A pretty nice-looking one too, even if I would prefer not having the screw in the top.
More details – and perhaps just as important, the files you need to print one – over at Thingiverse.
Someone else made a 3D printed razor
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Tag Archives: Gear
Review: Mike’s Natural Soaps
I’ve been a fan of Mike’s Natural Soaps for quite a while now – ordered my first soaps from him almost a year ago – but writing up a review is hard simply because it’s near impossible to do the soap justice.
I’ll admit it up front; Mike’s Natural Soap is one of my favorite soaps – if not THE favorite. Part of it is the pure performance – great glide, great cushion, don’t leave me dry… but part of it is also that all of Mike’s soaps performs the same. It don’t matter if it’s his Orange, Cedarwood & Black Pepper or his Barbershop – they are all good. Apart from the scent they might as well be one large soap – it’s just that consistent.
Whipping up some lather with Mike’s soaps is easy as pie for me – soak the brush, swirl over the soap for twenty, thirty seconds before switching to the bowl and building the lather for real. The latherbuilding is also where the scent really gets released; and while some of the samples I ordered from Mike’s isn’t my favorites, he has several really good ones – I think my favorite might be his Orange, Cedarwood and Black Pepper soap, which reminds me of orange soda…
Since I put in my first order, Mike has started selling his soaps in tins as well as twist-up shave sticks. They work as well as the bars, but with the added bonus of not having to provide your own container to keep the puck in.
Mike’s Natural Soaps gives a great shave and wont leave your face dry. It also comes in a great many fragrances, and Mike’s samples are most generous if you want to try several. What’s not to like?
Blade review: Flying Eagle
At times I do things for reasons that can be described as ‘less sane’ – like picking up a sleeve of razor blades I’ve never heard about before just because I like the name. Sometimes it even works out…
I was over at Shave A Buck, ordering one of the new Cadet Razors (the Twist To Open TTO-13, which is a damn fine razor by the way) when I spotted a couple of blades I knew I had to pick up just because of their names; Lord Cool and Flying Eagle. While I haven’t tried the former yet, the later is actually surprisingly good blades.
More about that later, first we got to have pictures:
The front of the cardboard sleeve – and no, I have no idea what it actually says.
Back of the sleeve – all I can figure out from it is where to open the damn thing.
The back of the individual wrapper – the front of it is the same as the front of the sleeve.
The blade unwrapped – unlike some more expensive blades, the Flying Eagle is double wrapped.
The inside of the wrapper, and the surprise of the day – an advertisement for a cartridge razor called the Gillette Vector!
One side of the Flying Eagle blade – mounted in my Gillette 58 TV Special.
The other side of the blade – for us white barbarians who don’t read Chinese I guess.
The Flying Eagle gives me – at least in my Gillette 58 TV Special and my Merkur 25C OC – a very good shave. It’s sharp and smooth, and stays that way; it actually stays good for longer than my current fall back blade – even if it starts out slightly less sharp that is a trade off worth considering.
YMMV as always, but I think everyone who likes to experiment with blades that are from outside the beaten track should give these a go – for less than 2 bucks for five they are reasonable priced, and they might give you as good an experience as they gave me.
As an offside, the Gillette Vector mentioned in the advertisement seems to be a Far East clone / remake of the Gillette Sensor; pivoting head, two blades, lubrication strip and ‘micro fins’.
More old time razors
Stumbled over an interesting web page the other day; Origins of the safety razors.
Lots of interesting razors, even if I like the so called Pig Scraper the most:
I can actually see making something like this on a modern 3D printer, suitable modified to use a modern SE or DE blade… shouldn’t me too hard.
First loot of the year 2013 – soap
Got the first loot of the year today; a huge order of shaving- and bath soaps from Mike’s Natural Soaps.
My axes – one line on each razor I got so far
Just for fun, I summarised all my razors:
- Ever-Ready 1914 vintage SE; Used to belong to an old friend of the family. Lovely razor, but don’t work all that well on my neck. Not given up on it yet..
- Cadet TP-01; Three piece open comb. More aggressive and less mild than my Merkur OCs – efficient, comfortable, inexpensive and well made razor.
