Shave of the Day Thread - 2023

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SOTD – MON 2 JAN 2023​

First Shave of 2023...

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The background photo of my shave picture is from my favorite walking trail: Yarrowee River Trail, Ballarat.

Shave Result: I rate Cyril R.Salter cream a slightly better performer than TOBS. The lather produced was creamy and high volume from just 3gms of product, although could have spent more time enriching the lather density. The scent is a definite Rose forward floral aroma, the addition of Geranium seems to give it clean floral scent without much green/earthyness, scent strength 7/10. The Karve AL Overlander lived up to it’s Goat-Lander status, wonderful silky smooth clean shave.

THE GEAR:​

  • Pre Shave: Lucky Tiger Liquid Shave Cream
  • Brush: Yaqi “Glacier” with 24mm 2Band Badger
  • Soap: Cyril R.Salter Luxury Shaving Cream - Wild Rose
  • Bowl: Yaqi Black ABS “Duke”
  • Razor: Karve Black AL Overlander
  • Blade: Dorco Prime HQ (3)
  • Splash: TN Dickinsons Witch Hazel with menthol&tea tree oil
  • Balm: Lucky Tiger Vanishing Cream
  • After Shave: Jovan Musk for Men AS
  • Moisturiser: Nivea Men Creme (Face-Body-Hands)
 
tathra11 said:
Unfortunately all my old Valobra soaps are used up. For me, this stuff doesn't come close to the quality of those Valobra made soaps. Good quality, hard puck tallow soaps are still my fave.
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That's too bad @tathra11, @Gargravarr and I are already fully stocked up on the famous old loveable tallow version, all I can say is TOUGH TITTIES :LOL:
 
tathra11 said:
Unfortunately all my old Valobra soaps are used up. For me, this stuff doesn't come close to the quality of those Valobra made soaps. Good quality, hard puck tallow soaps are still my fave.
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Yeah, the new one got a thorough bagging on that other forum. A while ago I hoped I might have hit on some NOS, but it wasn't to be, so I returned it.
 
Back to work shave, off with the goatee, and a wonderful 4 x WTG = BBS from this lot

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Pre-shave:- Shower
Soap:- Timmermann Red Label 1869
Brush:- Tony Forsyth P&C LE 2020 Matilda Rhodium 2-band Silvertip Badger
Razor:- Schick Type J injector
Blade:- NOS Vintage Schick injector (5)
Str8:- Red 1st Gen Filarmónica Doble Temple No 14 Jose' Monserrat Pou
 
Pre-shave: Hot Shower
Brush: @Tony Forsyth P&C LE Platypus Shaving Brush
Soap/Cream: APR Fougere Bourbon Rose shaving soap
Razor: Mühle Birchbark Rocca
Blade: Feather New Hi Stainless (3)
Post-shave: APR Fougere Bourbon Rose splash
Fragrance: N/A

So nice, last with this blade though - do not push a Feather beyond 3, it is not worth it!

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Pre-shave: Proraso eucalyptus and menthol Crema Pre Barba
Brush: Proraso Boar
Soap: A&E Asian Pear
Razor: Gillette New short comb
Blade: Gillette 7 O'clock Yellow (3)
Post-shave: Alum block, Nivea Men Sensitive Post Shave Balm, Blue Stratos
 
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Pre-shave: Hot flannel, Pears soap
Brush: CaYuen "Copper Ore" DScosmetic G7
Soap: Mystic Water - Jeff's Lavender
Razor: Yaqi Excalibur/Raster V3 - thanks @thatguy (y)
Blade: Schick Proline
Post-shave: Shower, Castle Forbes Lavender balm, homebrew moisturiser, La Roche-Posay Anthelios SPF50+, Oxford & Cambridge cologne
COTD: Mocha Ismaili, Yemen

Impressions of the Yaqi Excalibur/Raster

You may recall that a while ago, I sent out my Claymore for a bit of a road trip for interested members to try out. Along the way, @thatguy generously included a surplus Yaqi Excalibur/Raster (I think the name depends on who's doing the marketing) for the ride to eventually end up in my den, where for some reason it's sat idle until this morning.

Since I first read of this razor as a Vector clone, I figure I might as well offer up my impressions for what they're worth...

First off, this little fella is super-light, a full 10g lighter than the Vector according to my kitchen scales. The razor has a pleasant satin finish, the long handle comparatively plain with a somewhat unappealing (to me) waist at ⅔ of its length, but which nevertheless affords a comfortable, positive grip. The head shares the cutaway threaded post feature with the Vector, with rather more screw thread, which IMO is a Good Thing(TM). But with that, any similarity to the Vector ends.

The head is clearly moulded (apparently the V2 is machined), and the fit between cap and baseplate is sloppy enough that I had to be just a bit careful to get the blade aligned properly. That done, the first thing I noticed once I started shaving is that there's much more blade feel with the Yaqi razor, and there's a rather narrower sweet spot for blade angle. But then the Vector is unusually forgiving in that it'll shave at almost any angle. Interestingly, the extra blade feel of the Raster didn't translate to more efficiency, and I'm not really sure why that should be. Overall comfort of the shave was excellent though, and I ended up with a perfect, easy and blood-free BBS.

Overall, I'd say that anyone interested in AC razors could definitely do worse than giving this one a try. At just $39.95 from The Wet Shaving Co, it's great value. I'm going to give this one another run sometime this week before I offer it up as a PIF.
 
Thanks for your thoughts @Gargravarr
I considered buying one of these when I couldn't get a Vector but was put off by the alignment issues and materials not to mention the thought of it being aggressive.
The Vector hits it out of the park and its hard to beat that razor.
I guess if anything the mounting posts are so much better on the Raster as they should work better with all blades as opposed to the Vector's blade mounting design.
 
Rusty Bridges said:
...The Vector hits it out of the park and its hard to beat that razor.
I guess if anything the mounting posts are so much better on the Raster as they should work better with all blades as opposed to the Vector's blade mounting design.
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I've never had any problem with blades not fitting in my Vector, but mine was made before Shane decided he needed to tighten up the specifications. I'm sure he had his reasons, but it's a shame that so many people are locked out of using what I and many others consider to be the best blade.
 
Gargravarr said:
I've never had any problem with blades not fitting in my Vector, but mine was made before Shane decided he needed to tighten up the specifications. I'm sure he had his reasons, but it's a shame that so many people are locked out of using what I and many others consider to be the best blade.
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I can't blame Shane completely on this as I feel like Schick seems to have some issues with their manufacturing and churn out some blades with different tolerances every now and again but maybe its something many people do not notice as they use the blades for different razors altogether.
I have one cartridge of Schicks because that is all I could afford and I just tested one on my Vector and no luck. :(

I guess I will have to pull out my dremel and carefully modify the blades without messing with alignment. I don't want to mess around with the Vector posts but its a huge shame. I was looking forward to trying them out. Just a little extra work I guess.
On the plus side I found my Oneblade razor so I can give that a try soon too. I had misplaced it since I bought it early last year and put it at the back of my mind. I guess I can do a comparison between the Oneblade, High proof and the Broman Mark II (just recently announced) if Con gets them in.
 
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