Ch-ch-ch-changes

If you've been in the store lately, you'll have noticed that we have rearranged and improved our displays on the front side of the building. The manicure sets have been moved into the case by the front door,

Not only have we rearranged that whole area, we also have some new products!
I've told you about the bags, etc. that we are featuring from John Hart Design, but I have sadly neglected Caswell-Massey's shaving "stuff." What do I mean by stuff? I mean shaving soaps and travelling cases, badger shaving brushes, preshave oil and aftershave balm, and some wonderful smelling soaps.


Who is Caswell-Massey?
Originating in 1752, Caswell-Massey is believed to be the fourth-oldest company in America. They use age-old methods in producing fine soaps, lotions, fragrances and other personal care items. Caswell-Massey products were chosen to reside in the White House by three different presidents: Washington, Eisenhower, and Kennedy (and we know which ones are which).


Caswell-Massey was also recently featured in the August/September issue of Modern Bride, in a section on attendants' gifts.(p. 140) According to the text, they're featuring the almond shave soap, brush and stand. However, looking at the picture, they are also featuring a refillable wooden bowl, which is part of what makes this gift elegant and nice.

But are they any good?
Well, Carl said he enjoys using the shave soap, but his favorite product to use is the after-shave balm. I have a lot of guy friends, so that's definitely going on my list for holiday shopping.
While I can't personally vouch for the quality of the soap in terms of using it on one's face, I am very opinionated about scents.

To be honest, I'm torn. When it comes to the almond soaps, I think I prefer the scent of our Col. Ichabod Conk over the Caswell-Massey. Colonel Conk soaps are more highly scented, which have a vintage appeal (particularly the Bay Rum, yum!). I think the stronger scent particularly lends itself to the almond scent.

On the other hand, the Caswell-Massey soap is packaged far more attractively for a gift. Luckily for me, other soaps come in the wooden bowl gift set: Greenbriar and Sandalwood. I love the scent of sandalwood, so that solves the dilemma for me. I'm thinking about having my affianced get that for one of his groomsmen. The other two are haphazard about shaving at best, though they might appreciate the after-shave balm.

Generally, all the Caswell-Massey products have a nice scent. They are more complex and lighter than the Col. Conk soaps we carry, rounding out the selection of products we offer. Even though the recipes for some of these soaps has remained virtually unchanged for decades (if not two centuries), they still have a classic feel that will appeal to modern users of any age.

Ultimately, you, dear reader, will have to decide what you like best.

Damascus

When there's free time in the store, one of my favorite things to do has always been to drool over pretty knives in Blade magazine or Knives Illustrated. (Hint: guys, make wallpapers of the pretty pictures for your free download section! Please!)

The general term "Damascus" is modernly used to describe metal with a visible grain pattern, sometimes with a texture, sometimes not. This can be created in many ways, from folding the metal to creating a mosaic of different steel rods to form any desired pattern.

Historically, Damascus steel blades were Middle-Eastern in origin, with legendary strength and sharpness.

If you're interested in the metallurgy and the history end of things, here's a very informative article from JOM, the Journal of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society. (50.9 1998, pp. 58-64.)

I highly recommend going to look at an image search if you're curious. Sadly, copyright prevents me from posting pictures here. For really drool-worthy pictures, I recommend the two magazines above.

Looking on Youtube there are a lot of videos about how to make Damascus steel of different sorts. However, if you want a more professional sort of tutorial video, this2 DVD set by Mastersmith JD Smith looks like it would be pretty good. Does anyone have any recommendations?

It happened in Chicago, part 2

Somewhat belatedly, here is the last bit of Carl and Glenna's trip to the International Home and Housewares Show. I had a little trouble with format, which is why the big delay. (docx format, let me show you it.)
So here's the trip, in Carl's own words:

CHICAGO, PART 2
To digress a little bit, we arrived in ‘The Loop’ in downtown Chicago literally on the heals of the St. Patrick Day parade. Needless to say the residents were ‘restless’ and quite ‘happy’, shall we say.

Thankfully we decided to take the airport shuttle van, and our driver was a real pro, even took us through some of suburban Chicago, to avoid a traffic tie-up. And yes, they really do die the river green.
We saw it, but we went by so fast that there was no hope of a photo.

Anyway back at the ranch …er show, after we left the Dovo booth, we made our way to the Wusthof booth. Our representative, Ed Bartush, was there and spent quite a bit of time with us, showing a few new sets and such. Also, they have a new electric knife sharpener. The booth was quite busy, with lots of clients and prospective clients. Actually the attendance at the show was very good, and a number of booths like Wusthof were very busy.

From there we stopped for lunch (nothing amazing, but palatable). It was one of the few chances to sit down, though. In some cases, if you are a very good client of, say Wusthof or Dovo, you may be offered a seat at a table. At the house wares show in Germany, you would also be offered something to drink, and maybe a cookie. The only refreshment that was offered to us in this ‘old world’ tradition was at the J. A. Henckels booth.

By the way, we have been a dealer for J. A. Henckels for 104 years. My Great-grandfather went to the 1904 World’s Fair and met the Henckels people there for the first time. I will say that every booth we spent time in the different company's representatives were very helpful and informative.

After lunch we stopped back at the Dovo booth and snapped a picture of my wife and our representative. Earlier we had been to the Kershaw Shun booth and met the head of national sales. There have been delays in receiving the Shun knives, and he assured us that this was being dealt with, mostly with the building of a new factory here in the states.He took a lot of time and showed us the range of their lines. It was very cool. These knives, when we can get them, sell extremely well, and by the way are becoming the sweethearts of a number of the local chefs.

We walked by later, and who would be there but Alton Brown of the Food Network, signing autographs. Of course we got one!! Actually my wife posted up in the line waiting, and I went wandering because I had seen the Global knife booth. I was able to meet the people I had known only by their voices. I guess this is one of the things about going to the shows, except for the few companies that have representatives, is the fact that you get to put a name with a face.

I can safely say that we saw a majority of what we wanted to see, although rather hurriedly. We gathered a lot of info and made some contacts, which could hold us over for a year or two. However if the mood strikes again, we may just heading for the windy city sooner!!

Sounds like fun to me!