Dirty Bird Pottery's Shave Scuttle

Well I managed to pick up the 1.5 at a very very good price, so don't expect to get it for that. It came professionaly packaged, actually I could barely find it in all the packaging. It has great weight to it, makes lather with zero effort and keeps it warm without breaking it down for 4+ passes. Mine has the webbed ridges and it seems to generate lather by itself when I put a squirt or dollop of cream in it...well actually I do have to swirl it for 30sec or so, but not much effort is needed at all.

I had a small problem with mine, which I contacted Julie about immediately. She was very professional in her response and very attentive to my concerns. Needless to say, she took care of the problem immediately.

It holds plenty of water, looks great on my counter and I haven't face lathered since I got it and don't plan on being without it again.

I did a lot of research before picking the DB 1.5, and I believe I made the correct choice in the make/model and vendor.

Julie was amazing to deal with and I would not hesitate to recommend her or her work.

Since I have the 1.5, I basically fill it inside and out with hot water and let my brush soak while I shower. I then dump out both and refill the outter bowl with hot when it's time to make the lather. I then place it on a face cloth on my counter and make the lather while it sits on a clothe on the counter, to avoide having to hold it while I make the lather as it does weigh quite a bit.

My only concern is dropping it or chipping it. Even though it's built solidly and is of top quality, it is hand made pottery, so I'm guessing a drop off the counter will send it into a hundred pieces...Let's hope that never happens.

Grea scuttle, great potter (Julie), great lather.

I just welcomed a Dirty Bird 1.5X scuttle into my home. This bird does not squawk, poop, or bite - it just keeps lather nice and warm for a very long time. It's literally the perfect bird. And scuttle.

I haven't owned other scuttles, but I have owned various coffee mugs and bowls and I can say for sure one area in which this device excels is the quality of materials. Perhaps the design of other scuttles seems appealing to you from a logical or an engineering standpoint. You'd be inclined to think that the Georgetown scuttle, for example, would hold heat longer because there's a stopper for the spout. But the material is the difference. Julie's scuttle remains warm for a significant amount of time after it's empty!

I'm very pleased with my decision to buy a DB. If I should ever need another (for example, a brush scuttle) I will go straight to Julie.

I recived mine yesterday and had my first shaving using it this morning. I used superlather t&h soap with some tobs lavender cream. This scuttle keeps the water and cream nice and warm for several passes, not to mention it looks fantastic! If you dont have one get one!

This is my second scuttle, so I am in a position to directly compare it to another highly regarded product of a similar nature.

My first scuttle was a large Moss Scuttle from Sara Bonneyman. It is a fine product and I did not replace it for any reason other than the fact that my wife wasn't fond of the color relative to other furnishings in the bathroom. (It is a cobalt blue, whereas everything else in the bathroom was a much lighter shade of blue.) Please don't take this review of the Dirty Bird scuttle to, in any way, imply that the Moss scuttle is anything but a great product also.

I ordered the Dirty Bird mainly to "keep peace in the family" but I surely was not disappointed in the product in any way. Like the Moss, it holds plenty of water in the outer bowl to keep my lather nice and warm throughout the shave. I, personally, prefer to face lather but, for folks who want to build lather in the scuttle, it has an inner bowl that is a little deeper and a little larger in diameter than the large Moss and I suspect would serve well as a lather bowl as well as a scuttle to keep the lather laden brush warm.

Since I use the scuttle only to keep my brush and lather warm between passes, the bowl size is not that critical to me, so either of my scuttles is more than up to the job that it was designed for and that I purchased it for.

The Dirty Bird, again, like the Moss, is a high quality hand made product that I suspect any wet shaver who buys one will be more than satisfied with. (Oh, and SWMBO is very pleased with the way the much lighter blue of this scuttle complements the other bathroom appointments. )

Regards,
Tom

The Dirty Bird Scuttle is designed beautifully without sacrificing functionality. The reservoir holds a bit more than two cups of hot water, which keeps the lather bowl warm for a very long time. In fact, I do all of the following while the bowl maintains the lather at a nice warm temperature:

1.0 Create Lather
2.0 Lather Face
3.0 Massage Lather into Face and Stubble
4.0 Heat Towel and Hold to Face
5.0 Perform a Three Pass Shave, Lathering between each Pass

Not only does the Scuttle keep the lather warm, it is designed with a spiral ridge along the inside of the Lather Bowl which facilitates Lather Creation.

The Scuttle is a work of art and Julie is a wonderful person to work with. She consulted with me to determine what it was exactly I was looking for in a Scuttle and helped me make a decision on either a Two-Piece or One-Piece Scuttle. She also offered small tweaks and customizations to fine-tune the Scuttle to my liking and seems genuinely interested in customer satisfaction.

If you're looking for a Scuttle with a Lather Bowl large enough to make lather, this is the one for you.. I'd like to try the Moss Scuttle someday to compare the two, but from what I've read, the functions are slightly different. The Moss Scuttle is probably better at keeping a Lather-Loaded Brush warm, but I've yet to try it.
-\Visdom

I absolutely love this scuttle!

Great design, holds enough hot water to easily keep my lather warm for 3-4 passes, has excellent heft and build quality, and to top it off, it looks great too!

All around a top-notch product, perfect 10 in my books!

