The Journal Of Huck...

[huck1680]

Well, I actually had never seen this section of B&B until just a few days ago. Very interesting. Document the travels and travails of ones journey from discovery to continued usage and the practise of wet shaving.
I've tried all manner of shaving from electric to carts, DEs, SEs etc...except for straights...never felt comfortable even holding one.

My first DE was a Black Beauty adjustable that I got from my dad. I used Gillette blades, Wilkinson etc without much thought as to what I was shaving with. I had an Old Spice shave mug and a cheap badger brush. I regularly nicked and cut myself and thought this is what happens. It was always common to see dad with bits of TP on his face after shaving.

It was when I had left home and was living on my own that things changed. I'd had a bit to smoke and decided I should shave. Well, by the time I was finished I looked like a horror show victim. I was nicked and cut in multiple places. To top it off my landlady came to collect the rent and when I opened the door she just turned and ran back to her apartment. I patched myself up and paid the rent by sliding an envelope under her door.

So I decided that Gillette with their TracII was the way to shave...looked safe enough. I also put the mug and brush away for the ease of canned goop. Through the years, I experimented with and bought various razors from various companies...but all were the multi blade cart types. Never had a bad shave, the act was done in a few minutes and off I went.

This went on for a long time and I finally settled on the Mach III as my cart of choice. Definitely better than the TracII. Then one day, I came home from shopping with a new can of Gillette Foamy. Nothing unusual there. But when I went to open it I somehow managed to break off the valve that releases the goop with the cap. ??? I now had a totally useless can of Foamy. Well, back to the store and another can of Foamy.
I did exactly the same thing again...that's $10 wasted and I'm so pissed I dig out my old shaving mug plus brush and shave that way.
It wasn't bad at all. I'm still using the cart but this lathering thing is kinda fun again. Plus there's nothing to break unless I drop something.

So this continues for a while and all is well. Then I started to get more interested in shaving and stumbled on B&B. I didn't join for a while and just got used to what others were talking about. I followed advice and dug out my old DE and started to shave with proper care, prep and attention...Hmm. Not bad.

It was at this time in late 2009 I met my wife in Calgary. We started to date and after 6 months she tells me she has a job in Regina, SK.
Now, to me...Regina is in the absolute middle of nowhere. Nothing but prairie in all directions. Also not a big city either.
My first thought is "Damn, moving to Regina" but because there's no way I'm letting this woman get away I suck it up and we move together.

So we buy a house and arrive in Regina. The last trip for me was to ride the Harley to our new place from Calgary. The last 300 km was damn near under water. Wow did it rain. I had my rain suit etc but still arrived wet, cold and slightly miserable. Spent a couple of hours soaking in a hot tub with my pal Jack Daniels over ice.

In Dec of 2010 I joined B&B. This is where things really started to take off as I dove into the rabbit hole. Man, I was on eBay and the BST here, buying razors etc. On amazon buying blades, soaps and anything else I could think of. Then I went to the various razor manufacturers and began buying their products. I really enjoyed getting stuff in the mail...loved it actually.

Was getting new, vintage and truly antique razors coming in. The wife was and is very tolerant. Then I started to re-furbish and re-plate razors as well. Most times things went well but I also got ripped off a few times. Live and learn. Afterbuying a few brushes...I got the idea to make my own with knots supplied by various companies. This was fun and I spun up a bunch as well as razor handles as well.

At this point I'm also doing the general contracting for our house as it required a lot of work...good bones but kinda neglected. I was doing a large amount of the carpentry work in addition to everything else. I used to joke with the Missus that we could've just lifted the roof and slid a new house underneath.
I also put together my shave den and had my own place to fiddle with, re-build and assemble razors, brushes, cases and anything else shave related.

So until we moved, this is what occupied my time. A few pics showing some of my stuff etc and then more to come next time
Cheers

 

[Guido75]

Thanks for sharing Huck! Going after and with the LOTH out of love. You got me at hello!

And what an amazing collection you have there! Wow! Very nice Aristocrat section - even with open comb versions (mildly envious). And working on a 400 brush I see. My favourite kind of brush!

Welcome to the journal section!

Cheers,

Guido

 

[Eric_75]

Impressive, sir!

 

[thombrogan]

First and foremost, that’s a testament to love.

Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. Looking forward to your next posts here

 

[Phoenixkh]

Huck, I look forward to reading your past, present and future endeavors.

