Shaving notes of the MaineYooper

The Handle Restoration Project, continued

Yesterday, we left our hero fending off hordes of ...oops, wrong file!

I contacted Freddiep318ti, the gent who has posted some SOTD photos with restored brushes, about whether he would do some restorative work if I found some handles. After communicating a bit, I went out looking for handles. And let me say that Freddie was extremely helpful and even seemed to be excited to help me do this! I felt confident that this would turn out some great stuff, and even if it didn't, I had a new friend in the forum and some experiences restoring a brush. (To be honest, my experiences were limited to finding and buying handles and knots, things I am good at if you recall last year! Freddie had the hard job that required actual skill. I just had to push the button 

Here are the candidates. I bought several lots of vintage brushes and picked put 5 or 6. So I have a fair number left! 





Now that two-piece #4 above wasn't shown to be in two pieces on eBay, but I did find another for like $9 shipped, so got a replacement as I really liked the look of it (an Ever-Ready 200T). 

From the photo with 5 brushes, I received the four shown yesterday in the acquisitions thread. Here they are, and you can see that Freddie did amazing work!




From L to R: Ever-Ready 200T, Erskine 200 (originally had nylon bristles), Chalco C-150, and an Ever-Ready that I'll have to get back to you on!

I sourced badger knots from The Golden Nib, Maggard Razors, and The Shave Forge. The largest socket is the Erskine, the 2nd from the left, at 23mm. The Ever-Readys are 22mm and the Chalco 21mm. The suppliers above had knots down to that size. I don't think any of these had boar hair, I believe they were all badger except for the Erskine.




If I was smarter, I would have kept them in the same order! But entropy and chaos reign supreme in my work style!

From L to R: TGN High Mountain White 21mm, Shave Forge (SF) High Mountain White 22mm, Maggard Razors (MR) new G5 synthetic (this was the nylon brush, remember), and Maggar Razors Super High Density two band badger, 20mm fan.

I couldn't be more pleased and excited to add these to my rotation. Each has something about it that spoke to me as an older, dirty looking handle, and Freddie made them beautiful again!

As a tease for both you and me, I have one more en route from the workshop of Freddie:


I can't wait to see this one! It is a Klenzo B1126 badger! Freddie had found it first, and when I found that mint green one, we agreed to trade. Both are lovely handles, and both are now getting a new lease on life!

The Handle Restoration Project, continued

Yesterday, we left our hero fending off hordes of ...oops, wrong file!

I contacted Freddiep318ti, the gent who has posted some SOTD photos with restored brushes, about whether he would do some restorative work if I found some handles. After communicating a bit, I went out looking for handles. And let me say that Freddie was extremely helpful and even seemed to be excited to help me do this! I felt confident that this would turn out some great stuff, and even if it didn't, I had a new friend in the forum and some experiences restoring a brush. (To be honest, my experiences were limited to finding and buying handles and knots, things I am good at if you recall last year! Freddie had the hard job that required actual skill. I just had to push the button 

Here are the candidates. I bought several lots of vintage brushes and picked put 5 or 6. So I have a fair number left! 





Now that two-piece #4 above wasn't shown to be in two pieces on eBay, but I did find another for like $9 shipped, so got a replacement as I really liked the look of it (an Ever-Ready 200T). 

From the photo with 5 razors, I received the four shown yesterday in the acquisitions thread. Here they are, and you can see that Freddie did amazing work!




From L to R: Ever-Ready 200T, Erskine 200 (originally had nylon bristles), Chalco C-150, and an Ever-Ready that I'll have to get back to you on!

I sourced badger knots from The Golden Nib, Maggard Razors, and The Shave Forge. The largest socket is the Erskine, the 2nd from the left, at 23mm. The Ever-Readys are 22mm and the Chalco 21mm. The suppliers above had knots down to that size. I don't think any of these had boar hair, I believe they were all badger except for the Erskine.




If I was smarter, I would have kept them in the same order! But entropy and chaos reign supreme in my work style!

From L to R: TGN High Mountain White 21mm, Shave Forge (SF) Silvertip 20mm, Maggard Razors (MR) new G5 synthetic (this was the nylon brush, remember), and Maggar Razors Super High Density two band badger, 20mm fan.

I couldn't be more pleased and excited to add these to my rotation. Each has something about it that spoke to me as an older, dirty looking handle, and Freddie made them beautiful again!

As a tease for both you and me, I have one more en route from the workshop of Freddie:


I can't wait to see this one! It is a Klenzo B1126 badger! Freddie had found it first, and when I found that mint green one, we agreed to trade. Both are lovely handles, and both are now getting a new lease on life!

Amazing work on all of these. Freddie did quite a bit of magic as all look brand new. Congrats Eric.

