Post Shave: The Cajun Blade - Dude of Oud - Aftershave
Post Shave: Stirling - Glacial Unscented - Balm
Fragrance: Catie’s Bubbles - Dranks - EdP
My first use of this soap. The base performed really well for me, with great slickness over the entirety of my 3 pass shave.
The scent is quite nice as well. It's very funky/fermented smelling off the tub, but settles into a nice warm and woody fragrance once it's lathered up. Very nice.
Aftershave: Stirling Soap Co. - I, Rich Moose - Aftershave
Fragrance: Mäurer & Wirtz - Sir Irisch Moos - Eau de Cologne
Talc: Yardley Gold
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
Man! The lanolin luxury of Rod's mutton tallow base with the Irisch Moos fragrance! It doesn't get much better than this. Finishing with a "real man's" aftershave (alcohol), and the "proper" cologne made this shave so great that I had to finish with some talc. And, this made me wonder why I have dropped the talc habit. As you might have guessed, great shave today :)
By the way, I liked your videos on grits. I have no stone between 3k and 8k. 8k being closer to 3 times 3k than 2 times 3k thus the 8k particles relatively close to 1/64th the size of the 3k particles. One day I'll get the 6k to fill the gap, for now I have some shenanigans with coticule slurry on glass.
Thank you for the feedback. You don’t really need to get something between 3k and 8k. Just get the most out of your 3K when you’re on it, then spend some extra time on the 8K. You will get the same resulting sharpness in the end that you would if you put a 6K in between. It just might take a little longer.
What about the argument JPO makes in favour of smaller steps in grit due to strain on the steel?
You seem to agree in the comments (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dft46oJXgd8).
He cautions especially when it comes to harder steels and mentions Koraat.
My Koraat is a bit more difficult than my (presumably) softer German razors.
I guess I could hone through the brittle steel by putting even more time in on the 8k.
I'll definitely try next time.
I agree in principle, but for most people this should not be a major concern. The stress that will literally break the steel at the edge comes from torque fatiguing the metal to its failure point, not abrasion. If you skip stone grit steps, then you'll need to do more laps on the finer grit stone that you jump to and, in theory, more laps for the entire sharpening progression than if you used a stone in between.
His point is that extra laps subject the metal to more mechanical stress. But, so long as the metal stays in its elastic range, it can absorb that stress without deformation. Both he and I could use a 3K to 8K stone progression all day long with many different razors and not have a problem. We would just let the abrasive do the work and not use additional torque to try to speed up the process.
You, as a sharpener, using "reasonable" torque can remove this as an issue most of the time. Where it is most noticeable as a problem is in the final stages of edge finish. It is entirely possible to fatigue an edge and create small chips by using many alternating strokes with too much torque. Conversely, you can use the same number of strokes and not fatigue the edge by using less torque.
Fougère Friday: This was the last of my sample of LASSCo Blackfern. What a nice scent! I'm pretty sure the original LASSCo version was vegan, so I threw in some Bayou Butter to make it omnivore.
11 Comments
snooting@wetshav.ing · 5 pts · 63d
July 10th, 2026
My first use of this soap. The base performed really well for me, with great slickness over the entirety of my 3 pass shave.
The scent is quite nice as well. It's very funky/fermented smelling off the tub, but settles into a nice warm and woody fragrance once it's lathered up. Very nice.
gcgallant@wetshav.ing · 5 pts · 63d
July 10, 2026
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
Man! The lanolin luxury of Rod's mutton tallow base with the Irisch Moos fragrance! It doesn't get much better than this. Finishing with a "real man's" aftershave (alcohol), and the "proper" cologne made this shave so great that I had to finish with some talc. And, this made me wonder why I have dropped the talc habit. As you might have guessed, great shave today :)
CsXGF8uzUAOh6fqV@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 62d
By the way, I liked your videos on grits. I have no stone between 3k and 8k. 8k being closer to 3 times 3k than 2 times 3k thus the 8k particles relatively close to 1/64th the size of the 3k particles. One day I'll get the 6k to fill the gap, for now I have some shenanigans with coticule slurry on glass.
gcgallant@wetshav.ing · 2 pts · 62d
Thank you for the feedback. You don’t really need to get something between 3k and 8k. Just get the most out of your 3K when you’re on it, then spend some extra time on the 8K. You will get the same resulting sharpness in the end that you would if you put a 6K in between. It just might take a little longer.
CsXGF8uzUAOh6fqV@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 60d
What about the argument JPO makes in favour of smaller steps in grit due to strain on the steel? You seem to agree in the comments (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dft46oJXgd8). He cautions especially when it comes to harder steels and mentions Koraat. My Koraat is a bit more difficult than my (presumably) softer German razors. I guess I could hone through the brittle steel by putting even more time in on the 8k. I'll definitely try next time.
gcgallant@wetshav.ing · 2 pts · 60d
I agree in principle, but for most people this should not be a major concern. The stress that will literally break the steel at the edge comes from torque fatiguing the metal to its failure point, not abrasion. If you skip stone grit steps, then you'll need to do more laps on the finer grit stone that you jump to and, in theory, more laps for the entire sharpening progression than if you used a stone in between.
His point is that extra laps subject the metal to more mechanical stress. But, so long as the metal stays in its elastic range, it can absorb that stress without deformation. Both he and I could use a 3K to 8K stone progression all day long with many different razors and not have a problem. We would just let the abrasive do the work and not use additional torque to try to speed up the process.
You, as a sharpener, using "reasonable" torque can remove this as an issue most of the time. Where it is most noticeable as a problem is in the final stages of edge finish. It is entirely possible to fatigue an edge and create small chips by using many alternating strokes with too much torque. Conversely, you can use the same number of strokes and not fatigue the edge by using less torque.
CsXGF8uzUAOh6fqV@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 59d
Alright, I'll increase laps on the 8k but not pressure/torque. Thanks for all your insight.
gcgallant@wetshav.ing · 2 pts · 59d
And I suggest monitoring your progress with some sort of sharpness testing that is consistent.
pi_dash_rho@wetshav.ing · 4 pts · 63d
SOTD - 2026-07-10
Fougère Friday: This was the last of my sample of LASSCo Blackfern. What a nice scent! I'm pretty sure the original LASSCo version was vegan, so I threw in some Bayou Butter to make it omnivore.
Have a good day.
BossHoggins10@wetshav.ing · 3 pts · 63d
July 10th, 2026
walden@wetshav.ing · 2 pts · 63d
July 10th, 2026
Great shave! I might use this soap until it's gone. It won't be long.