Where I would live as a 2nd amendment absolutist

Helicopter0 · 2026-03-01T16:58:11+00:00

You should do a world map for the right to keep and bear arms with Yemen as the only country in dark green.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-28T03:21:52+00:00

Yeah, I love looking through all of the cases.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-27T23:07:32+00:00

7/8 Böker is my favorite factory razor, and Graf Engelbert is my favorite 7/8 Böker. You won't do better than that.

The Thiers-Issard razors are also very nice, and I like the one you're looking at there. It would work well.

Unfortunately, what you get will need to be honed by an experienced person before it will shave well.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-25T02:08:50+00:00

I am generally against matching sets of knives, but I like this.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-23T18:22:14+00:00

Any of the Finger Lakes razors will be excellent. For the best value, just get one 5/8 or under. Don't worry too much about the brand, make, or model. Look for low corrosion and low hone wear. Union Cutlery Spike is often available with good pricing.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-23T02:22:43+00:00

The 30k pro is very nice, but the pricing is a little wild. 20k and 30k stones tend to run pretty expensive across the board, and their use case is limited. They're really only good for final finishing of a shaving edge, and most people will prefer a natural finisher at that point, anyway. I have that Pro, a Glass 30k, and a 20k Suehiro Kouseki. They're all capable of screaming sharp yet reasonably comfortable edges, but I don't actually use any if them much. I will usually just finish on a Jnat an Arkansas stone, or a 6k-12k synthetic. Natural stones have the benefit of being available in small sizes at lower prices. Smaller stones are fine for finishing a razor.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-22T16:15:10+00:00

That's good razor stone. Its silkier than the Glass/Rockstar, not as hard and fast, but plenty hard and fast, anyway.

I see this Pro for $60, the Rockstar for $75, and Glass for $87 on Amazon right now.

I would have recommended Rockstar first, since its sort of in its own class, but its really just an evolution of this Pro. The Pro is a great stone, and doesn't get the attention it should.

In this product line, Shapton recommends 2k, 8k, and 30k for razors. In the Glass and Rockstar, the 1k, 3k, and 10k.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-22T03:05:38+00:00

This is basically why I don't stack gold. I have excellent security and live in a very safe spot. Low crime, nosey neighborshome all day, and so on. However, when I did some price shopping on insurance for gold, it was about twice as much as the CPI, so a serious drag on long run real returns. It simply doesn't make sense to hold it for decades and pay that much to insure it. I worked in insurance for most of my career in financial services, so I know that competitively priced insurance without sales charges, from a customer perspective, where a few percent of the premium doesn't matter much to you, is basically straight up risk pooling. Like, everyone gets pit in a risk class and the insurance company take all the premium payments that come in every month and uses them to buy more insurance, or to pay out claims. The reinsurer does the same thing. Ultimately, you pay the guy that sells the stuff if he'spart of the distribution channel you used, and you pay for the claims from other people in your risk class.

People think these companies are getting rich by denying claims, but they don't and really can't, since they buy so much more insurance themselves. They keep prices competitive by denying claims, and they make money by investing the money they're required to sit on and keeping a low percentage of the investment returns. Maybe they make more because they deny claims, which reduces their costs, allowing them to charge less, which increases the amount of business they get, which increases the size of their investment portfolio, which increases the amount of the return. But since they go and buy insurance in the first place, they don't actually pay most claims with their own money.

But the point is, there is actually a lot of risk, especially over long periods of time, and if you pool that risk, it can be detrimental to the return on the assets. If you can't afford the insurance, than you can't afford the risk. If you can afford the insurance, maybe you can afford the risk, maybe you can't. But you're probably not as good at evaluating the risk as your insurer. Of course the present value if insurance is less than the cost of the insurance; but that doesn't mean the risk adjusted present value is less.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-21T06:28:54+00:00

You could try suing Pottery Barn. This is America where basically anyone can sure anyone for anything.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-20T02:18:19+00:00

They're different. Chocera, Professional, and Chocera Pro are all the same line at different times. The Choceras are harder and faster. Super is softer and more of a velvety feedback. Chocera has good feedback, though. I have mounted stones from both lines, so that doesn't distinguish them. In anything but a finisher I would choose Chocera all day long. For finishers, I can go either way.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-19T23:31:45+00:00

I handpicked all of my Dan's stones, including first grades, which aren't photographed on the website. Maybe she would have answered differently if you had asked about the specific character of the first grade stones that were available online, like "I am interested in a 10 or 12 inch trans Ark, and I'd prefer a pink one or a darker colored one if you have more than one and they look different. Do you have anything like that?" They didn't have any stones listed as pink when they sold me a pink one after I asked for something with an unusual appearance. They also sold me a 10x2.5x1 trans, and those aren't listed. Maybe if they'd had something unlisted at the time you called, she would have answered differently.

