January 2016

Very nice darkbulb, another fine addition.

Thanks. Now I'm just waiting for the other..uh... nine to show up

Hello all:

I picked up these two soaps from OSP (Obsessive Soap a Perfectionist). Its formula is very similar to the formula used by most the American artisans, however this soap is made in the UK at a very reasonable price.

The Bay Rum smells like heaven!!!! The soap looks oily from the hideous amount of bay Rum natural oil mixed with the other soap ingredients. The Grapefruit scent is quite subtle at the moment, I am not able to detect it to its full potential since I have a very annoying cold.

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Look at the bay rum oil at soap surface, it is quite amazing.
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Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk

Let us know how they perform, natmizer, especially the grapefruit.

Picked up a couple GEM Featherweights over the New Year's weekend in an old box at my parent's house. These are the first razors I've found "in the wild" and my first SEs. They were a little crusty, but not too bad. After cleaning and polishing they are almost like new! In what little research I've done, I think the Ivory handled one is from the 1940s and the black handled one is from the 1950s or 60s. We used to have a cabin up north that was built as a hunting cabin back in the 40s that we used for vacation. We sold it a while back and that's where these came from. It's cool to imagine what distant relative of mine shaved with these and now I get to. Here are a couple pics:

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After:[Image: 20160106_203349.jpg]

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Jeff, those are great.  Like you, I am always fascinated about the history of these vintage razors. Who used them before I?  Where were they located, etc.? I was recently given a gift of a British Featherweight, just like your white handle beauty. I get great shaves from it and will be interested in your thoughts once you get to use it a couple of times. Enjoy them both.

Hi natmizer , I'm glad you like the OSP soaps - I got a Bay Rum and a Sandlewood a couple of months ago. I think your Bay Rum (lot#27) perhaps benefits from my feedback to James the OSP as my Bay Rum (lot#13) was so lightly scented I couldn't really detect a bay rum smell. We had a useful discussion about it but if you're saying it has hideous amounts of bay rum oil in it then something has changed since I got mine. I love bay rum. I think the soap is a fantastic performer notwithstanding the mild scent.
Mark

No problem Freddy, I will do so. Today I will try the Bay Rum first and the Grapefruit during the week.

Received a $20 lot in the mail yesterday.
Some interesting things in it;

Williams Shaving soap. Can't tell if it's an old/vintage package or what you can pick up today at your local drugstore.
Old Spice shaving mug. It wasn't black as I thought but a rather nice dark blue color. Looks really nice.
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What I really wanted in the lot was this Ralph Lauren shaving brush.
It has certainly seen better days..the pewter is bit tarnished and has some scratches and the knot is pretty much shot.
I really do like the feel and look of it though so I'm thinking it might be worth to have it put back into use....
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Jeff, those are great.  Like you, I am always fascinated about the history of these vintage razors. Who used them before I?  Where were they located, etc.? I was recently given a gift of a British Featherweight, just like your white handle beauty. I get great shaves from it and will be interested in your thoughts once you get to use it a couple of times. Enjoy them both.

Agreed! Jeff great job polishing those up. From the pics they look minty; what a great thing to shave with a family razor too.

Thanks Kevin! I've tried each of them once and found them to be quite mild and comfortable. I'm digging the feel of the SE blade. The only blades I have were picked up at the local CVS and are branded as such. I'm not sure which version of GEM blades these are. I want to try the PTFE coated ones though. The only thing I don't like as much about them is the "featherweight" part. I think I prefer a heavier razor. Regardless, these are definitely a cool addition to my rotation.