Oh Shoot

Very nice, but if you call that a "budget build" I guess your "high end" one would top $10K! ;)   - OS

Something unique, like Blackie.   - OS

At almost sixteen, I wouldn't change a thing, Queenie has already well beaten the odds.   My Mom's fat and psychotic Chihuahua died of diabetes, but was going on 14. A more restricted diet might have given him a few more years. Or not. Past 12, any of our canine friends' longevity is pretty much a crap shoot even with optimal care.   - OS

Looks very much like my: I'll swap ya even, and go so far as to pay shipping both ways. :) - OS

  Long term drought is biggest prob of all out there. Hell, half of TN would have burned down by now if we had that little rainfall over the last decade or however long it's been.   And of course, to accentuate their water prob for crops and city supply, they're still diverting beacoup to areas where there's no people to save the rare three toed barking frogs and crested blue eyed geckos or whatever ...   - OS

  I've never seen any claim with even the heaviest beards they don't get a least 3 good shaves from one of the better double edged blades and average seems to be 5 and up. Big diff in longevity in shaving daily and only once every three days or so like I generally do, too.   And yeah, Amazon 100 packs:   Astra: 11.01 Personna: 12.73 Crystal (120 pack): 18.88 Wilkinson Sword: 18.25 Feather: 26.50 Various other Russian, including Gillette brands: 10.00-15.00   etc   - OS

Saw thread somewhere much earlier, but it's happening now.   Wouldn't mind going, but probably won't make the effort to go over there on my own volition.   http://www.mountainprepperexpos.com/   - OS   edit: duh, currently in Events forum:   http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/topic/76226-prepping-expo-in-sevierville-may-17th-18th-2014/

Yeah, read a good bit about it. Neg opinions, even though in the minority, and 75 clams has kept me from grabbing one, though. - OS

Oh, one more trick, and it works at least up to a point -- if you have a fixed angle double edge, and find you need a bit more aggressiveness, you can shim the blade to increase gap.   Take a used blade and cut off sharpened edges with scissors (yes, you can, pretty easily). Then put it under regular blade (toward handle).   Some folks even use 2 or 3 shims. I've experimented just a bit with that, and once I settle in with my fav blade or three, gonna do some consistent testing. Preliminary ones suggest that my Edwin Jagger with one shim might actually be optimum for my face/beard.   I have a mild razor (Feather) which is too mild, and an aggressive one (RazoRock Jaws) that is too aggressive, looking for the perfect combo. And yeah, I had an old Gillette adjustable, but never got great results. Mainly I believe because it only increases gap. Optimal aggression is acheived with combo of gap, angle, and exposure, and many aficionados agree it's hard to beat a fixed type that has the degree of aggression that works for you built in from the gitgo, and I'm in that group.   - OS

  Try one of the oils. I might at some point when I'm through with my blade tests and settle into just 2 or 3 brands to see if it actually makes a diff.   Another thing some people do is "cork" their blades initially. But that's a smoothness thing, not a rust thing.   - OS

  Yeah, who knows. I certainly couldn't find a new total inox edition new anywhere for any price about a year ago when I started looking for one. Finally settled for a US made inox with black hardware.   - OS

  There are folks who swear that keeping a blade submerged in shallow container of various stuff between shaves prevents the minute rust that makes it dull more quickly.  Usually mentioned: mineral oil, baby oil, olive oil, and alcohol.   - OS

  You need to sell Procter and Gamble that idea somehow, offer to be Firearm Cleaning Spokesman on ads for a you know, reasonable fee.   - OS

  BerettaUSA has only shown a US made stainless model for a year or two now. With black hardware. Don't see an INOX on Italian site either.   - OS

  Yeah, dunno. Did test about 6 months ago, and the Federal runs my AR rifles and pistols and Mini14s fine. But I haven't bought any in at least over a year either, so maybe it's gotten to be more anemic lately or something.   - OS

  My results, was testing diff tween velocity from 16" and 10.5" barrels, 3 shot average:   Monarch 55gr .223: Rifle: 2929  Pistol: 2611 Wolf WPA 55gr 223: Rifle: 2872  Pistol: 2546 Tula 55gr .223: Rifle: 2843  Pistol: 2612 Federal Bulk 55gr .223: Rifle: 2840  Pistol: 2536     - OS

  Just a note: not till July 1.    Since I've never been in middle of a bell curve in my whole life, I don't ever rely on odds. ;)   - OS

