Very nice haul! I have that same Parker 51 in dark green, with a matching pencil. Wonderful both
To celebrate my newly arrived Celebrated, I went with a fully British setup. This chonky razor came actually shave ready from eBay – a first for me, and it's a very pleasant razor. Silent like a wedge, very smooth, and look how pretty it is 🤩
Fat++;
Always such a nice post shave feel with The Fat.
antibiotics, glucocorticoids, inhalations, etc
Yup, it's one of the more impressive prescriptions😥
I've finally sprung for an 8/8 quarter hollow Wade & Butcher For Barber's Use and this beauty landed today.
This also completes my Brad Maggard-Seven Day Set™
Ok, Hallows fell flat and got the wife's veto. It happens. Otherwise great shave with the full hollow Heljestrand.
Thanks! I'm recovering nicely, and it feels like I'll be back on skis by January 🤞
Agreed. It's like the TI Le Dandy or the Puma 88 that way: the geometry isn't special in any way, but they shave great I suspect it's the steel that feels so nice?
Oh yeah, not fun at all, and a bit scary in the moment
It's really wonderful. This is my first try of vegan omnibus and I forgot it's vegan until I read this. Really good stuff
I have tried a smush of hallows in Excelsior and liked it, but I kept forgetting about it for a few seasons.
And, uh... 3rd Abalone?!?!
Why yes! How else could I do a three-way comparison 😅
When there was the big discount on boker.de, I bought a couple of Abalones in addition to the one I was gifted by the sub in 2023
Thanks! Straight-forward eBay purchase.
If you're interested, I've done some light research on these razors and written up some interesting to me details here.
This lot of software arrived today, and I'm looking forward to diving when my nose works again (still sick with some extra relentless bug).
T
This overly happy little fellow has completed its long way from Japan and is waiting for a good hone before it can do what it came here to do. Can't wait!
pinging @gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social who caused this experiment.
So, my Moarteen has been marked as delivered at 10:34 today, which means that mine was probably the quickest to reach its destination. I was surprised by how nervous I was about it. What I convinced y'all to buy a piece of shit? So here's a quick post about unboxing, first impressions, a few detail and comparison shots, and a first shave with that thing.
So first things first: It's really sparkly 🎇
That thick red slab you see in the picture is the stamp that created the little Lathersnoo logo on the tang (@gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social and I had it made for this and it was returned to me so that it can be reused for future sub exclusives. If you have a project in mind that could benefit from it, let me know) and you won't get that, but otherwise, that parcel, box and razor is what you can expect to show up in the next few days (it has already happened for our German members, not sure about others). In this picture, the glare makes it look like the tang is a similar colour as hollow grind, but it's really dark forge finish, just brushed and lightly polished over. It looks really nice in person, but I like this kind of utilitarian minimalism.
This image shows the finish much better:
You can see that it has the Schmiedehaut, the raw texture from the forge, and after being brushed and polished over, you can see the dark colour in the valleys and shiny steel on the peaks. The Lathersnoo and the Koraat logo look nice next to each other. The hollow grind is satin and polished over as well (the polishing is done to avoid rust nucleation sites). And look at the sparkles in those scales!
The grind:
Nicely hollow with a gently rounded belly. Very promising.
So all of this looks good, but is it a 14? Here, I have to say "almost":
On the left, you see the sparkly Moarteen, on the right, my cherished Frio 14. You can see that the shape fits, but the Moarteen is a touch smaller than its inspiration. The blade, tang, and tail are all a tad shorted, and my Moarteen is just a smidgen over 7/8" wide while the 14 is 8/8". But my Filarmónica 14 Thiers Issard 14 are also a bit under 8/8, so I'm not crying foul here.
Since the Moarteen is supposed to be the fourteenised version of the Sparschweinchen, it makes sense to also compare those two:
The reflections on the hollow grind visualise a bit that the Moarteen has a more pronounce belly, and a finer polish. The point is also different. The Sparschweinchen has a deceptively round point, but the end of the edge is actually a live point/corner, so the overall more square Moarteen point with the actually rounded end of the edge is clearly more beginner friendly ("It’s the best of all worlds for beginners and aficionados alike." was one of the goals of this whole operation). The Moarteen blade is also a tad wider than the Sparschweinchen's but not to a significant degree IMO.