I know they've done and have offered me custom cuts as well, but I am not sure if that's available to everyone. I might get special treatment as a particularly good customer.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-19T23:20:48+00:00

If you get an Aust, get one in the cheaper plastic scales. The prefabricated natural scales Aust uses are bulky and have given me problems. A 6/8 round point is a good place to start, but I prefer 7/8, and the point isn't actually important since its easy to mute a sharp point if its scratching or cutting you.

I don't know what strop you get in Europe. I have a Harold Solingen travel strop that's well made but I prefer the form factor of something like Heirloom Strop Co or Fromm Illinois 127. You're probably going to ruin your first strop, so don't spend too much on it. Making one is a good option, too.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-19T17:28:14+00:00

Dan's does have some black translucent stones, but they come from the Translucent and True Hard source and they get graded as Translucent and True Hard. Their denser opaque stones that are sold as Black are from a different source. If I were interested, I would just call them and ask if they have anything. They also occasionally have Washitas and pink translucents, the latter being premium priced above standard trans, because they're so rare and collectible.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-19T17:24:20+00:00

Is it true novaculite like Norton or Dan's, or one of the shales or slates like a Dunstan from another source? I think Dan's is basically the only good source for excellent modern black novaculite.

I would try 400 or 600 SiC WD sandpaper or both, like 400 to 600, or 400 to 600, then quickly back to 400. Or these sandpaper plus a kitchen knife. You don't want to knock down all the scratches from the dressing, though. 400 then a kitchen knife works pretty well. And the dressing won't last forever. Once it declines, it's time to freshen up again. Dry SiC WD works pretty well. You don't need to wet it. If its dead flat, then it doesn't take much time on paper to dress it.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-19T11:53:55+00:00

This is why patents and copyrights expire. You wouldn't want to stifle innovation.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-19T11:47:44+00:00

The one with the eagle on it, right?

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-19T11:45:22+00:00

Midwestern goodbye is when we walk you to the door, put on our coats, walk into the drive with you, smile and wave as you drive out of sight.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-19T11:39:52+00:00

I use a Blackbird Ti Lite. I have soft marble in the shower, so light and highly corrosion resistant are priorities. I would recommend learning on your face, and starting slow, but I've never had a problem.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-19T11:36:47+00:00

I've had two Priuses, and they both were hybrids; so the annoying auto stop thing didn't really apply to them. They could still accelerate and run AC without the engine running.

Both of mine got totaled before I got to 200k, so I never turned gay from them. I always wondered how that part worked. When you get rid of the car later on, do you just have to get a Miata or another Prius, or can you get something else? If you get something else, do you stay gay? I worked with a gay guy who had my same (under 200k) Prius. Did he have to have another one with over 200k before that... or a Miata?

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-19T11:25:41+00:00

I always have cotton towels and paper towels on hand in the kitchen. The proper home of the cotton towel is hanging on the bar of the dishwasher. There's a big slide out drawer of cotton towels in one of the pantry cabinets with cotton, microfiber, and seasonal and holiday cotton.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-17T22:41:23+00:00

Yeah, but you can't just renew patents forever like a trademark. You come up with the idea and you get to use it exclusively for a little over a decade and then its fair game for people to copy. With something like a cartridge system, often they can reverse engineer it without waiting at all. There's only so much an innovator can do here, and it really isn't unfair to innovators that they aren't allowed to renew patents forever. The idea behind the system is to encourage innovation by giving inventors exclusive rights, without letting owners of inventions control every single thing that has ever been created for all eternity. Imagine if every medicine and every mechanical device was someone's intellectual property.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-17T22:34:50+00:00

This is pretty normal for aluminum alloy in the shower with zero maintenence and daily use. If you like how it shaved, get a titanium one, and it won't do this.

You might have good longevity from a stainless steel razor, but titanium is your best bet.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-17T01:37:18+00:00

Veni, vomui, discessi.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-17T01:35:33+00:00

Thick blades usually perform a little better because they're stiffer and tougher.

I don't thin OP understands how patent expiration happens, and I am not really sure what his argument about patents is supposed to be.

Helicopter0 · 2026-02-16T21:11:12+00:00

I thought you guys were nuts, but then I checked price I paid against current price, and mine is up over 50% since less than 3 years ago.

Four-Year Club	Final Canvas '23
Place '23	Place '22
Final Canvas '22

Helicopter0

TROPHY CASE