HomeAwayFromHone

I'm really enthusiastic about the idea of community controlled platforms so I prefer to engage here rather than Reddit but am selling some razors over there due to the larger audience. We don't seem to have a community sales thread in this sub though, so which would be the most appropriate thread if I wanted to link that and offer Lemmy users a discount? Maybe the show & tell could be broadened to also including showing what we have on offer? Edit: wound up posting this comment

Thanks and you too. I had two negative tests but saw some anecdotes that these kits have a very high (like >50%) false negative rate (but few false positives) so I'd probably have to do a bunch to really say anything conclusive. Especially since they apparently do even less well with current variants.

Thanks! Things are looking up so here's hoping... also hope you guys rid yourselves of it soon enough.

Been feeling a bit ill and frustrated by some sort of persistent low grade coldvid. At some point I check the mail and a couple Kismet blades for my Weck from @[email protected] were there! Thanks again. Wasn't quite feeling up to it until last shave a couple days ago I used the blade that was in there, a Fromm according to the spine (but perhaps a decade or more older as it came with the Weck in a lot). And today I tried the Kismet.

Fromm

Really enjoyed that shave. Been a while since I'd used one of my shavettes or a pasted blade and I do enjoy the extra bump in sharpness, help me be really present with it and use a tight angle with a vanishingly light touch. However it came with a tiny weeper that sort of highlighted two pores, easly dealt with by alum but still, tsk, thats unusual with my less lasery natural edges, especially WtG. Managed AtG without adding to that and overally pretty happy with this blade. And the Weck generally, glad I didn't let it go when I was thinking pfff I have straights. It's a good benchmark and something to strive for with pasted edges.

...though I also saw why I haven't been back to this much since getting a few JNATs, definitely ended up with a bit more in the way of ingrowns.

Kismet

Today I gave the Kismet a try and had a similar result (weeper moved though and had a twin this time). Also WtG because I decided I'd leave off AtG for fewer ingrowns although the extra sharpness is definitely appreciated there so it was tempting. Overall I really enjoyed it and consider it a resounding success because that was a fresh blade with nearly the comfort of one with 3 shaves on it and I didn't even palm strop it (On that note: @[email protected] you might consider palm stropping for fresh GEM blades, I find it helps those in particular quite a bit for me).

Overall though I think I mainly like the Weck: it wasn't hugely better than the vintage(ish) Fromm so I might try the current ones when I eventually use these up as I think there are more options for me to source those. Kismet was probably my favourite new-blade-in-a-shavette though I think the Captain Titan Mild AC comes close.

Er, to make this more SoTD I guess I should point out I was using DG Darkfall and a 23mm Muhle STF.

Curious to hear how the honing goes, some say the steel is noticeably different and I've seen a fair few pictures with crazy looking bevels that imply a challenging geometry. My only TIs have been vintage and fairly straight so I've yet to explore these.

Oh the Kismet blades arrived, thanks again! Recently did a control shave with what I had in there and will try it next.

Thanks for the kind offer, I'll take you up on that.

Just make sure to stay away from Personna hair shaper blades. They feel scrapy

Are the "diane" Fromm ones on Amazon any good?

As for Kismet, is the best source crp-solingen on eBay?

I recently touched up a blade after 13 shaves because it seemed like it was a bit less keen and I was curious if my ark could bring it back as I definitely find it rather slow and subtle (but also really like how that lets me tune up my coticule edges a bit while still leaving them feeling coti-ish). Definitely noticed a difference so it does something :)

But for the most part I have too many razors to get them that far. However I do wind up re-honing them when, for various reasons, they don't retain an edge. Sometimes the steel is too soft for the bevel angle so I need tape to make it a bit more obtuse and get reasonable edge retention (usually in these cases it degrades over the course of the very first shave on the edge). That could be because previous honing has taken too much off the spine or the steel is somehow compromised eg. by polishing or regrinding done carelessly allowing the razor to get too hot and affect the temper. Beyond changing the angle I also find one can get lucky and just need to take off a bit more metal, I wonder if some of those weren't necessarily heat treating but some subtle oxidation or something over time that affects just the thin layer near the very edge so even if I'm lucky enough to find an old razor without any pitting or damage to hone through I might need to take off a bit more than it looks like.

I imagine similar things (steel hardness/quality, bevel angle) can also affect the overall edge retention so even with my same face and technique some of my razors with hard steel can probably go for 20 shaves (if I ever let them) while others would not be able to hold an edge past 10.

FWIW the earlier Autostrops can use a Gem blade if you pull the spine off of it (which is easy enough if you have a vise to hold it) or, alternatively, apparently the Feather FHS-10 are compatible (and afaik widely distributed).

Thanks for the feedback. I face lather most of the time.

I mostly just rinse them out but now and then use something stronger (sal suds, roughly equivalent to a concentrated dish soap but I prefer the scent).

The fibres aren't breaking in a way I can visually see, I'm just speculating that my perception of synths getting scratchier over time is perhaps due to the very tip breaking off. I prefer smaller brushes, my 22mm Yaqi Tuxedo with a short loft was my first synth but at some point (3ish years?) became unpleasant so I upgraded to a 23mm Muhle STF which, after two years, is starting to feel a bit scratchier. I have a larger Yaqi Tuxedo that I use very rarely and it's noticeably softer so I was wondering if this is maybe just how synths are?

...or maybe I'm just imagining it on the STF, the larger brush is just a bit softer and I must have scrubbed the poor little Tuxedo to an early death by not being sufficiently gentle with it?

Does anyone find synthetic knots get worse over time? I've now had a couple go from super soft to quite soft but slightly scratchy like the very tips of the fibres break off leaving a subtly harsh contact surface. They still lather fine, just less pleasant to use.