurry and a 5K with just plain water but it does finish nicely & leaves a very nice polished haze to the edge but I need something that produces a much better edge for my mid range stones:

Next up was the Apache Strata & spent a little bit a time here but not as much as I did on my other stones. I don't finish on this stone but it does make for a great mid range stone and really produces a highly polished edge. This stone doesn't produce a lot of slurry with the diamond plate:

But it sure does produce a lot of slurry with the 1K side of my mighty mini. It also likes a little extra water when using the mighty mini because it's a very thirsty stone:

After I got done with the Apache Strata I went ahead & repeated the process on my Shoubandini Japanese natural water stone:

After I spent some extra time on the Jnat I went straight to my fire hose & performed 10 round trips which should more than wake up this razor. It don't take much:

Next I went to the scrub leather & did 5 round trips to clean up the edge:

Then I finished off with 10 round trips on the smooth leather:

If this doesn't fix this razor, then the razor is getting tossed out. I can't & won't spent anymore time on it & I won't allow someone else to try to hone it either. Sometimes you get a bad razor you can't do nothing about except to toss it. So this will be the last time I hone this razor.

Vision & The Wedge/100:

Today's shave ended up being great. Today I went with my all time favorite brand Soap Commander and my favorite matching set, Vision which is an Aqua, Amber & Mint scent and has an extremely nice chilling effect even though there's no menthol in the soap. And to finish off today's shave, I went with Aqua Velva ice blue aftershave & Soap Commander's Vision scented aftershave balm which adds a tiny bit of menthol to the equation & really puts the post shave feel over the top: 

Sadly the wedge didn't quite turn out right at all. Half way through the first pass, I took the wedge to my fire hose strop & that still wasn't quite enough so after the first pass was completed, I switched to my Gold Dollar 100 that I recently got from Anthony Esposito and it was definitely the right choice. It mowed my stubble off with no issues and the edge was even better than before:

The first shave with the 100 was great but it was also fresh off the stones & I didn't strop it before the first use. But after the first shave I did take the 100 to my fire hose strop for 5 rounds to clean off the edge a bit then I followed that up with 10 round trips on the smooth leather side of my strop. It was stupid smooth & even better than before. After this shave I only did 1 round trip on the fire hose strop & 11 on the smooth leather strop. This will pretty much keep the edge going for at least 38 more shaves if not more before it needs to go onto the stones again. I probably won't need to use my fire hose strop on the 100 for quite a while after this and will probably just use my scrub leather to clean off the edge after my next shave.

Mountain Man & The Black Diamond:

Today's shave was phenomenal. I got to craving a cologne scent so I went with Stirling Soaps and their classic Mountain Man scent which is Stirling's take on Creed's Silver Mountain Water Cologne scent which is extremely expensive. Thankfully Stirling's is just as strong & rich and won't set you back as much as Creed will. And to finish off today's shave, I paired it with Pinaud's Clubman aftershave. It seems to pair extremely well with Stirling's Mountain man but it's not an exact match though:

The Black Diamond was phenomenal. I hit it out of the park with this specific edge but I may have gotten it a tiny bit too sharp so I will be checking out some Belgium Coticules here pretty soon. I'm also going to be looking at something special for my natural water stones which I will let you know about when the time comes. I want it to be a surprise.

Honing Time! Vintage Razors Only:

After shaving with my new Gold Dollar 200, I decided to take my Vintage razors to the stones. No need to mess with the Gold Dollar 200, it only has 1 shave on it and is a long ways off before needing to be re honed and I more than likely won't do a full progression when that time comes. I've also decided to take a look a Norton water stones again only this time, I will be going with the full sized versions instead of the combo stones like I did the first time around. I also decided to stick with my friend Anthony Esposito's honing method as well. There's no need to spend all day honing razors even though it's therapeutic & relaxing:

First I soaked my Suehiro 1/3K combo stone which I've pretty much have dedicated it to being a Nagura slurry stone on a full time basis & my Norton 8K water stone:

