Hi,
I for some odd reason felt the urge to tell about my straight razor gear.
If you want to read, bear with me, if not don't.
About a year ago I discovered a cigar box from my great grandfather.
In it there were two razors and one hone. The two razors are stamped with a town nearby called Louvain in Belgium.
Both razors are from the same 'brand', and are just plain black scales, plain blades, nothing fancy, and superb shavers, just the way I like it. One of those razors actually belonged to my ggf his father, simply put imo: awesome.
The hone was a natural combo coticule / blue belgian whetstone.
For me I do not believe in special, holy grail overhyped razors at all, I don't like fancy blades, fancy etching either, I like it plain and effective, good quality.
So I went on my quest to put together my own 'cigar box' with two razors which reminded me of his and a hone like his.
I also got my hands his strop, it's a thick horsehide leather strop with a canvas side, not sure if it's linen or wool, but I do know I like it; unlike the strops on the market right now, for my taste I haven't really found anything that comes close to that vintage canvas. Only downside is that the leather sat there unused for maybe 50 years and has surface cracks, was very stiff and dried out, tried treating it with neatsfoot oil, got more supple, but it's not what it was once. So I also went on a quest to look for a new strop.
I started out with a TI Le Grelot, which was superb razor.
But I wanted something else, something German to be more specific, something with history and similar to my ggf's. Long story short, thanks to Thomas at Revisor I was able to purchase two NOS J.A. Henckels, my first Henckels has one stabilizer, the second Henckels, I recently ordered, has two stabilizers. This is exactly what my ggf had. Plain black scales, plain blade, superb shavers.
I purchased a coticule for a very fair price and once I got it in my hands to my shock and surprise it was a natural combo coticule.
So I was pretty much set and found what to me is the 'holy grail' although I don't like to use that wording, but to me it comes close and reminds me of my ggf gear. My ggf gear is simply put my holy grail.
Next up, I was looking at buying a new strop, I have a dovo strop, it's ok but it's not exactly what I want.
I started looking at around and reading and found out about The Different Scent. The Old Traditional strop has the exact same model/shape like my great grandfather's strop, so I was immediately drawn to it. I just ordered this strop and am actually looking forward to putting it to use. It doesn't come with a canvas, but that's exactly what I already had on my vintage strop, so just needed a leather component and the Old Traditional seemed perfect.
To me this is where it ends, I'm going to stop visiting forums, visiting sites that sell gear. It'll only make me spend more money and get pulled back in. I've got what I've been looking for for quite a while now.
I finally ended my search and am happy now with what I have and have coming my way.
To me it's all about meaning and history. I've got a Grelot, an Original Bartmann, and some other razors from Solingen, all quality for sure, but nothing of these razors have a 'meaning' to me personally. I do respect all the old razor makers and their work, that's for sure; the Grelot, the Bartmann, etc. are excellent shavers, I wont get rid of them, but they won't be in my rotation either. I respect them. But for me shaving with my ggf gear and my 'tribute gear' similar to his is special and has meaning. Of course this is all in the head.
I don't need those razors people are all hyped up on, I want razors that make me 'feel' something, same with a hone tbh. I care more for a coticule/bbw, a natural stones rather than synthetic hones, they don't have that 'feel'.
This my some personal opinions and story,
not useful to any of you but I for some reason wanted to share,
let's face it, since most of you guys have a serious obsession and are partially cuckoo, you might like it a little.
haha, whatev. Nice site tbh.
Quick sum up:
Fruity name, my "tribute gear":
2 NOS J.A. Henckels
A natural combo/coticule
Old Traditional strop
Regards,
Jasper
I for some odd reason felt the urge to tell about my straight razor gear.
If you want to read, bear with me, if not don't.
About a year ago I discovered a cigar box from my great grandfather.
In it there were two razors and one hone. The two razors are stamped with a town nearby called Louvain in Belgium.
Both razors are from the same 'brand', and are just plain black scales, plain blades, nothing fancy, and superb shavers, just the way I like it. One of those razors actually belonged to my ggf his father, simply put imo: awesome.
The hone was a natural combo coticule / blue belgian whetstone.
For me I do not believe in special, holy grail overhyped razors at all, I don't like fancy blades, fancy etching either, I like it plain and effective, good quality.
So I went on my quest to put together my own 'cigar box' with two razors which reminded me of his and a hone like his.
I also got my hands his strop, it's a thick horsehide leather strop with a canvas side, not sure if it's linen or wool, but I do know I like it; unlike the strops on the market right now, for my taste I haven't really found anything that comes close to that vintage canvas. Only downside is that the leather sat there unused for maybe 50 years and has surface cracks, was very stiff and dried out, tried treating it with neatsfoot oil, got more supple, but it's not what it was once. So I also went on a quest to look for a new strop.
I started out with a TI Le Grelot, which was superb razor.
But I wanted something else, something German to be more specific, something with history and similar to my ggf's. Long story short, thanks to Thomas at Revisor I was able to purchase two NOS J.A. Henckels, my first Henckels has one stabilizer, the second Henckels, I recently ordered, has two stabilizers. This is exactly what my ggf had. Plain black scales, plain blade, superb shavers.
I purchased a coticule for a very fair price and once I got it in my hands to my shock and surprise it was a natural combo coticule.
So I was pretty much set and found what to me is the 'holy grail' although I don't like to use that wording, but to me it comes close and reminds me of my ggf gear. My ggf gear is simply put my holy grail.
Next up, I was looking at buying a new strop, I have a dovo strop, it's ok but it's not exactly what I want.
I started looking at around and reading and found out about The Different Scent. The Old Traditional strop has the exact same model/shape like my great grandfather's strop, so I was immediately drawn to it. I just ordered this strop and am actually looking forward to putting it to use. It doesn't come with a canvas, but that's exactly what I already had on my vintage strop, so just needed a leather component and the Old Traditional seemed perfect.
To me this is where it ends, I'm going to stop visiting forums, visiting sites that sell gear. It'll only make me spend more money and get pulled back in. I've got what I've been looking for for quite a while now.
I finally ended my search and am happy now with what I have and have coming my way.
To me it's all about meaning and history. I've got a Grelot, an Original Bartmann, and some other razors from Solingen, all quality for sure, but nothing of these razors have a 'meaning' to me personally. I do respect all the old razor makers and their work, that's for sure; the Grelot, the Bartmann, etc. are excellent shavers, I wont get rid of them, but they won't be in my rotation either. I respect them. But for me shaving with my ggf gear and my 'tribute gear' similar to his is special and has meaning. Of course this is all in the head.
I don't need those razors people are all hyped up on, I want razors that make me 'feel' something, same with a hone tbh. I care more for a coticule/bbw, a natural stones rather than synthetic hones, they don't have that 'feel'.
This my some personal opinions and story,
not useful to any of you but I for some reason wanted to share,
let's face it, since most of you guys have a serious obsession and are partially cuckoo, you might like it a little.
haha, whatev. Nice site tbh.
Quick sum up:
Fruity name, my "tribute gear":
2 NOS J.A. Henckels
A natural combo/coticule
Old Traditional strop
Regards,
Jasper
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