 

[huck1680]

We had bought this place because we thought we'd be doing a lot of entertaining, xmas get togethers etc. By this time we had built a new 2 car garage, converted the attached garage to a workshop/gym and literally re-done everything else. New roof, completely re-done kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms and basement with a new bathroom added down there. Total sq footage including basement was about 3200. Big place...we loved it and then when complete we decided to move.

I was still really involved with my shaving hobby as far as razor collecting, buying new stuff, trading and watching eBay. I had the original SS Tradere #10. Vintage Gillettes, Leresche, Rotbarts, Apollo mikrons...I had a lot of them. I was still spinning brush and razor handles and was even converting motorcycle clutch/brake handles into CART razor handles. It was a fun time as I was also semi-retired and then SWMBO told me I should look into getting another job because I leaned towards getting into trouble with too much time on my hands.

So, I'd been in the auto business for 20 odd years and got back into the sales end of it again. After going through a few dealerships and brands (I found for myself that whereas the brand is somewhat important, the right fit with the dealership is paramount) I landed at Bennet Dunlop Ford in Regina. A good place to work and I still have a good relationship there. I stayed 5 years and wound up in fleet sales and leasing. As with all things, especially dealerships, change is constant and there was a lot of staff turnarounds, dealership policy revisions and I decided to retire again. This meant I could spend more time with my hobbies and at the lake. We have a cabin at Riding Mtn Nat'l park in Manitoba. Nice place, gorgeous scenery and the thing with cabins is...you go for two weeks and spend the first week repairing , cleaning and putting stuff in order. Now the nice thing was being retired I could spend more time out there and I got back into fishing and kayaking. A couple of pics showing the cabin, me, fishing and some wildlife.

During these periods I was pretty much dormant as far as the razor collecting/selling side was concerned. I tended to ramp up during the winter months, which up here in SK can stretch out to damn near 6 months.

As we began winding up the house prior to moving...we had found a condo in the warehouse district that we liked. It needed serious work as well...sigh. I didn't think this one through completely...I gave up a workshop back to a single car garage etc. But no more yard work, shovelling sidewalks and we could just lock the doors and go wherever we wanted.

I also began to thin out the collection. I started selling on the BST, eBay etc. Really began moving my collection.
When we moved in, I had about 50 razors plus all the accompanying accessories. I was allowed the upstairs bathroom for my den. Cool. Got it into good shape and was pleased with my efforts. However the downsizing bug bit again.

 

[Eric_75]

We had bought this place because we thought we'd be doing a lot of entertaining, xmas get togethers etc. By this time we had built a new 2 car garage, converted the attached garage to a workshop/gym and literally re-done everything else. New roof, completely re-done kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms and basement with a new bathroom added down there. Total sq footage including basement was about 3200. Big place...we loved it and then when complete we decided to move.

I was still really involved with my shaving hobby as far as razor collecting, buying new stuff, trading and watching eBay. I had the original SS Tradere #10. Vintage Gillettes, Leresche, Rotbarts, Apollo mikrons...I had a lot of them. I was still spinning brush and razor handles and was even converting motorcycle clutch/brake handles into CART razor handles. It was a fun time as I was also semi-retired and then SWMBO told me I should look into getting another job because I leaned towards getting into trouble with too much time on my hands.

So, I'd been in the auto business for 20 odd years and got back into the sales end of it again. After going through a few dealerships and brands (I found for myself that whereas the brand is somewhat important, the right fit with the dealership is paramount) I landed at Bennet Dunlop Ford in Regina. A good place to work and I still have a good relationship there. I stayed 5 years and wound up in fleet sales and leasing. As with all things, especially dealerships, change is constant and there was a lot of staff turnarounds, dealership policy revisions and I decided to retire again. This meant I could spend more time with my hobbies and at the lake. We have a cabin at Riding Mtn Nat'l park in Manitoba. Nice place, gorgeous scenery and the thing with cabins is...you go for two weeks and spend the first week repairing , cleaning and putting stuff in order. Now the nice thing was being retired I could spend more time out there and I got back into fishing and kayaking. A couple of pics showing the cabin, me, fishing and some wildlife.
View attachment 1692233View attachment 1692234View attachment 1692235View attachment 1692236View attachment 1692237

During these periods I was pretty much dormant as far as the razor collecting/selling side was concerned. I tended to ramp up during the winter months, which up here in SK can stretch out to damn near 6 months.

As we began winding up the house prior to moving...we had found a condo in the warehouse district that we liked. It needed serious work as well...sigh. I didn't think this one through completely...I gave up a workshop back to a single car garage etc. But no more yard work, shovelling sidewalks and we could just lock the doors and go wherever we wanted.