  Disagree. Even back when you could get Wolf and whatnot .223 for .21/round in hand online, the Wally Tula was cheaper by the box. Believe me, I'm a penny pincher on the ammo, and have watched the Wally creep compared to online, and they've only recently bumped up above it.   Main drawback with Wally over last couple of years was simply that you couldn't get a bunch of it at one time, either due to 3-5 box limits, or just because never much in stock.  But over last few months, I've been able to buy 500 or more at a time in stock if I wanted to at the few stores I frequent much.   - OS

  5.47 actually, for both .223 and 7.62x39, but yep 5.47 + .50 sales tax + .10 state ammo tax = 6.07 =.30/round, actually a bit more with multiple boxes as didn't do the fractions which add up. Total price in hand is the bottom line, eh?   I've bought couple of thousand rounds of Wolf .223 in last 2 months from Sportsman's Guide for 25.5 /round delivered, and about the same amount of Wolf 7.62x39 for 22.5 to 23.5/round delivered from Sportsmans and SG Ammo, and some Red Army from Classic Firearms for right at.25/round delivered.   Bought a thousand rounds of Tula 7.62x39 at frigging gun show even for 22.5/round out the door.   - OS

Oh, the large Voyager ain't a knife -- THIS is a knife -- Espada you mentioned, next to Beretta FS for reference :) - OS

Forgot, I've been chipping at a review log as I've tested blades over time, here's what I have so far with about 15 more brands in the stash to still try out (mostly Russian left, so expect lots of good ones). Only doing 3 shaves with each, usually with a 2-3 day growth, as I don't have to shave every day.   ---------------------   Astra (Russian): Great for 3 shaves, felt so good went for a 4th also, just fine. So far right up there with Crystal as best all around, and as a bonus are among the least expensive also. Crystal (or Israeli Personna) (Israel): Just aces for three shaves, and quite good fourth one, but pretty sure further ones would be significantly degraded. From all reports should be about as good as the best, will revist down the road. CVS Branded (USA): Some say these are actually the US Personna, (they do say made in USA on blades), and after 3 great shaves I'd say they are right, performance just as excellent as the Personna Blue, defintely could have gone with at least another shave or two. Of course, these cost more CVS (5-6 bucks for 10), but it's something to keep in mind if you're ever out of blades or out of town, whatever, and need some quality blades on the quick. Derby Extra (Turkey): Have more experience with these babies than many of the others, as one pack came with my first Edwin Jagger (and had gone ahead and grabbed a 100 pack in additon, figgering EJ must think highly of them). Well, I guess I'd give them an overall B. Mainly because some seem to be A- and some C, meaning, just in the 10 or so I used, they just aren't consistent between blades. The good ones are more than adequate, the sub par ones are well, just that. DG Branded (Dollar General-Made in Korea): Got a decent first shave, but suck pretty bad, felt very rough, gave up during second shave, who needs to go on with so many fine ones around? A buck for 5 blades, use only in emergency. Wonder if made by Dorco? Haven't tried my Dorcos yet, have two different editions,  we'll see if about the same or what. Dorco (Korea): This was the biggest surprise in my testing so far! First let me say this blade is in white plastic blade bank, package has insert over top blade that says "stainless blade" with a red corner notation that reads "NEW Platinum ST-301. The blades are in orange and white single wrap with the "made in Korea" on them, otherwise that is not notated anywhere else. The blades themselves only have a poorly printed "Dorco" in oval and "stainless blade" on them. Next, let me say these seem to be almost on par with my best rated blade experiences. Smooth, sharp, wore well over the three shaves. Certainly could have gone another shave or two without undue discomfort. Dorco (Vietnam): These are in paper box, double wrapped blades, box shows picture of blade and says "stainless blade" and "NEW Platinum ST-300. The blades are double wrapped. The blade itself has different logo presentation than the Korean made above, has a stylized D and word Dorco not in an oval. Figured would be made on similar equipment with similar specs with the Korean made ones, or wouldn't even have Dorco name at all, right? WRONG! 180 degree differece. In a word, these suck. First shave, not great from first stroke, and I swear the blade was losing ground with every new stroke. Didn't even try a second shave. Gillette Nacet (Russia): 3 pretty decent shaves, seemed edge held up consistently for all three. Feather (Japan): What can I say about Feather that hasn't been said before? None are apprently sharper. Held up great for three shaves, virtually identical, but started feeling a bit of drag on fourth. One drawback that if you don't have a great surface complexion, can slice right through bumps, moles, zits, whatever rather than tending to glide over them -- I got a small weeper or two on two shaves, which is rare with the Jagger razor's middle of the road aggression. Certainly right up there overall with any blade made, but the other drawback is that you'll pay over double the price of say Astra or Crysal for essentially the same results. Gillette Super Blue (Russia): Great first shave, pretty good second, fair third. The blade just didn't seem to hold up well, something I didn't expect from one you pay somewhat of a premium for. Odd thing was it stayed smooth for all three, but just didn't cut as closely as it aged. Kroger Branded (Israel): Huge dissapointment! Figured if made in Israel, would be in ballpark of the Crystal or whatever. Absoultely wrong, these sucked worse than the Dollar General blades. Even tried two of them, gave up after one shave (barely). No redeeming qualities whatsoever. Lord Platinum (Egypt): 3 good shaves, maybe not as good as Crystal but seemed very consistent between all three shaves, no real complaints. Lord Super Stainless (Egypt): No noticeable diff between these and the Platinum, more than adequate for my 3 shave test. Personna Blue (USA): Excellent, right up there with Astra and Crystal, top tier go to blade. Sharp Hi Chromium Durablade:(Bangladesh, "made on machinery from UK, from imported Swedish steel"). Yeah, whatever.  Sucked, tried two, quite poor, couldn't get two decent shaves out of either blade. Shark Super Stainless (Egypt): Made by Lord, has "super stainless" on blade. I'd rate these pretty much on a par with the Lord Platinum above, which is to say quite acceptable, three shaves ranged from quite good first to still quite adequate third. Shark Super Chrome (Egypt): Perhaps only a subjective delusion, but used this right after the one above, and seemed to hold sharpness just a bit more consistently between all threee shaves, overall very good to fine blade. Wilkinson Sword (Germany): Right up there with the best, sharp but smooth, 3 great shaves and a pretty good 4th. Cost a bit more than some of my other top choices.     - OS

