10/07/24
Pre - Dove Original Cream Bar
Brush - Vintage Culmak Plus - Mühle 23mm Classic Silvertip
Soap - Maca Root / Palmolive stick Superlather
Razor - Darwin Hollow Ground Safety Razor Circa: 1935 / Parker SoloEdge
Blade - Darwin Wedge / Leaf SHaDE
Post - Cold water Rinse
Balm - Floïd "The Genuine"
A/S - Floïd "The Genuine"
I have been after a usable Darwin for a while and picked this one up for a pretty good price, it was in a bit of a state, however, i thought it was worth a chance. The hone side of the strop had some emery paper on it (really not good for the blade) that was removed easily, i have stripped the strop plate down, lightly sanded both the hone and the strop leather then refitted it. The blade had a lot of gunk on it which i managed to clean up, it could do with a bit more polishing though. I put the wedge through a full progression from Bevel set to 12K, i did notice early on that the far ends of the blade were quite rounded, probably from the emery. I did manage to get a bevel on the wedge leaving the end curves, i probably loose about 5 - 6mm of edge, deciding to see how it goes. All in all a little bit more work to do on the kit.
So, the normal fantastic lather whipped up on the chin, the SoloEdge on the subs bench, away i went. The first few strokes had me raising my eyebrow, this feels really good i thought. I completed a full WTG pass without issue and in comfort, the second pass is a mixed pass of ATG on the neck and throat then XTG on cheeks to ear to centre. on the rinse off i had easily a very acceptable finish, i did not fancy pushing my luck.
The SoloEdge was used for a buffing pass, whether it was the close finish from the wedge or the Parker really is that mild, i completed ATG cheeks and ATG neck/throat to finish with a very comfortable BBS finish.
A nice barbershop post shave with just a little indication on the throat.
Another enjoyable shave.
I could do with another blade to finish the kit and if anyone knows where i can get some leather to replace the strop please let me know. Looks like i need a run out of my Rolls razors soon.
Enjoy your day all.