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If you like to do some light restoration: Check out Pair of 2 Antique French Straight Razors THIERS-ISSARD 69/LE SERRE FILE S.G.D.G. on eBay...

I recalled there was a change in TI steel, and wanted to look into it. A search for 'carbonsong' led me to https://vintagebladesllc.com/pages/straight-razor-info and this remarkable statement: They seem to be saying there is no difference between the old 'silver steel' (cough, cough - no...

I posted a few minutes ago in the honing forum about this razor. I thought there might be interest in some photos taken by Tim Z. as he made it. The blank being ground: Hollowed out but the point not yet shaped: Point ground: Scale material roughly cut: Wedge being glued: Scales...

Straight shavers tend to have strong opinions about strops, and fortunately most of us are right: our strops are excellent. That's because there are lots of good strops available, and provided you avoid the cheapest you will probably have one that is functional and effective. A few of us have...

I was recently nearly persuaded to sell one of these, but fortunately for me I caught myself. Not so nice for the prospective buyer, and I apologise to him. Decided to use them rather than hoard them. All Somersets save for the Manchurian, which I believe was a Manxman.

I think it is pretty well known among the general population that tuberculosis is a disease that has spread from cattle to humans - and if that idea is new to you, you really ought to rush off and read Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel. Spread initially by milk as intestinal tuberculosis, it...

I'm curious if anyone knows anything about this razor, which is a present day product of H. Boker. Not a cheap razor, with a fancy gold and ruthenium finish, and while the shank says H. Boker, Solingen, Alemania, it does not say made in Germany. The paper insert in the fancy box says it was Made...

When the Boss and I set off for a couple of months in the city this week, it will be nice to know we have an effective house-sitter living in the garden. Grabbed a bad cellphone pic as he checked out the garden shed:

Not necessarily one of the nice kind, but we'll see. The bone marrow transplant is set to start on 22nd Oct with a Hickman line, chemo begins 26th, admission on 31st Oct, with more chemo each day until the transplant is infused on 3rd November. Then the fun of being locked in isolation with...

I expect most if not all of you know that the traditional shaving scuttle was a way of having some hot water for your brush before indoor plumbing was a thing. Your valet brings a jug of hot water from the kitchens and fills the bottom of the scuttle, and you use the hot water in it to lather...

Those of us who hone know perfectly well that some razors are easier than others, with a wide range such that some razors just need to be waved in the general direction of any old hone and they get sharp, while others can take you days of sweat and tears as you labour over multiple hones and...

I'm dredging up the dregs from the basement and came across a razor I'm ashamed to say I don't recall. Horn scales with no bullseye washers, square point, full hollow, concave spine, constant width blade, rather short tang, with a cut-out on the shank, which has a double stabiliser: and the...

Until yesterday, I had two vehicles, both owned from new. The one I still have is a 29-year old Mazda MX-5 Miata (a 1991 NA model for those in the know) with all of 46,000km on the clock. The other was a 2010 Ford Expedition XLT, which is not a vehicle I'd expect anyone to love, but in this...

So, a funny story. Convex Arkansas stones are currently popular, and the guy selling them at the_superiorshave_com says they are used all the time in Germany. Apparently that is the case as a razor and hone with two single points of contact - one on the spine and one on the edge - can still be...

This might make a sticky thread if any mod sees fit... I'm working through all my straights, trying to get each as good as possible to make their eventual sale more respectable, as I'm in the somewhat odd position of planning for an uncertain future. After three or four months of a new razor...

This one is a mixture of old and new. Sixteen or seventeen years ago I learned that Mappin & Webb razors were very highly regarded, so I went off and searched for one, and found this old wedge. I quickly discovered the recommendation was well-founded, and decided the somewhat ragged original...

I have mixed feelings about showing you this razor. The C-MON brand has an excellent reputation, and are very pretty. But this razor desperately needs a full restoration. The front of the blade is pitted whilst the back is clean. The gold wash on the shank is nearly gone from the front, but...

Today's razor is branded Loeffler & Sykes of Rochester, NY. It was made in Germany, but by whom is unknown (I dunno, but it shaves like an ERN). I do know that F.H.Loeffler started his barber supply business in Rochester in 1887, and took on Sykes as a partner in 1897. The business reverted to...

You have to be pretty far down the rabbit hole to do this, but most of us here understand having an obsession justifies doing whatever it takes. I've been making my own soap for seven years, and it isn't hard. There was a lot of experimentation at first, as I knew I wanted a tallow-style soap...

This week's interesting razor is a frameback, which is probably a term familiar to many of you. These razors have a two part blade, with the spine being thick, and the blade itself is flat and sits in a groove in the spine. It's said they were a response to the first hollow grinds, by...