Latha Limon & The 209:

This morning's shave was simply fabulous. You can't go wrong with Barrister & Mann and their "Latha Limon" is excellent which has a lemon, orange and rose scent to it which really enhances and makes the top note of lemon really pop. I would have never thought that those scents wouldn't go together at all, but surprising they're perfect for each other. And to put the icing on the cake so to speak, I paired this soap with my classic ice blue aftershave:

The 209 done a phenomenal job and it was a 2 pass clean shave. I could have gotten my chin one more time but I was happy with the initial results that I got. And fixing my strop yesterday made a huge difference in the edge. I didn't have any debris left on the razor from that area and the edge looked like it had been polished which is a very good thing.

Strop Repair 101:

There's nothing worse than a nicked up strop which does happen with your first one as you learn how to use it properly and even as a veteran straight razor user, accidents do happen from time to time. So what can you do about it? Your first option is to buy replacement leather if your strop was made with Chicago screws like mine is which is shown below. If your strop was made with rivets, the another option is to buy a new strop which can get very expensive. Here's an alternative option that you can do at home in your spare time and it's budget friendly. I really can't afford to run out and buy a new strop every time something happens. So I decided to put this "how to" together for those who don't want to buy a new strop and to keep what they have. So let's get started and please enjoy: 

The tools you will need are a Dremel (or sandpaper will work if no dremel), vise grips, and a screw driver. Mine specific strop needed a flat head screw driver:

Using the vise grips, clamp the top leather clasp down flat and loosen the Chicago screws. Remove the screws and the bottom studs:

Here's the area I'm repairing. This isn't too bad and this strop is decent when it comes to thickness. The really thin strops would take much longer and more care but to be honest, I don't recommend repairing the thin strops unless you are repairing them by hand with NO dremel :

Using the sanding disc attachment, gently sand the scratches out in an "east to west" motion and please make sure the Dremel is on its slowest speed because you don't want it to cut into your strop too much and you don't want it to tear it in 2 pieces either:

Here's what it looks like after using the sanding disc:

Next I went to the small 60 grit sanding drum, the nylon brush and the cloth buffing wheel to finish the repairs up and to make sure the strop looks good:

The small sanding drum done a phenomenal job at removing the scratches that the sanding disc produced and it really blended everything together better than I expected it would. I used a "north to south" motion when using the small sanding drum:

Like I stated it done a phenomenal job. Here's the end results of the drum sander:

Next up I used the nylon brush attachment to clean up the leather more and give it that extra polish. I used an "east to west" motion with this attachment:

The Nylon brush done extremely well. Here's the end results:

Next up I went with the cloth buffing wheel attachment and I used the same motion I did with the nylon brush attachment earlier:

That cloth buffing wheel attachment for my Dremel really made the leather pop:

These cloth buffing wheels are great. But they don't last for very long. Mine is pretty much done at this point. Good thing that they're extremely cheap:

Next up, I went with the Armor All Leather Care gel which you can get in the automotive department at Walmart for less than $5 dollars depending on your location of course. The natural oils in your skin is the best treatment you can use. But this is an alternative that's budget friendly:

It doesn't take much at all and it's best to lay it on a bare flat surface such as a counter top. For me the perfect counter top is in my bathroom:

And since I had the strop apart, I went ahead and also treated both sides of the leather clasps that hold the strop together:

Here's the end result of the repair I made with one application of the leather gel:

Like I stated earlier, the natural oils in your skin are the absolute best leather treatment you can use period. But this product along with anything that was specifically made for leather is an alternative you can use. Mink oil is really good as well:

this is the final result after I did another leather gel treatment and reassembled the strop:

This took roughly around 1 hour to complete and it was fun and simple to do. So if you have a strop that's nicked up pretty bad, this is a really good alternative option other than going out and buying either replacement leather and/or buying a new strop. This is also a really good option in my humble opinion if you are on a tight budget and can't buy a new strop.

T.T.F.F.C. & The Doc:

This morning's shave was excellent. Through The Fire Fine Craft is an amazing soap and should be in every ones shaving arsenal. This is my mixed soap container and it seems to pair with Clubman perfectly. And these Perma-Sharp blades are great and extremely comfortable in the doc:

I didn't get a squeaky clean shave because I only did 2 passes and a neck touch up. The doc is a great razor, but once again my barbed wire like beard strikes yet again. So I am going to be upgrading my DE safety razors a little bit. I've been looking at PAA's Symetry Open Comb, I've also been looking at slants and I've really been taking a closer look at the Muhle R41 which I'm told is the most aggressive DE safety razor I can get which is just about what I need now. I'd rather have a single pass daily shave with a mild blade in an aggressive razor than to make 2.5+ passes to get somewhat clean and get irritation.

Project Failed:

Well I did some more sanding and I got to looking and seen that I have ruined 3 straight razors in terms of both honing and polishing. So I can chalked this project up in the failed column. From now on, I will only perform a heel and toe trim and that's all I will do:

I tried and things went wrong so it's really no big deal because these razors are dirt cheap on EBay and various other places. So I will check out a few later on and replace these razors with new ones later on. I will NOT be getting another Gold Monkey Triple 6 because it takes longer to hone than the Gold Dollar 208 and 66 does.

Commitment & The DE 89:

This morning's shave was fabulous. Soap Commander's sandalwood scented soap called "commitment" is phenomenal. Combined with RazoRock's 24mm synthetic Plissoft knot, and you've got an excellent shave going. After that I paired it with Aqua Velva classic ice blue aftershave for a bit of a cooling effect. I sure wish that this was a full time soap because it's the only exclusively sandalwood scented soap that doesn't cause me issues:

The DE 89 did great with these Gillette Platinum Plus blades, but I would rather use Astra green blades instead. They more than get the job done and are extremely comfortable in this razor. This morning's shave was a 2 pass squeaky clean type of shave.

I'm Getting There:

I'm nearly there. I got some sanding done with the supplied drum sander that came with my Dremel which is 60 grit. I had to look it up on Dremel's website and part number 407 which came in my kit is listed as 60 grit. After I got through sanding, I used the carbon steel wired brush and the polishing compound to bring out the shine a little more: 

The polishing compound done really good with the wire brush attachment:

I figure that some more sandpaper and some rubbing compound will get it to where I want it. I'll probably end up going all the way to 1,200 grit in terms of sanding but it'll depend on what it looks like after I get done with 80 grit sandpaper.

Razor Clean Up Part 3:

Well I just got through using the carbon steel wire brush attachment on my Gold Dollar 208, 66 and Gold Monkey triple 6 straight razors and it done a good job at cleaning up the minor scratches and producing a nice shine to them but from where I've had to do so much grinding, it's going to take quite a bit more than a single wire brush session to get these razors where I want them:

Here's a close up of the label that came with the packaging for those whom are wondering what the part number is for this attachment:

Here's what they looked like before the first session with the wire brush attachment:

Here's what they look like now after doing just one session with the wire brush attachment on the high speed setting. This brush attachment also delivers a massive amount of heat so be prepared to put the blades under cool running water to keep them from warping. I also had to stop and recharge the battery before I could get to my Gold Monkey Triple 6:

They've now got more shine to them and the wire brush did remove most of the minor scratches but I've got a lot more work to do before I get to the polishing part of the equation with rubbing compound and metal polishing. I'll probably end up doing another session with the wire brush on low after I get done with the sandpaper part of this equation. They'll look good when I am done and have them all nice and clean.