I also began to thin out the collection. I started selling on the BST, eBay etc. Really began moving my collection.
When we moved in, I had about 50 razors plus all the accompanying accessories. I was allowed the upstairs bathroom for my den. Cool. Got it into good shape and was pleased with my efforts. However the downsizing bug bit again.

Great pics, sir!

 

[huck1680]

So, I was determined to get the razor collection down to a point where I felt it was a manageable rotation. I also began to concentrate on modern razors as opposed to vintage. Now I still bought razors but also sold off others. What I was trying to do was get to a group of shavers that were similar in shaving and handling characteristics. I got down to 36 razors, then 30 then 24. I kept them in test tube racks which enabled me to free up room by storing the cases etc the razors came in. I now had a core of razors I really liked. The Blutt Br 1.20, Razorine FlatBoy, Dart re-issue, Overlander in brass, GC 2.0, Smart-Helix Apollo, Lambda Athena and Chiseled Face Legacy in brass. The "Great 8". The rest of the razors were eventually sold off.
Now, I had also gotten to the point where I decided to no longer use badger hair brushes. Just a personal decision. But boar brushes were ok because the hair is from domesticated pigs. I like bacon...a lot. I also started to pay attention to synthetics. There's a lot of really good looking and comfortable synths out there. I now have a 6 brush rotation which I keep in a stamp carousel. Very handy. The brushes are 3 Zenith boars and 3 synths from AP Shave Co. The boars are great with hard soaps and mug lathering, as they soften up I see them being good for bowl lathering as well. The synths seem to be great at whatever way I shave. A few pics showing the current set up.
Cheers

 

[Phoenixkh]

I like your setup a lot.. very nicely displayed. I'm down to 10, if I include the La Faulx on order. That's it for me. I've been trying to sell off the others. Three are gone. I might have to put the other ones on eBay or somewhere other than BST.

 

[huck1680]

I like your setup a lot.. very nicely displayed. I'm down to 10, if I include the La Faulx on order. That's it for me. I've been trying to sell off the others. Three are gone. I might have to put the other ones on eBay or somewhere other than BST.

Yeah, I've noticed that the BST can be extremely specific as to what is wanted or desired.

 

[huck1680]

As I go through this journey, I'm going to be bouncing back and forth in time and between a large number of subjects while attempting to maintain a somewhat at times, tenuous connection to shaving etc.
For instance, my wife, Carmen gifted me with a trip to the UK for my 65th birthday. This included a whisky tour of the Scottish Highlands.

We landed in Ireland and spent a few days in Dublin with a side trip to Blarney castle and surrounding countryside. We wound up having the entire 16 passenger coach and driver to ourselves. So I got to talking with the driver, Steve and he used to be part of the security detail for the Irish PM as far as the motorcycle detail was concerned. Good guy. Anyway we talked about motorcycles and because I had a Harley at the time we had a few things in common. I mentioned to him that I made razor handles out of clutch/brake handles and he immediately wanted to order one. Once I got back home I put together a black handled Mach3 razor from a black brake handle. It turned out well and I shipped it off to him.

 

[huck1680]

Ok, what I was trying to do was give an overview of the whole UK trip, but editing gave me 45 minutes...I took 47.
So...in continuation we go from here.
Well, we left Ireland and landed in Edinburgh. One of my all-time favourite cities. We'd booked, ( I should say my wife) booked a 3 day whisky tour of Scotland, the highlands to be specific. This is gonna be great. My wife doesn't care for Scotch so I got both tastings. Perfect.
We had a great tour mgr...Mac. Really. What else would you call yourself in Scotland? Anyway a great tour guide, always telling you about the history of not only the distilleries but of the country as well. We had a group of about 8 whom I (personally) found to be lacking in any sense of humour. I'd say so did Mac. At the middle of the tour we all all chipped in for a "Mac Gratuity" where Carmen and I found the amount to be woefully under what we considered to be "value for performance". So we topped up Macs "tip" to the point where we weren't embarrassed to have been a part of this group.
The result was we received better consideration from the guide than did the others. This guy busted a hump, not only describing the various distilleries but also Scottish history, which if you don't know is spectacularly violent.

The tour went to various distilleries which were located in kinda remote areas because they were so concerned over water quality and preservation. Good whisky depends on good water. The distilleries were incredibly concerned over these reasons because well, ****e water= ****e whisky.

I'm loving this, the B&Bs we're staying at are with wonderful people who go well out of their way to provide you with great service, food and lodgings. Damn, I love Scotland. Here's a few pics of a wonderful country and their distilleries.

