WetShaving
This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
New subscribers welcome!
Please visit our wiki, which is always and forever a work in progress.
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Community Rules
Rule 1 - Behaviour and Etiquette
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Be Respectful. Do not bully, flame, or harass others.
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Malicious comments are not allowed but heated discussion and salty banter is okay.
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Low effort replies and complaints about content will be removed.
Rule 2 - Content Guidelines
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Mail Calls, Simple Questions, and SOTD posts belong in the recurring weekly threads.
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Posts must have sufficient content to generate a meaningful discussion.
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Images, links, or videos must include additional text that summarizes the topic.
Rule 3 - Reviews and Disclosure
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Use [First Impressions] in the title if your experience with the product is limited.
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Use the [Review] in the title if you can provide comprehensive details with enough familiarity to answer follow-up questions.
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Disclose how the product being reviewed was acquired (e.g., PIF, loan, or purchase). If the product was provided to you directly by the maker or vendor free of charge or at a discount, you must disclose this fact even if the item will later be returned to the maker or vendor.
Rule 4 - Advertising
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Vendors are to keep marketing within the biweekly Deals/New Products threads.
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Non-vendors may post topics about products if it will foster a compelling discussion.
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Do not solicit donations or share fundraisers without mod approval.
Rule 5 - Inappropriate Content
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All NSFW/L content must request mod approval and be flaired appropriately.
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Non-shaving related NSFW/L content is not allowed.
Rule 10 - Moderator Discretion
- The rules may not apply perfectly to every situation. The mods have final discretion.
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5/15/24
This Wüsthof just showed up the other night, and this is my first go with it. I love Barbershop scents. It was the Barbershop experience that ultimately led me to wetshaving. So when I saw this NOS razor, with "Barber's King" etched and gold washed on the face, I had to have it. With some help, I've been able to narrow down the date on this razor to between 1925 and 1932.
I set the bevel on a 3k Hayate Yoshihiro synthetic, followed by my Shobudani Suita, and finished on my Nakayama Kiita. I stropped on the Kanayama 80k suede/leather. It took a damn fine edge.
The resulting shave was wonderful. The feel was smooth and silky, as that vintage Solingen steel is known to be. The balance was great, and it was overall very comfortable to handle. Even if it was mid, I would've kept it, to be honest. It's just a plus that it's a great shaver.
BarrBarr is one of my favorite barbershop scents. I feel it perfectly nails that western Barbershop vibe. It's a sweet and refreshing scent, the kind that just makes you feel cleaned up.
What a nice shave this morning.
Awesome photo! A normal person looks at it and says, "how could you use all that!". A shaving nerd looks at it and says, "Oh, I have that one.", "Yes, that's a great scent.", "I love having that brush.", and so on.
But ... look at the etch and gold wash on that razor!! Wow! Great find! Looks as if it was very rarely used. I assume that the geometry, was near perfect.
I'm quite familiar with Yoshihiro knives, but was unaware they had a line of whetstones. Was there a feature of these stones that attracted you, or did you just want to try something different? My coolest synthetics are my Matukusuyama stones. I don't have them in grit sizes fine enough for razors unfortunately, but love using them for knives.
Only had the factory bevel on it by the time I got to it! This morning was it's first use in almost 100 years!
The Yoshihiro's I'd actually picked up quite some years before even getting in to wetshaving. I had originally grabbed them for my woodworking tools and kitchen knives. They had come recommended to me at the time from a gentleman I used to talk with quite a bit. The set came in 1k, 3k, 8k. They've been great stones. Very consistent. I have really enjoyed them.
Lots of times the "brand" stones tend to be made for them by a stone manufacturer. Naniwa is pretty well known for this. They can, apparently, make stones to a specification. The black Kramer synthetic stones are made by Naniwa. I've never used them but I'm told they are of exceptional quality and not a copy of some Naniwa stone.
Barrbarr++
That's quite an impressive collection of barbershop scents! My personal favourite is CFGs Ghost Town Barber.
I like GTB too. It's a little spicy to my skin, but that doesn't stop me. And now that you mention it, I realize I forgot to put that one in the pile 😩
No worries, sometimes it's hard to remember how many soaps of a particular genre you've got 😉
Btw I thought I'd try to help with finding a manufacturing date for your straight razor in some german resources, but no luck. One archived german eBay listing had a 5/8 Wüsthof as "made between 1960-70" but such seller's are a unreliable source for that.
Hey thanks for trying! I ended up getting help from a gentleman over on SRP for dating. Between 1925 - 1932!
No problem. Figured since some sources might be german-speaking only, I'd give it a try. That's a very precise dating you obtained there though!
Great find, great photo, and great write-up 😊
BarrBarr++