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Thank you for the kind words my friend and I'm glad you happy with how they turned out. I definitely enjoyed doing them and I thank you for trusting me with the work. Which one do you plan on breaking in first?

I don't have the knot for it yet but here's how the mint handle turned out. Wood handle should be done this week! 

Thank you for the kind words my friend and I'm glad you happy with how they turned out. I definitely enjoyed doing them and I thank you for trusting me with the work. Which one do you plan on breaking in first?

Ha, I forget my memory pills again!

I used the Ever-Ready 200T with the TGN high mountain white knot. A great shave and wow did it bloom!

Here is the before soaking for 20 minutes or thereabouts, as seen above.


And here the two Ever-Readys after a 20 minute soak

Looking good!

The Handle Restoration Project, continued

Yesterday, we left our hero fending off hordes of ...oops, wrong file!

I contacted Freddiep318ti, the gent who has posted some SOTD photos with restored brushes, about whether he would do some restorative work if I found some handles. After communicating a bit, I went out looking for handles. And let me say that Freddie was extremely helpful and even seemed to be excited to help me do this! I felt confident that this would turn out some great stuff, and even if it didn't, I had a new friend in the forum and some experiences restoring a brush. (To be honest, my experiences were limited to finding and buying handles and knots, things I am good at if you recall last year! Freddie had the hard job that required actual skill. I just had to push the button 

Here are the candidates. I bought several lots of vintage brushes and picked put 5 or 6. So I have a fair number left! 





Now that two-piece #4 above wasn't shown to be in two pieces on eBay, but I did find another for like $9 shipped, so got a replacement as I really liked the look of it (an Ever-Ready 200T). 

From the photo with 5 razors, I received the four shown yesterday in the acquisitions thread. Here they are, and you can see that Freddie did amazing work!




From L to R: Ever-Ready 200T, Erskine 200 (originally had nylon bristles), Chalco C-150, and an Ever-Ready that I'll have to get back to you on!

I sourced badger knots from The Golden Nib, Maggard Razors, and The Shave Forge. The largest socket is the Erskine, the 2nd from the left, at 23mm. The Ever-Readys are 22mm and the Chalco 21mm. The suppliers above had knots down to that size. I don't think any of these had boar hair, I believe they were all badger except for the Erskine.




If I was smarter, I would have kept them in the same order! But entropy and chaos reign supreme in my work style!

From L to R: TGN High Mountain White 21mm, Shave Forge (SF) Silvertip 20mm, Maggard Razors (MR) new G5 synthetic (this was the nylon brush, remember), and Maggar Razors Super High Density two band badger, 20mm fan.

I couldn't be more pleased and excited to add these to my rotation. Each has something about it that spoke to me as an older, dirty looking handle, and Freddie made them beautiful again!

As a tease for both you and me, I have one more en route from the workshop of Freddie:


I can't wait to see this one! It is a Klenzo B1126 badger! Freddie had found it first, and when I found that mint green one, we agreed to trade. Both are lovely handles, and both are now getting a new lease on life!

I discovered that just over a week ago, I passed an anniversary with no comment or even acknowledgement, as I totally forgot about it. But on Friday the 13th of November, 2015, I had my first DE shave ever. 

Over the previous two days, packages from Amazon arrived containing tubs of 2 creams (Trufitt and Hill Unscented and TOBS Natural), a Merker 34C, some Gillette Silver Blue blades, an Ambroley best badger brush, and a very small metal bowl. 

That first shave was WTG and ATG, and left two nicks and lots of tingle! I know I used too much pressure and too many strokes, as I wanted a result phenomenally better than any cartridge shave. That was the only use of a Merkur blade! And the last ATG pass for several years!

The next day, I used the TOBS and the Silver Blue, and settled on WTG and 1 XTG pass and had an acceptable result with no blood.

So, now I am a week into year 8! I lost the brush to a very strongly scented soap in January of 2016 and went totally synthetic until 2021, when some boars entered the brush pack. By my second week shaving, Mystic Water Soap Sensitive Skin appeared in the mailbox and has always been in my soap drawer since then. Blades, well, you know. Many lifetimes of blades stored, even after giving way copious numbers! The Merkur 34C was sold after I became hooked on a Maggard razor and discovered vintage Gillettes. Some days I wish I'd kept it, but that is just for nostalgia. And I stopped using the creams as I found them tacky compared to most soaps. And that little odd bowl? Still in storage, not really sure what it would be good for, but Amazon called it a shaving bowl and I bought it!

Congrats on the journey. I started with the same razor and TOBS cream as well. Astra was my first blade and I was a redneck for months trying to learn. Lol

Happy Thanksgiving



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