What a bone-headed idea! (Contest)

[BentonClay]

What a boneheaded idea! I took a perfectly fine translucent green porcelain handle and filled it with a soft, synthetic knot from TGN. Who wants a floppy, artificial, nylon knot in a luxury pottery handle? Why go to the trouble of crafting a beautiful one-of-a-kind handle if you are going to fill it with a downscale artificial knot? It's like setting rhinestone in platinum. Or spam in fresh bakery bread. What was I thinking? The thing is meant for shaving, not for basting your Christmas turkey. It seems no one wants to touch this odious, pathetic excuse for a shaving brush with a 39 and a half foot pole. And who can blame them? Consequently I cannot seem to sell this eyesore (and please forgive me for posting the pic) for even $10 - less than the cost of its materials. Nor dare I save it for when my son comes of age lest I become a fool in his eyes when he finally learns what wet shaving is really about.

But B&B if nothing else is about being a man. And part of being a man means admitting your mistakes. So..... I'm going to try and give this brush away, heck, I may even bribe you to take it. So, what about you? What is the most bone-headed idea you've ever seen in the wet shaving world? The unfortunate winner will receive this woeful excuse for shaving pottery, this ersatz shaving tool, this faux grooming accessory. Once you try the brush you'll likely be driven to smash the handle in despair so I offer this consolation prize: a full puck of Benton Clay's delightful and universally acclaimed Vetiver Paradisi shaving soap. It's the least I can do for being such a bonehead.


So, to summarize:
Post your boneheaded idea right here in this thread and if you are extremely unfortunate you'll win the pictured brush along with some soap. My apologies in advance to the "winner".

http://bentonclay.com/?shopp_image=148/nylon2-porcelain-c.JPGhttp://bentonclay.com/?shopp_image=145/nylon2-porcelain-b.JPG

[brucered]

not sure if this qualifies, but i posted in another thread as well, as it's the funnies shaving/brush related tool i've ever seen.

i was watching Dragons Den one night and a guy was pitching the idea...they actually l like it on the show, and i can see parents all over the world buying it for their kids etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v67LeztGq48&feature=youtu.be

[linuxslantman]

One of the best and, apparently, most bone-headed ideas at the same time was the Personna 74 Titanium Tungsten razor blade. You would think making the sharpest, longest-lasting razor blade of all time would be a good idea but, apparently, they were so long-lasting that people didn't need to buy them so often and thus they weren't very profitable and were soon discontinued (to wind up 40 years later on eBay at $4 a blade).

Somewhat akin to "The Man in the White Suit", the classic British Ealing Studios comedy from 1951, where Alec Guinness invents the perfect fabric that never wears out and never needs to be cleaned, and the textile manufacturers rush to suppress his invention because they realize that demand for their products will plummet if his material reaches the market.

Still, you'd think that some company could at least make a living by reinventing the titanium razor blade and pricing it high enough to make a profit. With all the debate about which blades are the best, you'd certainly think they could sell a good number of them to today's wet-shaving enthusiasts.

[charles_r]

I think the worst thing I did was do two passes with a three week old mach 3 cart. I wanted a closer shave (didn't know about DEs yet).
Can you say ouch? I was almost lobster faced for two days

Another recent thing comes to mind... I was doing my first honing of a straight. I seems to be getting nowhere with shaving arm/leg hair. I decided to pass my thumb on the edge, just to see if I actually had any kind of cutting edge. My thumb bled for half an hour.

Anyways, these are MY bonehead ideas. Not the industry's. :) I think the weirdest idea i've seen is the Hydrolast Shaving Cloth. Who would want to lather up with an ugly towel?

[AABCDS]

The most bone-headed idea I've seen is The Art of Shaving's power brushes. Someone at P&G came to conclusion that since the Fusion Power handles were selling adding vibration to their brushes would help them sell more too. However, it's just a gimmick.

http://d2za52lb2i0nah.cloudfront.net/static/img/images6/products/310/52009.jpg (http://www.theartofshaving.com/shop/shaving-brushes/fine-badger/52009)

[rockviper]

The most bone-headed idea in the wet shaving world?
Wet shaving will save us money!! :jump:

(PS. Great contest Dave, but don't count me in. You did such a GREAT write-up that even a freebie soap from you makes me run away from this brush :tongue_sm )

[paco664]

This "straight razor sharpening device" is pretty much the silliest thing i have ever seen....

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr226/barton664/911340_1_m.jpg

[xraydoc]

Probably when I first started wet shaving, I ordered quite a bit of stuff from The Art of Shaving, I had no idea how over priced they were until after I hit Place Order! This was before I found B&B and all the great vendors out there.