- Cadet TTO-13; Twist To Open safety bar. Reasonable flat blade angle and medium blade gap makes for an efficient and aggressive razor. Fairly heavy.
- Feather Popular; Mild Twist To Open of mixed construction. A good razors for beginners and shavers wanting a mild razor – PIFed mine away and misses it.
- Gillette 1958 TV Special; Vintage Twist To Open short handled razor. Shaves great, fairly mild. Worth it if you can find one in good condition.
- Merkur 25C; Long handled three piece Open Comb. Mild yet efficient, one of my favourite razors.
- Merkur 39C: The AXE of my collection. Heavy, slanted and somewhat aggressive, this three piece razor will take a weeks growth off in one pass. Highly recommended.
- Merkur 985CL; Short handled open comb travel razor. As mild and efficient as the 25C, but half the weight and a shorter handle.
- Parker 22R; My very first DE, and you’ll have to take it from my cold, dead hands. reasonable mild, somewhat unforgiving to user errors. I would recommend it, but be aware that Parker has somewhat of a reputation of poor quality control.
- Racer razor; Cheap and cheerful mixed construction two piece. Flat blade and largish blade gap makes for an aggressive but not very harsh shave. Cap covers ends of blades, good for travelling and people wanting a cheap razor.
- Wilkinson Classic; Solid two piece razor of mixed construction. Middle of the road razor as far as aggressiveness goes, good razor for beginners in my opinion.
- Unknown German Bakelite Slant; Possible made by Merkur, short handled three piece slant. Very light weight and surprisingly mild, it comes highly recommended.
- Yuma safety razor; Three piece pot metal razor. Feels harsh but gives a smooth shave, very loud due to hollow handle. Not for beginners, but recommended if you want a fun and slightly scary razor.
Links to reviews on this page of my blog.
Pleased and a little horrified
I was out shopping the other day, when I stumbled over something in the non-food section of my local grocery store:
Pleased because even if all they have is canned goo and multi blade horrors, they do now have shaving brushes. A little horrified because frankly… how good can a no-brand brush that cost 49.90 (approx 8.50USD) be, considering that that’s ever so slightly more than you’ll pay for a Big Mac?
Still, they offer a “quality guarantee” for it, so it can’t be half bad… no listing on the back as to the materials used in it, so it’s anyone’s guess as to what the hairs are – cheap boar, nylon, leftover paintbrushes… Still, it’s on the shelf now – so that’s an improvement. All they need to do now is to start stocking proper shaving soap or cream, as well as some proper safety razors and blades.
Suggestions from my favourite shaving forum points towards this being a re-badged Marvy brush – or both Pfeilring and Marvy get it from the same third-party supplier – if so it might be a pretty scratchy boar brush. I might just have to give it a try… or maybe not.
Got ye flask
Brian – the guy behind the wonderfulness that is Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum (and Prototype Menthol, as well as 80 Below) – has found a more stylish way to present his aftershave; an engraved hip flask.
As much as I love Krampert’s Bay Rum, I’ve always felt that the plastic bottle – while serviceable – sold the after shave short… so when the new flasks came up I just had to get ye flask.
Pictures of my travel kit
Not pictured – since I forgot it at work – is the little travel sized alum stick.
Travel kit
In my line of work I often have to get on the Go – usually for training or exercises – and as such I keep my GoBag packed at all times.
A major issue when it comes to the GoBag is space; if something don’t fit in the bag, it means it either dont come with or something else must be taken out… with that in mind, and after a bit of experimentation, I have put together a small yet comprehensive travel kit that not only fit in there, but gives me a DFS too.
While I might still change a thing or two, this is what’s in my GoBag:
- A travel sized bottle of Dr Bronners soap – useful for more than shaving
- Merkur 985CL open comb travel razor – breaks down into a pouch about 4cm square
- Body Shop synthetic brush – not the best brush, but small and dries fast
- Lea Shave stick – shaves well, and the plastic tube protects it well
- A travel sized bottle of Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
All in all a fraction of the stuff in my den, but I still get better shaves than the electric and cartridge crowd.