Shangas
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 6,116
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
There is SOMETHING in there...I forget what it is. It may be the oil you speak of. I can't remember!
When you're proficient with that, you can graduate to this:
http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa54/1930artdeco/?action=view¤t=IMG_1314.jpghttp://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa54/1930artdeco/?action=view¤t=IMG_1313.jpghttp://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa54/1930artdeco/?action=view¤t=IMG_1311.jpgThis thread got me thinking...I should get back into the wet shave business instead of the electric. So here is what I have to start with: A gillette safety razor, and a 'precision-blue beard stropper' made by The Beardsley and Wolcott MFG Co.. Unfortunately it needs to be restored as the leather windings are starting to desintegrate. Has anyone ever heard of these people or seen this before? I have a brush as well-Boars bristle I think. Is there a store where I can buy the missing pieces or do I have to go to several different places?
Mike
My dad passed away, so those websites are where I learned everything I know about the subject too.Everything I learned about how to do this I gleaned from the book "The Art of Shaving" and posts on Art of Manliness, provided here:
http://artofmanliness.com/2008/01/04/how-to-shave-like-your-grandpa/
http://artofmanliness.com/2010/08/19/how-to-buy-and-restore-vintage-shaving-gear/
Also there are several forums devoted to the classic wet shave. One of the best, I'm told, is Badger and Blade:
Badger & Blade - Home
Incidentally, the authors of the aforementioned book also run a store by the same name which has locations in a few different cities. If you have one in your area, I guarantee they have everything you need to get started. You could also try Amazon.com; in my experience they sell darn near everything!
Best of luck to you! Welcome to the brotherhood of vintage shaving!
My razor is 'adjustable' in that I can bend the blade to different angles. Is this so you can adjust the depth/coarse/fine cut?
Mike
I just posted this on another thread before I saw this one. Check out "Mantics" shave You Tube Videos. http://www.youtube.com/user/mantic59/videos
Those videos are the best around and will show you EVERYTHING you need to know about wet shaving...and I mean EVERYTHING!
To Gin/Tonics...Once you get the bug for the vintage shave stuff, it's hard to stop. 7 months ago, I got back into wet shaving and bought 1 new Merkur Razor. I then bought 1 vintage Gillette. That was all it took...
Since then I have bought over 300 razors (restore/sell) and have about 100 in my collection. These are just a few. I ran out of room and need to buy a couple of more curio cabinets.:eeek:
Holy Cow that is gorgeous!!!! Did you make the display cases yourself? I'm thinking of doing the same, but I dont have all the nice razors that you do. Nice job!!! :eusa_clap
Good work old boy. Keep trying. Remember to use a LIGHT touch on the razor. It's meant to SLIDE over your skin. Not slice into it. Any pressure apart from the weight of the razor will almost certainly lead to a cut.
Razor-burn is usually attributed to a blunt blade. Make sure you sharpen or change the blades regularly.
Now I'm going to have to go to ebay, and buy a DE razor... great another addiction in the making.