New Goodies

Lisa and I took the day yesterday and sent spelunking in our favorite antique haunt, Stillwater, MN. I came home with some new-old goodies - a Gillette Tech razor and a silverplate shaving cup/ scuttle.

The gold tone Tech seems to be unused and in near pristine condition. There are just a few minor marks that seem to be from handling, certainly not from shaving use. I don't know a lot about these, and always thought they predated the butterfly safety razors, however, a quick check of the internet indicated that it could be a vintage as recent as the 1970's.

Here are a couple of photos for your viewing pleasure:

The shaving cup/ scuttle is another story. I don't know much about scuttles and thus, I don't know for sure how function follows form in this instance. It's two-piece, with a main cup and a shallow bowl insert that I assume is for a cake of shaving soap. Comments are welcome here, in case anyone has more info on origin or usage.

The halmark on the bottom indicates the cup was manufactured by the Eureka Silver Co. (I haven't researched it yet) and is quadruple plated. The number 260 is also stamped on the bottom near the halmark - perhaps a production run number?

Also, the initials JFY or JYF are engraved on the cup, obviously by hand as there is a slight tilt to the engraving orientation. I apologize for the slight glare in the photo.

Here are some photos:

Let me know what you think!

Shave of the Day - Dec. 18

I've been shaving after showering the past few shaves, rather than before, which was always my preference. I've been surprised that I haven't hacked myself bloody! Indeed, I've had fewer cuts and closer shaves!

Today I decided to begin using up my old Mach 3 cartridges and I must say, while I was more comfortable with the razor, the double-pass shave was as close as, but no closer than the two-pass shaves I've been getting with the Gillette DE. No cuts at all, and no razor burn either. I have to say, the Mach 3 is the mildest razor I've ever used. I don't know if it's the pivoting head or what, but it does a much nicer job than the Shick that I keep in my travel bag

That said, I'll continue to go back & forth between razors until I've used up the Shick and Mach 3 cartridges. Then, sometime after New Year's I'll have to get back to the pursuit of the straight razor shave.

So THAT's How You Build a Lather

I finally got around to watching this:



Now I know what I've been doing wrong - or rather haven't even been doing. I'll have another report tomorrow after trying these techniques with the trusty cake of Williams.

Nice Intro From NBC's Today Show

I found this video while spelunking around the web this morning. It's Corey Greenberg's famous shaving segment on NBC's Today Show that allegedly started the worldwide wetshaving boom. A great introduction to wet shaving with DE and straight razors.