Charlie Lewis is a furniture restorer by trade, living and working in Burkburnett, Texas. He is however, also an avid straight razor enthusiast, with a great eye for design. Mr. Lewis says he has "always built things from an early age, from boats to telescopes," and this amazingly well crafted frameback straight razor is a testament to his love for making things. A 'frameback' straight razor is a style of construction for straight razors dating back to the early 1800's, where the blade portion is held securly in a groove in the spine of the razor. Mr. Lewis' 'frameback # 3' cleverly sees the blade created from an old hand saw and the frame from mild steel, while the scales are then cut and shaped from mesquite wood. I really like the simple beauty of this razor, and the ingenuity of its creation. Mr. Lewis says he needs to improve his heat treating method, and is confident the next razor will be a vast improvement. I'd say that's quite a statement given how well made and fine this razor is. You can catch Charlie on www.straightrazorplace.com where you're sure to see more of his excellent razors and also run into ...

In the wake of Apple's ultra-thin, somewhat feature lacking MacBook Air, Samsung have released their .66" thin X360. The 13.3" laptop weighs only 2.8 pounds, has three USB ports (compared to Macbook Air’s single port), HDMI and Ethernet ports, VGA input, Wi-Fi and a 1.3 megapixel camera. The laptop is quite handsome too, for a PC laptop, with a luxury exterior construction, available in a red/pink and black brushed finish. The core specs of the machine are not lacking either, but it's really the minimal size and weight with the many to most of the features you'd find on a 'regular' laptop, that make this Samsung offering stand out in a very competitive market. View more images and see the full press release here.

Small Danish company Flensted Mobiles create, well you guessed it, Mobiles - but not just any mobiles.. Theirs are more works of art than mere childrens' room ornaments. With handcrafted and hand-balanced Mobiles covering a range of themes, they've got to be some of the most beautiful 'simple' things I've seen in a while. This is the purity of product that arises when a company focus all their love and energy on even the simplist of items - and in the case of Flensted, we witness the humble mobile being very elegantly evolved into quite contemporary and serious pices of home decor.

Cyberoptix Tie Lab - the "Hand silkscreened Neckwear + Accessories" online store, have these rather quirky looking straight razor (Cutthroat razor) silkscreened ties up for sale. I'm not much of a tie attire kinda guy, though I do love straight razors, this is more novel than necessary in my books. At $40.00 for the 100% standard width - you've really got to love razors and ties.. Cyberoptix have a real unusual atmosphere to their brand that I quite like, and the packaging and swing tags look first class.

Leatherman multitools have released their "Argentum Collection" of quintessential leathermans. Renound scultptor and silversmith, Adrian Pallarols has taken the Leatherman Charge and Squirt as his canvas and created something quite special indeed. Using 18k gold and sterling silver for the scales, and painstakingly hand carved the detailing on them, these commemorative tools (the 25th anniversary Del Rey $40,000.00 model being limited to only 25) are not your average multitools let's just say that.. Though I'll never own one at these kinda prices, and although they do make my Titanium Charge look ashamedly bland, it's nice to stare and to dream.

Well these have got to be the most beautiful helmets of all time - simply incredible. Les Ateliers Ruby present the Pavillon series of designer motorcycle helmets. I don't have a motorcycle, but man if I did, these would be the helmets to ride out in - they are so handsome, you might just want to wear them for no reason at all - OK, that might be pushing it.. These carbon fibre 'jet helmets' are so intricately crafted and so preciously packaged - you'd actually be quite foolish wearing them at all, let alone allowing one of them to come between your head and the road. Les Ateliers Ruby states that "with the Ruby Pavillon, the helmet is now an object of desire," and I must whole-heartedly agree. Pictured first at the top is the 'Shibuya' model - it has to be my favourite, just something about the red and white stripes - perhaps it resembles an old barber-pole, I don't know. Just fantastic.

Straight razors or 'Cutthroat Razors' are, well, not "safety" razors - and as such, have become thought of as archaic and barbaric by many 'modern' men. However, it appears more and more guys are returning to this lost art, be it the allure of reconnecting with an historical practice or simply the beauty of maintaining and using an effective tool for one's entire life. I for one have become completely taken by straight razors for all these reasons, and now it has grown to be more than a tool to keep my whiskers at bay - it's in fact a full blown hobby. From collecting antique razors to restoring/customising them to even crafting them from raw materials, it's really quite a creative persuit. There are so many facets to the practice, razors/strops/hones/soaps/scuttles and of course all the subsequent skills involved in each aspect, it's really endless and facinating - and of course you get the benefit of learning to weild a deadly-sharp blade and enjoy the smoothest/most masculine kind of shave. But enough selling. Here are a few links that I found really interesting when first contemplating using and collecting straight razors, and perhaps if you're a ...