 

[Phoenixkh]

Thank you for all the photos... it takes us there. Nicely done.

 

[huck1680]

Thank you for all the photos... it takes us there. Nicely done.

Yes, it takes me back as well.

 

[Eric_75]

Ok, what I was trying to do was give an overview of the whole UK trip, but editing gave me 45 minutes...I took 47.
So...in continuation we go from here.
Well, we left Ireland and landed in Edinburgh. One of my all-time favourite cities. We'd booked, ( I should say my wife) booked a 3 day whisky tour of Scotland, the highlands to be specific. This is gonna be great. My wife doesn't care for Scotch so I got both tastings. Perfect.
We had a great tour mgr...Mac. Really. What else would you call yourself in Scotland? Anyway a great tour guide, always telling you about the history of not only the distilleries but of the country as well. We had a group of about 8 whom I (personally) found to be lacking in any sense of humour. I'd say so did Mac. At the middle of the tour we all all chipped in for a "Mac Gratuity" where Carmen and I found the amount to be woefully under what we considered to be "value for performance". So we topped up Macs "tip" to the point where we weren't embarrassed to have been a part of this group.
The result was we received better consideration from the guide than did the others. This guy busted a hump, not only describing the various distilleries but also Scottish history, which if you don't know is spectacularly violent.

The tour went to various distilleries which were located in kinda remote areas because they were so concerned over water quality and preservation. Good whisky depends on good water. The distilleries were incredibly concerned over these reasons because well, ****e water= ****e whisky.

I'm loving this, the B&Bs we're staying at are with wonderful people who go well out of their way to provide you with great service, food and lodgings. Damn, I love Scotland. Here's a few pics of a wonderful country and their distilleries.View attachment 1693366View attachment 1693367View attachment 1693368View attachment 1693369View attachment 1693370View attachment 1693371View attachment 1693372View attachment 1693373View attachment 1693374

More great pics, sir. Enjoy your weekend.

 

[huck1680]

So, when we moved to our condo, it required a complete makeover as well. from vinyl flooring in the bathrooms to white cabinetry in the kitchen...I really dislike white kitchens. A few things struck me right away...I missed the workshop and double garage. At this point we've got the place fixed up to where we like, but I kinda wish I'd thought about things a bit more. When we bought, the place didn't have AC. Our building is a large square brick heritage building converted to businesses on the first floor and condos above that. Now, I'm laying flooring prior to us moving in and it's 25 Celsius outside and 35 degrees inside. The building is like a big pizza oven. it used to be a John Deere building way back in the day. Anyway, I called my HVAC guys and they installed ducting, the air exchanger and AC unit in two days. Actually had to drill through the floor for the downstairs ducting. Our floor is made from 2x6s nailed together side to side.
Well, the assoc was somewhat p***ed with me. But I figured asking for forgiveness was more effective than asking permission which would've taken a month.
I changed the stairwell and used SS treads...they are not slippery which surprised me. We also hung the TV from the ceiling over the stairwell which is perfect because you can see it from anywhere upstairs.
I re-did the bathrooms, the kitchen, had walls knocked down, re-did the lower floor etc. I swear, next place will be move-in ready with a minimum of renos, except for painting... maybe.

One of the things I noticed was my den (the upstairs bathroom) was much smaller than my former one. So that also inspired me to downsize my collection etc. I built the bookshelves using re-purposed lumber from old school houses and grain elevators. There's a company just outside of town which specializes in providing this type of lumber. I built some tables and stuff out of the scraps as well also using cast iron piping.
Here's a couple of pics showing a portion of this journey.

Now, I'd had the Harley re-done with the Stage 2 which replaced the heads etc. So I built a lamp using the left-over parts. The light switch is a Harley ignition switch that turns the light off and on and is a dimmer as well.

So we are now pretty much done here. I'll show some downstairs pics at some point. It is a nice place to live but I do miss some things. The condo market here in Regina is pretty moribund right now. So we're accepting the very real possibility that we'll be here for some time.
Until the next time...cheers.

