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5/15/24
- Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving Exclusive MOAR BOAR (31 mm × 57 mm bleached boar)
- Razor: Wüsthof 220 "Barber's King" 7/8, Extra Hollow Square Point
- Lather: Noble Otter - BarrBarr
- Post Shave: Noble Otter - BarrBarr Aftershave Splash
- Fragrance: Noble Otter - BarrBarr EdP
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.
They had come recommended to me at the time from a gentleman I used to talk with quite a bit
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++