[Scott0079]

The Collins safety razor, particularly the oscillating model ~ looks like (and probably acts like) a meat slicer. Just Google Collins safety razor and look at the images!:scared:

[rajagra]

Bone-headed? That would be The Shaving Helmet (http://youtu.be/5bgRszdUdhQ), before they tweaked the settings! :biggrin1:

[global_dev]

the most boneheaded thing for me was thinking that i would have been able to find one brush that would suffice.. i was only fooling myself.. everyone else knew better.

[bakerbarber]

The most boneheaded idea I've had related to shaving was when I bought a nice Gillette Blue tip and decided to soak it in CLR. The handle is aluminum and this cleaner is pretty much some acids intended to dissolve lime scale.

Well I fell asleep and forgot the razor soaking in a coffee mug full of the CLR cleaner. The next day that nice Blue tip was ruined. It had literally started to disintegrate. the handle had wormhole looking pits in it, had turned a dark gray black color and when I turned the knob the doors stayed shut and the compression fitting at the top of handle snapped.

I actually rinsed it off and kept it in a drawer for a few weeks thinking I might be able to fix it someday. Eventually I saw it one day and realized how utterly hopeless it actually was and binned it.

LOl - Soaking a vintage razor overnight in chemicals is boneheaded.

[Earcutter]

Well, I am too cheap to buy another razor so I built a wedge for the one I had - http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/265768-Wedge

I'll let you know tomorrow how bone-headed it turned out to be!

[maxman]

Some say it's genius. I say it's boneheaded.
I submit the DIY safety razor found here:

http://brettbeauregard.com/blog/tag/diy-safety-razor/

[Earcutter]

That's kind of cool maxman!

[GladiusGSF]

Mine would be trying to force a patina on a new Mora knife with a potato....it slid right through the potato and into, a good half inch into, my palm....yeah, that was brilliant:crying: ...

[Badger & Bengall]

Thanks for the enjoyable read!


The Collins safety razor, particularly the oscillating model ~ looks like (and probably acts like) a meat slicer. Just Google Collins safety razor and look at the images!:scared:

Wow. I'd never seen this before now. It looks like a candlestick with a blade in it!

[Badger & Bengall]

Some say it's genius. I say it's boneheaded.
I submit the DIY safety razor found here:

http://brettbeauregard.com/blog/tag/diy-safety-razor/

Prison spec!

[AndreasDK]

I find that the most bone-headed idea is that you`re giving this brush away, because I for one wouldn`t mind buying it for 10 USD.

[leonidas]

I find that the most bone-headed idea is that you`re giving this brush away, because I for one wouldn`t mind buying it for 10 USD.


....i'm with Andreas...... i'd buy it for $10........

[TheVez2]

The most bone-headed idea I've seen is The Art of Shaving's power brushes.


Probably when I first started wet shaving, I ordered quite a bit of stuff from The Art of Shaving.

Why do so many bone headed ideas come from AOS? Here's another...

Remember when they put a Sterling Silver handle...... on a Mach 3 !!!!!

http://www.fushionmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/sterlingsilver.jpg
Pricetage for this beautiful set???? A mere $3400.

I believe the brush sold by itself for $1200, and the razor for $1000.


Why go to the trouble of crafting a beautiful one-of-a-kind handle if you are going to fill it with a downscale artificial knot? It's like setting rhinestone in platinum. Or spam in fresh bakery bread.

No Worries Dave, AoS has you beat by a long shot.

[Chadtheguru]

Shaving cream in a can that automatically lathers itself! It doesn't work...pretty boneheaded.

[Price]

Boneheaded? Taking the time to write this (http://www.ebay.com/itm/290646595469?ssPageName=STRK:MEBOFFX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1432.l2649) listing.

[getsome]

Those are all pretty ridiculous things, guys, but...

Easily the most boneheaded thing I've ever seen related to wet shaving is me posting in this thread. What am I thinking!? I could be the poor sap who ends up with a handmade one-of-a-kind handle (which will qualify me as different and weird for owning it), and a knot that doesn't even give me the pleasure of washing dead-badger-butt smell out of it for the better part of a week. Y'know what? This is just plain dumb. And for Pete's sake, what is a newbie like me going to do with another great soap to put into the rotation? I'm such a cotton-headed ninny muggins.

Why did I do this?
~B

[SuperChris]

The most boneheaded idea I have seen in shaving was the reformulation of Old Spice, followed closely by the reformulations of Williams.

[chado006]

http://d2za52lb2i0nah.cloudfront.net/static/img/images6/products/310/52009.jpg (http://www.theartofshaving.com/shop/shaving-brushes/fine-badger/52009)

+1 for this crazy marketing idea. As for my own boneheaded idea, more than once in the past, I've decided to push a blade beyond it's limits and attempted to get a couple extra shaves out of it... at the expense of my bleeding face. I'm happy to report that I've learned my lesson and at the slightest hint of tugging, that blade goes in the bank.