Here are the two cousins next to one another, and you can also get a better idea of how the finish looks. It's also kinda cool that the sparkles on the inside of the scales get reflected in the hollow ground blade face.
Does this thing shave?
(Naturally, I had to choose sub exclusive hard and software for this shave). So right off the bat, this thing feels comfortable, like a 14. The weight and handling feels right. I did give the blade a good stropping on canvas and leather before the first go.
To quote @whosgotthepudding@sub.wetshaving.social, "That super thin grind combined with a little heft from the size give the blade gentle conviction.". This razor is a 14, and I can breathe a sigh of relief. Y'all didn't buy a piece of shit, this thing turned out great. Pheeeeeew
As is tradition, this is not a drill! We have collected 47 of the 48 payments over the weekend, communicated all the last minute address changes and recipient changes to Ulrik, and paid a ridiculous amount of money for group-themed shave implements. The last phase of Operation Moarteen is thus initiated.
Project Moarteen Organising Committee (PMOC/OCPM), take a breath. What are you talking about?
We're done, the razors are paid, Ulrik has our money, he'll ship the razors.
But PMOC, you said that only 47 of the 48 payments have been made‽
Yes, there is one straggler we can't reach, and we've been impatient. That person's razor will be held back by Ulrik until further notice. We hope that this will give the missing person enough time to figure out what they're about to miss and pay up. We think that giving two weeks, until Mon, Apr 21, 23:59:59 GMT, should be a fair amount of time. If we don't get payment until then, we'll offer the razor to the people on the wait list for purchase.
That's great, PMOC, so what happens now?
Ulrik thinks it'll take him about a working day to get all the customs documents squared away, so we should expect to get shipping info in our e-mail addresses sometime Wednesday or latest on Thursday (always Austrian time, or CEST).
PMOC?
Yes?
I can't believe we collected 98% of the money over the weekend!
Neither can we! This is amazing, thank you very much r/wetshaving for being the best group buy enablers and participants! ♥
This is not a drill! Our Moarteens are assembled and the only step left is sharpening. We need to provide Ulrik with everyone's shipping addresses, so that he can invoice us, and we can invoice you.
Project Moarteen Organising Committee (PMOC/OCPM), why are you telling us this, don't you have our addresses?
Yes, we do, but the original sign up thread closed 6 months ago, so some shipping addresses might have changed.
Good point! How do you suggest we proceed, PMOC?
If you have moved in the last 6 month, send your updated shipping address to rwetshavingsubexclusives@gmail.com. Use the email address you've registered at sign up so we know that you're not a scammer stealing someone's identity. If you have lost access to that email address, or have any doubts or questions contact either @gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social or @djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social directly and we'll help you out.
PMOC, what happens if I forget to update my shipping address?
Then your invoice will be based on the shipping cost for the old address. When you'll get the invoice from us, we'll include the shipping address, so you'll have a second chance to notice your mistake. At this point, you'll be able to fix the oversight, but it might mean a delay because we'll have to have Ulrik issue a new invoice.
Since we pay the Moarteens in bulk, any delay affects everyone, so don't be a dick pwettypwease.
What's the timeline for this, PMOC?
Send us your update until Wed Apr 03, 17:00 GMT. At this point, we'll send the shipping addresses to Ulrik.
That sounds great, what's next after that?
Ulrik will determine everyone's shipping cost and let us know. You'll then get an invoice to pay the remainder of your Moarteen funds to rwetshavingsubexclusives@gmail.com . As always if someone asks you to pay into a different account, that's not us, don't fall for a scam.
Moarteen!
Share your shave of the day!
Share your shave of the day.
Oh yes. I heard about the tallow formulation's demise too late to get a backup puck, so once this is gone, it's really good