Brush Acquisition Thread

TBoner · May 5, 2020

Cal said:
Thank you, Tim.

Yes, but it was a custom order as Olive Wood isn't on their configurator.

From Shavemac sending it from Germany to me receiving it in the UK took five days. That's just as good, or better, than non-pandemic times. On saying that, I received a parcel from Spain today which took 20 days.

Very nice. I like olive wood handles a great deal. Good to know that shipping was good as usual. Bernd is remarkable.

JoeLr · May 5, 2020

My first custom brush in almost 2 years is on its way to me. Also, thus endeth my year+ run of being pretty much synth-only. Really happy with the results here. The brush-maker (Viking Soap Co.) and I had a detailed back and forth via email to set the groundwork for what I wanted. Looking forward to receiving this.

I asked for him to send it without the knot being set. I want to glue it myself after playing with loft a bit; bore is drilled to 20mm.

Timeclo · May 5, 2020

JoeLr said:
My first custom brush in almost 2 years is on its way to me. Also, thus endeth my year+ run of being pretty much synth-only. Really happy with the results here. The brush-maker (Viking Soap Co.) and I had a detailed back and forth via email to set the groundwork for what I wanted. Looking forward to receiving this.

I asked for him to send it without the knot being set. I want to glue it myself after playing with loft a bit; bore is drilled to 20mm.

Beautiful brush! Andrew does great work at Viking soap. He's been making some classic looking brushes recently.

Steinmetzify · May 5, 2020

Yanked the Omega out of the fridge because it was softer out of the box than the other boars I've had.

Test lather:

Did pretty well, busted out some sick lather almost immediately. Seeing that, I have zero idea why I've wasted so much time with artisan badgers except that they're cool as hell...

It's pretty soft already compared to the Envy and the TNS, stoked to try this tomorrow.

Also just as an aside, this thing was $12 shipped. TWELVE DOLLARS.

I've literally paid over $150/$200 for a cool (IMO) artisan badger brush, and I've done it way more than once. Cmon...

I kind of want to yank some badger knots out and replace them with some Omega/Zenith boar knots now...

Timeclo · May 5, 2020

Steinmetzify said:
Yanked the Omega out of the fridge because it was softer out of the box than the other boars I've had.

Test lather:

Did pretty well, busted out some sick lather almost immediately. Seeing that, I have zero idea why I've wasted so much time with artisan badgers except that they're cool as hell...

It's pretty soft already compared to the Envy and the TNS, stoked to try this tomorrow.

Also just as an aside, this thing was $12 shipped. TWELVE DOLLARS.

I've literally paid over $150/$200 for a cool (IMO) artisan badger brush, and I've done it way more than once. Cmon...

I kind of want to yank some badger knots out and replace them with some Omega/Zenith boar knots now...

That's a fine boar right there. Soft, plushy, and feels great on the face. It doesn't have the backbone like some of the badgers but it sure is comfortable to use.

EclipseRedRing · May 6, 2020

I just received a new Simpson Colonel X2L Synthetic in an unusual ruby handle which was described by the seller as 'murano'. It has a knot of 21mm and loft of 45mm. I have pictured it with some other Simpson brushes to give a size comparison.

AshleyQ · May 6, 2020

EclipseRedRing said:
I just received a new Simpson Colonel X2L Synthetic in an unusual ruby handle which was described by the seller as 'murano'. It has a knot of 21mm and loft of 45mm. I have pictured it with some other Simpson brushes to give a size comparison.

View attachment 1096537
View attachment 1096538

I love the colour - is stands out nicely [emoji106]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ouchyfoot · May 6, 2020

Straight from my mailbox today.

Plisson “La Maison du Barbier” Synthetic 23mm

Simpsons Special 1 20mm

SliceOfLife · May 6, 2020

I'm sure some of you have seen this one on eBay the last week or so. I finally broke down and bought it. Good lord did I overpay, but it's pretty stunning... and I mean who's got a vintage Butterscotch Hygex? They're rarer than the high end Culmak's, even. And that's probably the handsomest vintage mixed hair knot I've ever seen.

I'll update when it gets here from the land of Tea and Crumpets. Just hoping the knot is as nice as it looks.

JohnN · May 6, 2020

bassplayer7770 said:
Today, I received my order from Shavemac (I was starting to get nervous). It's the 167 shape in Jade with a 26mm synthetic fan knot. I'll probably get to use it for the first time on Monday morning. In addition, I realized the box could be used to keep open tucks of blades, so now I might avoid buying a storage container for them.

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Love to hear how you like your brush.
What loft did you you decide on?

bassplayer7770 · May 6, 2020

JohnN said:
Love to hear how you like your brush.
What loft did you you decide on?

I went with the auto selected 54mm loft. It seems to work well for me.

Suhrim21 · May 7, 2020

I got a couple knots in finally. So I have 2 new brushes to try out. I also got 2 brushes from MGdesign on etsy. The first is a natural pink wood. The second is one he made for me. It is purpleheart. I saw one on etsy that was a gorgeous purple but was way too expensive for me. I think it was 190 after 40 dollar shipping. Dont get me wrong it was worth that price but I couldn't afford it. I talked to Mark showed him that brush asked if he could make a brush for me with the same gorgeous purple wood. So I think it was 68 bucks with a 24mm maggards 2band knot. But what I got is absolutely stunning. Just to be clear I did not want him to clone that purpleheart brush (If I remember correctly the brush was from Mred) I wanted Mark's design just with that color of wood.

For the other two. The lowborn has a 26mm APshave co 26mm Jealousy knot and the CaYuen has a Frank Shaving Density knot 24mm.

Pictures do not do the lowborn justice. The color is like a stone. It's got this bronze hue to it. It is not orange at all. I'm going to try to get some better pics of it later and will post them.

blexa · May 8, 2020

I just received a new Shavemac Chubby in Brown - Beige. It has a D01-2/Band knot of 27mm and loft of 50mm, the same dimensions as the Simpson Chubby2.

SliceOfLife · May 8, 2020

The Triumph I reknotted with the boar that had crumpled has been my brush for the past few days. Honestly, reminds me a lot of the Semo 610 as well as those VDH/Surrey brushes... a big ol wall of hair, but prickly at times and sheds a ton (the VDH, not the Semo). I remember actually wanting to like those brushes (big ol walls of boar) if they had just used a little better hair.

After 5 shaves or so, a lot of the prickle has gone out (still a little bit), and the shedding is down to 2-3 hairs a use (from 10+). We'll see if it wraps up and actually becomes a pretty decent brush. Hope it does, it turned out really nice looking and the perfect size for a travel brush.