Pumpkin Spice & The Proshield:

Today's shave was great. Uncle Jon's Pumpkin Spice is an excellent soap. Too bad it's seasonal though and as far as I know, it's unavailable until probably around September of next year. To finish off this shave, I paired it with Phoenix Artisan Accoutrement's Autumn Factory which has an epic burn to it and it lasts up to 24 hours as well:

The Proshield did great but I did have to make 2.5 passes before getting a squeaky clean post shave feel. This shave was still very impressive in terms of comfort level though. In the old days with the Proglides, the 2nd shave was gloom and doom for me. This time it's the exact opposite which is unusual in my opinion. Gillette and a few other disposable razor makers tend to like people to burn through their products faster than normal so you would have to buy more of them sooner rather than later. That's why they hate BOTH DE safety and straight razors. They're not disposable and can be used for years to come, specifically straight razors. But if I ever end up on blood thinners and can't use straights, then these would be my 1st choice considering that it's impossible to get cut with.

Armada & The Jr. Torrey:

Today's shave was great. It's also Tuesday which means Through The Fire Fine Craft by Maria Arman gets used. I went with her Armada scented soap which has a killer Vintage Old Spice scent. And to finish off the shave I went with Soap Commander's Endurance aftershave balm which has the same scent and followed that up with some 2003 Old Spice splash:

The Jr. Torrey done great, but I still need it a touch sharper. Last night I did about 20 round trips on my jnat and it came out okay. I need to work on my technique with that specific stone. That's one thing I do not like about Jnats and natural stones. There's a learning curve that takes time to get over and it's NOT a short one either. I've also been looking at the Apache Strata a lot here lately. People say it's a killer stone and puts a wickedly sharp edge on a razor.

Vision & The Prosheild Chill:

Today's shave was requested and it was excellent. More on that in a bit. Today I needed a Soap Commander fix and since the razor has a mentholated lubrication strip, I went with their Vision scented soap and aftershave balm which has an aqua, amber and mint scent to it. The soap itself has no menthol but the balm does. And after applying the matching balm, I finished it off with my usual aftershave splash:

This razor has impressed me in an extremely good way. I literally have an ice rink type of post shave in  just 2 passes. The reason I went with this razor is because someone requested it and they wished to remain anonymous. Plus here lately in some of the face book groups, I have seen and heard people using a soap and brush with cartridge razors. It wasn't long ago that one of the many people asked about switching to a DE razor and the benefits it has which is costs and more comfort. So I will do an in depth review here in another post. But the Gillette Fusion Prosheild Chill done a much better job and was more comfortable than I expected.

WTF Pipe Smoke & The Jr. Torrey:

Today's shave was great. I went with Wet The Face soaps and his Pipe Smoke sample that was in the sample kit I ordered some time back and let me tell you that it's phenomenal. It's got a semi sweet fresh premium pipe tobacco scent to it. And to finish off this shave, I paired it with my usual aftershave splash to give it an even more refreshing post shave feel to it:

The Jr. Torrey was excellent. I wasn't feeling too confident about the edge so while my soap was blooming, I took the razor to my jnat using just plain water for 40 X strokes followed by just 5 round trips on the smooth leather strop. I got a really good shave in 2.5 passes.

Volcano & The Steampunk Wedge:

This morning's shave was great. Sorry for the late posting guys, it's been extremely crazy and hair raising here today. More on that in a bit. This morning after a nice hot shower, I went with Tiki Bar and their vegan based cream, Volcano which has an incredible semi sweet sliced tropical fruit scent to it. And to finish off the shave, I went with their Walk The Plank aftershave balm which has a sweet tropical coconut and salt water with a little hint of rum scent to it:

The Steampunk wedge did extremely well. I managed to get a really nice shave in 2.5 passes. After I was done, I performed 5 round trips on the pasted strop which should put it exactly where I want it. Of course this specific razor got a little less time on the Jnat than the Jr. Torrey did. So the next shave with that razor will be really interesting. Today was pay day for me and it's also the last one I get in 2016. Right now I've got all but 1 of my bills paid which is my water bill. The reason it's not paid is because they sent me a bill of $481.93 for the month of December. That's like half a year's worth of water in a single month. We checked and there is no leaks and there's no loss of pressure going to the house either. So they'll be sending someone out to read the meter Monday and they told me to get back with them either Tuesday or Wednesday. If I get the same bill that I got today, there will be a lawsuit filed and I will go to the courthouse to have an investigation launched for fraud because there's NO WAY that we can use 24,180 gallons of water with only 2 people here including myself in a house with no leaks or loss of pressure. It's simply not possible.

Razor Finishing:

This was really cool. Once again I must thank my friend, Kon Soldatos for the Shoubandini Type 100. Okay lets get started. Even though I did 3 sessions on the Norton 8K followed by 10 round trips on the .5 pasted strop yesterday, I still wanted a jnat finish on my razors:

First using my 600 grit diamond plate, I worked up a slurry which took less than 30 seconds to do. It's slightly larger than my 6 by 2 inch diamond plate. And I started out with doing 20 "X" Strokes on each razor. But then I got a little excited and decided to do more and went with 30 seconds worth of half strokes on each side of both razors followed by 10 "X" strokes. Both razors started to get slightly sticky. So these beasts are going to extremely sharp:

My friend Kon Soldatos suggested that after I got through with the slurry to rinse the stone and go with just plain water which I did. I did 20 seconds worth of half circles on each side, followed by 10 "X" strokes to clean up the edge a bit:

Next I went straight to the smooth leather of my strop and rubbed it down until it got warm to the touch and I just did 10 round trips. No pasted strop on this honing session:

I'm extremely pleased with this stone. It's fast but smooth and not quite as hard as some other stones. I would put it around about level 4 at the moment but not quite like glass. I will be calling this excellent stone my pocket rocket. I've never finished off a razor this fast before. I have shaved off of an edge of this type of stone before, but not my own until now. So tomorrow's shave will be interesting for sure. Man I'm really hooked on honing now, wow.

Mail Call:

Today's mail call is extremely special. A personal thank you to my friend Kon Soldatos for giving me this 6 by 2 inch Japanese water stone which is a Shoubandini type 100. Here lately I've been on a choke collar in terms of budget and right now these aren't available over at Japanese Natural Stones' website and to get one I would be looking at $90 dollars plus shipping. But considering the edge that this stone provides, it's more than worth it. So thank you very much Kon Soldatos:

The envelope was easy to open which is a good thing so I can get to it faster:

The post office did a little beat down on the case but that's okay I can fix it with the hot glue gun which won't take but maybe 5 to 10 minutes to do:

The size of this stone is about the same as my 600 grit diamond plate which is what I'll be suing to round the corners down a bit along with the edges of the stone with. I am so excited now that I can't stand it. So I'll be doing some razor finishing once I get this posted up.