Another very satisfied user of the Dirty Bird Scuttle, as far as I'n concerned, it's as good as it gets.

For my complete review of the Dirt Bird Scuttle and how it stacks up against three competitors, check out my Scuttle Shootout Review

I know some of you are wondering why I put all 10s here, but after I used the scuttle, there was no other possibility. This thing is THE BEST! When I received the scuttle, I was impressed by the packaging. Protected in bubble wrap and packaging peanuts, and it came the day after the seller (Julie Moore) emailed me that she was sending the scuttle. Her emails, by the way, are extremely nice and caring. This is a true artisan who genuinely cares about the satisfaction of her clients. My scuttle is a beautiful piece of pottery. The current design, the one I have is light green with concentric circles in the bowl. You can see the photo at her website at http://www.dirtybirdpottery.com/potteryandhoney.html

This scuttle is not only beautiful, but also well-built, sturdy, and very funtional. The design of the scuttle is a small central bowl (for whipping up lather) and an outer bowl for the warm water to keep it warm. The first thing I do is fill up the inner and outer bowl with warm water from the bathroom sink faucet. As the scuttle is warming up, I hot-towel my face. Next I dump out all of the water, and re-fill the outer bowl only with warm water (you can make it as hot as you want). That's it. The bowls are connected so its construction is safe, and works great to keep it warm. The inner bowl for the lather is about 3.5 inches in diameter. For most shavers that's the perfect size. It is for me, but I am certain that you can contact her to ask her any questions about the product. She answers them quickly and completely. Anywho, the scuttle is ready for either cream or soap. I have lathered both soap and cream in it, and they both work equally well, and very well also! I am however an older guy and prefer soap. My father and his father didn't have much choice, so they use soap and it worked well for them. But my grandfather's love of shaving and shaving products is another story entirely. Sometimes, I have even whipped up a lather from soap in its own commercial (or homemade) container, and, after I lather my face, I just place the brush in the inner bowl of the scuttle to keep it and the excess lather warm. Folks, this thing works and stays warm for the entire shave! Period! Keeping the beard warm is no problem anymore, and it is not just for comfort sake, but warmth keeps those hairs soft for the blade. The price is also perfectly in-line for all of the other scuttles out there. Check out the site. It is very neat. On a personal note, the location of her shop is close, as I live also in Virginia, and may even visit her shop one day. Nice country up there. Well, that's about it....I hope I have not rambled on too much, but I am a teacher after all, and wanted to cover everything.

I’ve wanted a scuttle for a long time. But which one to get? After reading every post I could find about them I decided to order a one piece scuttle from Dirty Bird Pottery. However, there was one thing that was common in all of the scuttles that I read about on B&B and that was the fact that they all had circular ridges in the lather bowl. I thought that it made more sense to have vertical ridges instead of circular. So I contacted Julie, the owner of Dirty Bird to see if she would make me a “custom” scuttle with a starburst ridge pattern in the lather bowl. Her e-mail reply to my query came back within a day stating that she also thought it sounded like a good idea. I figured that vertical ridges would cause much more interaction with the brush while it was being stirred. It just seemed more logical to me.

So I ordered a blue one piece scuttle and got her reply that it would be ready in about 3 to 4 weeks. So you can imagine my surprise when I received it today, less than 2 weeks from the time I ordered it. Fortunately for me I usually shave in the afternoons after I get home from work so I had a good crop of stubble to soften with the warm lather.

The scuttle came wrapped in bubble wrap and buried in foam peanuts. After spilling foam peanuts over the kitchen counter while pulling it from its shipping box, I was amazed at the weight of the scuttle. Very heavy and thick walled. It has a man sized handle that you can put at least three fingers through. Its dimensions are: 4in H x 4 ¾ W x 2 ¼ Deep. It holds a lot of water. I filled it and drained it into a measuring cup and was surprised to see that it holds 18 oz of water. There are eight ridges in what I refer to as a starburst pattern (see pics) that are aprox 1/8in wide each. It’s heavy enough that you can stir your brush without fear of it being pushed off the countertop. I chose the one piece design but it can be ordered with a removable bowl if desired. The finish is a beautiful light/dark blue with the bottom being unglazed and roughed up to prevent it from slipping.

Off to the bathroom I ran to give it a through test. Lately I’ve been using Mama Bear’s soaps but I also had some Proraso cream to use also. I filled it up with hot tap water and placed my C&E brush in to soak while I showered. After the shower I dumped the water and refilled it with more hot water. A good shake to my brush and 7 or 8 twirls over the Mama Bear’s and into the lather bowl. There was an explosion of lather. The lather building seemed much quicker than when I use my Target “dipping bowl” that is smooth inside. I enjoyed hot lather for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd pass but there was still plenty of lather left. So I decided to see how much lather I could create. I was actually able to generate enough lather for 7 passes and I was shocked to find that the lather for the 7th pass was almost as warm as the first. This thing holds the heat, undoubtedly because of the large volume of water it holds. My test with the Proraso was equally impressive.

Whether the starburst ridges make this scuttle any better than a normal scuttle I don’t know, simply because I don’t have a normal scuttle to compare it to. I do know, however, that it makes more lather than I’ll ever need and it keeps it warm for much longer than it takes me to normally shave. All these facts, plus the excellent customer service from Julie at Dirty Bird, make me wish I’d of gotten one of these scuttles long ago.