Thanks for the contest, that's a pretty sweet looking handle there, I haven't tried a synthetic brush so not sure how boneheaded putting that knot in was!

[charles_r]

Boneheaded? Taking the time to write this (http://www.ebay.com/itm/290646595469?ssPageName=STRK:MEBOFFX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1432.l2649) listing.

He should sell whatever he's on. I'm sure he'd make more profit than with that brush lol

[anesthesia]

[QUOTE=rockviper;3684820]The most bone-headed idea in the wet shaving world?
Wet shaving will save us money!! :jump:

+1000 that is the word

[Lavaine]

Williams Mug Soap.

[ateace]

Call me boneheaded, but....I'm a dedicated synthetic user, so I'm much more attracted to the "very soft" knot than that ugly green handle.

[rearviewmirror]

One summer during college I was doing carpentry work. we had won a huge bid to do all the trim work and door installation at a local college that was building 10 new dorms.
So it's the first day on the job, and i'm "College Boy" so i get the terrible job of...installing door handles.

I go into the first unit, install the handles on the doors to the bedrooms and go to start on the bathroom.
They had already installed the toilets, so I sat on it to better see, since there was no electric yet. I get the handle in on both sides, and go to swing the door so I can get to the back side to screw the 2 sides together when THWAP...the door hits the toilet seat.
Yea, they didn't leave enough space for the door to open all the way. I go to the other bathroom, same thing.
I tell my boss, who tells the project supervisor, who comes to ask me whats going on. By now, 20 people have come by to look at this.
We go to lunch, come back, and i'm still putting handles on doors, when 10 guys in suits come up to me and ask me to explain what happened.
So I show them. They thanked me and when on their way....and threatened the architect with quite the lawsuit unless he fixed it.
He actually got lucky, they had put in 'elongated' toilets, and when they switched to regular round ones, the doors BARELY opened all the way.
But they had already installed over 200 toilets.

[AABCDS]

One summer during college I was doing carpentry work. we had won a huge bid to do all the trim work and door installation at a local college that was building 10 new dorms.
So it's the first day on the job, and i'm "College Boy" so i get the terrible job of...installing door handles.

I go into the first unit, install the handles on the doors to the bedrooms and go to start on the bathroom.
They had already installed the toilets, so I sat on it to better see, since there was no electric yet. I get the handle in on both sides, and go to swing the door so I can get to the back side to screw the 2 sides together when THWAP...the door hits the toilet seat.
Yea, they didn't leave enough space for the door to open all the way. I go to the other bathroom, same thing.
I tell my boss, who tells the project supervisor, who comes to ask me whats going on. By now, 20 people have come by to look at this.
We go to lunch, come back, and i'm still putting handles on doors, when 10 guys in suits come up to me and ask me to explain what happened.
So I show them. They thanked me and when on their way....and threatened the architect with quite the lawsuit unless he fixed it.
He actually got lucky, they had put in 'elongated' toilets, and when they switched to regular round ones, the doors BARELY opened all the way.
But they had already installed over 200 toilets.

Wouldn't it have been easier to reverse the hinges on the doors so they opened outward or was there no room for that?

[conroygc]

For a moment I thought I could melt VDH and Williams together, add a few ingredients and make it into luxury shaving soap.

I failed miserably. (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/261137-Melting-Williams-VDH-to-make-a-decent-soap-A-story-of-failure?highlight=)

[rearviewmirror]

Wouldn't it have been easier to reverse the hinges on the doors so they opened outward or was there no room for that?
nope, no room. typical 'lowest possible cost'/'zero wasted space' project. there was a closet right as you walked out of the bathroom on one side and a bedroom door on the other. either way you'd have doors opening into doors.

[dcobranchi]

My 3rd ever straight (shavette) shave was this morning. With a Feather blade.

All the blood would seem to indicate that was pretty boneheaded.

[bakerbarber]

I got into this hobby thinking it was going to save me money. :scared:

[BentonClay]

According to random.org the brush is awarded to response #17 - Badger & Bengall. Congratulations to those of you who didn't win, and to Badger & Bengall, well, I'm truly, truly sorry. To claim your item ("prize" is too optimistic a word!), please PM me (and do say hello to my friends over at Sam and Alenka's Shave Shack).

In all seriousness thank-you to all for playing. It's been fun! I throughly enjoyed reading the responses, and a Happy New Year to you!

With apologies to Lemony Snicketts.

[AABCDS]

Congratulations to Badger & Bengall and a big thank you to Dave for putting together this PIF!

[brucered]

nice pif....even if you say the brush SUCKS...it's nice to look at and the BC soap is great, so to me it was a great offering.

congrats to the winner and nice reads by the rest.