  Amazon, mostly.   - Edwin Jagger is a fine middle of the road choice, aggressive-wise. The heads are all the same, only handle design differs. Beautifully chromed, among the best finish out there.   - One of the Merkurs is probably the other most popular as far as new ones.   - You'd do well to spend a bit extra on some sample blade packs and then buy 100 pack of what you like best. eBay is pretty competitive for sample packs with Amazon and depending on the blade choice, some 100 bulk packs are too. You can get 100 say Crystal or Astra blades for under 15 clams, Feather is about the most expensive at about 25, and others like Personna split the diff. "Sharpest" doesn't necessarily translate to "smoothest" though, or even consistency between shaves as it ages toward dullness.   Btw, Personna is the only US blade I know of that's worth a crap, but it's very nice indeed. Most all the Russian and Israeli blades are quite nice, Korean and middle eastern less so (as general rule, but there are exceptions).   - The cheapest actual badger hair brush I know of is the Tweezerman. Boar bristle is "okay", but badger is the best.   - Some soaps, like Prorazo and Conk (not one of my favs, doesn't lather as well) come in their own tubs. Prorazo (Italy) is indeed very nice. You can get a three pack of their biggest sellers pretty reasonably. Williams (USA) is the cheapest soap made, but I also like it fine, will need a tub though.   I bought a wood dish with top and razor/brush stand on Amazon just because they look nifty, but any will of course work, idea is just get razor and brush off counter to air dry well.   Yes, you can go with old razors off eBay. The most popular adjustable Gillettes are pretty pricy these days for a nice one though, and YMMV using them. Biggest thing is finding one that is aggressive enough to work well for your beard but not overly or underly so. You'll generally need to hit the ole beard at least twice with any of the though, once with and once either across or against the grain.   It's a learning experience, but you need to minimize the variables as you seek out best combos for yer own face.   - OS

  Yeah, I bought 20 boxes of Tula at one in 'Nooga yesterday, and could have bought about that much more.   I've not seen any of them with a one box limit on anything but .22LR either but have seen them mentioned on here. A Wally in Maryville was still limiting all purchases to 3 boxes last time I was over there about a month ago, though.   - OS

  And the Federal bulk was lowest velocity against 3 Russian steel brands I did chrono on, too.   - OS

... on Russian steel ammo. Both .223 and 7.62x39 Tulammo are over .30/round. Can beat that online by 5 to 7.5 cents per round delivered. Wasn't long ago it was the opposite.   That is all, over and out.   - OS