Basically I created a slurry with both sides of my Suehiro followed by a slurry with my diamond plate and I did 40/40, 20/20, 10/10, 5/5 seconds worth of half strokes followed by 10 clean up strokes with the first slurry. After that I reduced that to 20/20, 10/10, 5/5 seconds worth of half strokes followed by 10 round trip clean up strokes. I repeated this process with my Apache Strata & Shoubandini Japanese water stones:

I also hit the fire hose strop 10 round trips with both razors between each stone and just before finishing on my leather strop:

After finishing with fire hose strop, I did 5 round trips on the scrub leather & 10 round trips on the smooth leather side of my strop which is on its last leg:

So basically I'm looking at getting a new set of stones & leather strop when I get paid again. The reason I'm leaning back towards the Norton water stones is because of their width. I love my Naniwa Chosera 600 grit stone but it does make for an interesting situation sometimes when it comes to honing. So let the research begin. I sure do wish that Best Sharpening Stones didn't quit stocking Shapton glass stones. That would have been sweet if they hadn't.

C.a.D. & The 200:

Today's shave was great if not perfect. After a nice hot shower, I decided to go with Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements and their modern day classic, C.a.D. which is a much stronger version of a certain canned shave foam scent from the 1970's & 1980's which has to remain nameless. And to finish off today's shave, I went with the matching aftershave splash which is in it's own library when it comes to both scent strength & longevity. PAA's aftershaves usually last between 18 & 24 hours:

And this freshly honed Gold Dollar 200 was perfect. Anthony done an amazing job as usual with the edge of this razor. I was squeaky clean after 3.5 passes with no irritation and/or weepers of any kind. There wasn't any blood at all even with the small bumps. Like I stated earlier it was perfect. I did end up having to do an extra half pass on my neck area to get it where I wanted it. And as far as using it, it was like riding bike. I had no issues at all using this straight razor.

Mail Call: Gold Dollar 200 Razor:

Today's mail call is from my friend Anthony Esposito and it's awesome. I have missed the straight razor world pretty bad as of late & needed to get back into it. And now that I've paid off my truck, I can afford more shaving gear. The decision to return to straight razors was made for me by Gillette when they decided to go back up on their cartridges again. I simply can't afford $25 dollars for 4 cartridges that might give me around 1 month's worth of shaves if I'm lucky & I'm not in that regard. My Edwin Jagger DE 89 taking a crap on me after 4.5 years was the other reason. Unless I screw up these razors, they will pretty much last a life time:

Pay Pal made it stupid easy for me. Anthony is extremely quick to ship which is nothing unusual. I did have to wait an extra day due to the weather which was fine because it worked out perfectly for me. I shave every 2 or 3 days and when this arrived I put it to use:

In the past I had issues with Pay Pal but now that they've streamlined their account verifying process & got rid of a few people, I've been enjoying their services and things have become a lot easier. Now onto looking at some other straight razors & to check out some brand new BBQ grills.

Honor & The 42C:

This morning's shave was excellent. After a nice hot shower & hot cup of coffee, I went with Soap Commander and quite possibly one of their best scents of all time, Honor which is their take on a barbershop scent. It's some where between the classic version of Fine's American Blend & Phoenix Artisan Accoutrement's C.a.D. scented soap. A lot of people tell me that it's extremely close to Mike's Natural Soaps Barbershop scented soap. I never used that brand and/or scent so I wouldn't know. And to finish off this morning's shave I went with the matching aftershave balm which adds a soothing touch of menthol to the already incredible post shave feel: 

I went a little easy on building a lather today but still got more than enough which is about normal with Soap Commander and that's a really good thing:

The Merkur 42C (1904 classic closed comb) razor was excellent and if I didn't know better, I would swear that the Gillette Silver Blue blades were made for it. I'm not quite as slick as black ice in some spots but it sure was close & comfortable and I got almost no irritation after 3 passes. There was a spot or 2 that seemed slightly irritated but those will always get that way no matter what I do because they're my usual trouble spots. I also just got word this morning that Anthony has shipped my brand new Gold Dollar straight razor with a Japanese natural water stone edge on it. He tends to favor the Ozuku Mizu Asagi natural water stone.