 

[huck1680]

Well, here's two of the best and cleverest things I have in the den. When traveling I'd been using a Palmolive stick, rubbing it on my face then using a synthetic travel brush to create lather. It worked but that's about all I could say. When traveling for a few weeks I found myself shaving every three/four days just because I wasn't enjoying it as much. Then I saw those collapsible silicone dishes that were generally used for pets and thought "Hey!" So I got a couple. They are terrific for traveling because they fold flat, fit in my Dopp kit, dry quickly and bowl lather really well. So it was back to shaving every two days and enjoying it again while on the road. I also use it at home.
Now the second hack is simple and effective, especially if you use an alum bar. If you do, we've all had them slip out of our hand and literally shatter on contact with just about anything.
I had to replace a bar that had dropped and the one I ordered had an elastic band around it...brilliant. Good grip and little to no fear of dropping.
Any other clever solutions or adaptations out there?
Cheers

 

[huck1680]

Well, this episode is going to concentrate on what I've been involved with for the past few months. In 2014 Russia invaded Crimea which alarmed pretty much the entire world. As a 2nd generation Canadian Ukrainian I was understandably very concerned as to what happened next. "In a 1997 treaty between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, Russia recognized Ukraine's borders, and accepted Ukraine's sovereignty over Crimea." Welp, that seemed to be over...now how far would things go?
That has been answered. So my wife and I donated to various charities and organizations that were helping the people of Ukraine.
I had received my Smart-Helix Apollo just before things really hit the fan and it was probably the last razor to be shipped. It is a truly wonderful razor, beautifully made and finished. Great balance and very easy and efficient to use. The base plate is two sided for a more aggressive shave or a milder one. I prefer the more aggressive which is still very comfortable.

Now I had gotten in touch with Victor Zorianskyi (the founder) and have made donations to him and his company Smart-Helix. We began corresponding and he was able to give me a pretty clear idea of what was happening there.
Now I had a number of spent .50 caliber shell casings that I thought would make interesting DE razor handles. I sourced a press insert from Home Depot which fit the shell very well and epoxied them together. I then painted the insert blue which was a reference to the Ukrainian flag. They were available on several of the wet shaving web pages and the proceeds were donated to S-H.

Victor and I are continuing our correspondence and he is doing everything he can to stay open and hopefully begin to manufacture and ship razors again.
I visit the S-H web page to see what's happening and stay up to date.
Hopefully, I'll be able to visit Ukraine at some point, not only to see the country my grandparents were from and where I'm sure I still have relatives (although I've never met any of them) I plan to meet Victor, see his company and his fellow workers. That will probably take a few years.
My intention with this post was to simply show what I've been doing for the last while and not to influence or get "political".
It's been a large part of my journey for the past months and has been both frustrating and rewarding at the same time. I wish everyone good will and good health.
Cheers!

Last pic...my cat contemplating the meaning of life or whether or not to move, eat or sleep.

 

[Phoenixkh]

Many of us have been heartbroken over the events in Ukraine. I do know we try to avoid political discussions here and I honor that but I do hope for peace to descend on Ukraine once again. My wife in touch of a couple of artists there and is still in touch of one of them on a regular basis. She's purchased a bunch of stuff from her.... teaching materials, so a net plus financially for the artist.

 

[huck1680]

Last year the wife and I went the UK (again) to see the Open golf championship. We also traveled to various cities in England and Scotland. I also got to do some fly-fishing while in Scotland.
Now last year the weather was unbelievable...it had never been 40 degrees C before. Well it was when we were there. Rivers were very low and there were concerns about the salmon even being able to return upriver to spawn.
I managed to catch a few trout ranging in size from 2" to about 8" the first day. The second day we were at a private loch and I managed to catch two decent size trout...10" and 12". So no big catches but a very nice couple of days fishing with a very good guide.

After that it was on to St. Andrews for the tournament. It was the 150th anniversary so that's why we went, an important milestone and at St. Andrews.
As I said very hot. We stayed at the University dorms which was a good idea, close (walking distance) and reasonably comfortable. The main building and rooms at the course were going for approx $8000 per night. Tiger could afford that...us? Not so much. There were also large tent areas set up for people who couldn't get regular hotel rooms. We thought these were for staff at first...then found out they were being rented. They had cots, bedding, lighting etc. There were bathroom/shower facilities and some restaurants set up in those temporary buildings you see on construction sites. They rented for...about $500 per night. That's right for a tent.
Very well run and organized. The souvenir buildings were always lined up and the crowds were huge, about 290,000 people over the course of the tournament.
Saw some great golf and the winner, Cam Smith who bolted to the LIV tour after that. Rory came close.
A few pics. The Tawny eagle was there to keep the seagulls away from the eating areas. Those gulls are incredibly bold about trying to steal your food.

Our first hotel In Scotland had a letter in the room apologizing for the heat. Which they had never experienced to that degree before. Because it was a re-conditioned semi-castle, there was no AC. Great food and a nice place.
More to come have a great day. Cheers