Dirtybird Shaving Scuttle

I recently received my DirtyBird pottery 1.5 scuttle with web pattern in all blue color.

I did not go for the optional dribble port (a small hole near the top of the rim that by tilting the scuttle, that water from the reservoir can dribble into the shave bowl to improve your lather if it needs reviving). I went with the standard 'no-creep' rim to keep the lather from escaping. I went with the 1.5 so the lather bowl would be deep (and a bit wider since you lose a little bit for the overhang of the no-creep rim).

I researched the scuttles for about a month or so before I bought one and the DB scuttles time and again came out on top for heat retention. I would be willing to bet that if you like cold shaving, that this scuttle would keep your later really cold as well.

The DirtyBird scuttles are made out of thick stoneware clay (think about stoneware baking dishes that are known for holding in heat). Because of this material, you can use hot water from your faucet to warm it up instead of needing to microwave the water. Many other scuttles are thin or made out of other materials that don't hold heat as well, so you have to microwave the water to get the scuttle real hot so you can keep enough heat to get through your shave before it gets cold. You can microwave water and put it in the DB scuttles, but the DB website warns against it that it will cause your lather to break down (though it won't hurt the scuttle). I would not microwave the scuttle, though the website says that the pottery is microwave safe (and dishwasher safe). See the pictures in my gallery where I placed a quarter next to mine so you can see how big this scuttle is. I also placed a quarter in the lather bowl as well for the same purpose. Some people are surprised at how big it is. I was expecting it to be a little bigger (though the dimensions are as advertised).

I use my scuttle daily for bowl lathering, but I don't always fill it with water. That would be a lot of water to go through on a daily basis. I fill it on days I want to treat myself. It does keep the lather warm for my shaves when I fill it with hot water. So far I have followed other's suggestions to fill it with hot water from the faucet (both fill the reservoir and the lather bowl) and let it sit while I shower. When I get out of the shower, I drain the reservoir and lather bowl and re-fill the reservoir with hot water from the faucet. That keeps the lather warm for the three passes that I tend to do.

The web design is great for building lather.

Julie was nice to work with that the scuttle is well built. You can email her to see the other colors that are available instead of the few you can choose from the web site.

Just received my dribble port equipped 1.5 Dirty Bird scuttle, and I couldn't be happier. Had a great shave this evening: nice warm lather, plenty of space for my Omega 49, and the dribble port really works. The size of the port is just perfect for adding small amounts of water to the mix.

Note: my first scuttle arrived broken, and Julie had the replacement at my door in three days!

Beautiful, functional object, great service.

Jeff

California Cajun;2218634 said:

I'll add my critique before it gets buried in the General Shaving Discussion thread. It rates a perfect score from me because it does everything it is supposed to do.

Dirty Bird 1.5 scuttle
I both used and tested the Becker (Robert's Ceramic Feats of Clay) Small scuttle; Georgetown Pottery G5 scuttle; Moss Large scuttle; Schwarzweisskeramik Small scuttle; Dirty Bird 1.5 scuttle.

They all work well, and the final decision should be a matter of personal taste. I heated 3 cups of water in my microwave oven for 4 minutes for a temperature of 165 degrees F. The water is then poured into the scuttle to test heat retention.

Note: in communicating with members, this one seems to have received the most favorable comments. Some have, and some haven't, had experience with the other scuttles.

I also read glowing comments about the customer service over there, and you can tell by the differences in the scuttles pictured here how receptive this vendor is to special requests. I made no special requests, so consider mine as a sample of the standard fare at Dirty Bird Pottery.

Fast Facts:

* Purchase Price: $54.00
* Purchased from: Dirty Bird Pottery
* Special features:
* Reservoir capacity: 13.5 ounces
* Primary strength: wide lathering area
* Primary weakness:



Heat retention (165-degree water initially introduced into scuttle):

* After 5 minutes: 143 degrees F
* After 10 minutes: 138 degrees F
* After 15 minutes: 133 degrees F
* After 20 minutes: 130 degrees F
* After 25 minutes: 125 degrees F



Dimensions of scuttle:

* Height: 3 3/8"
* Base width: 4 7/16"
* Width on top: 5 9/16" (6 5/8" with spout)
* Inside diameter of lathering area: 4 5/16"
* Depth of lathering area: 2 1/2"
* Texture of lathering surface: an endless string starting at the bottom, winding its way to the top

Click to expand...

I ordered my 1.5 scuttle from Julie last week. Have not yet received it, but I wanted to add my 2c regarding her customer service. I've seen others post that Julie responded to questions "promptly". I'll be a bit more specific.
I asked Julie about the difference between the regular ridge and web ridge. She responded within an hour or two, answering my questions.
After placing my order, Julie sent me an email, which I received 2 hours later, thanking me for my purchase and informing me that she would send the scuttle "hot out of the kiln within 3-4 weeks."
I am eagerly awaiting delivery and will post a full review forthwith.

I'll add my critique before it gets buried in the General Shaving Discussion thread. It rates a perfect score from me because it does everything it is supposed to do.

Dirty Bird 1.5 scuttle
I both used and tested the Becker (Robert's Ceramic Feats of Clay) Small scuttle; Georgetown Pottery G5 scuttle; Moss Large scuttle; Schwarzweisskeramik Small scuttle; Dirty Bird 1.5 scuttle.

They all work well, and the final decision should be a matter of personal taste. I heated 3 cups of water in my microwave oven for 4 minutes for a temperature of 165 degrees F. The water is then poured into the scuttle to test heat retention.

Note: in communicating with members, this one seems to have received the most favorable comments. Some have, and some haven't, had experience with the other scuttles.

I also read glowing comments about the customer service over there, and you can tell by the differences in the scuttles pictured here how receptive this vendor is to special requests. I made no special requests, so consider mine as a sample of the standard fare at Dirty Bird Pottery.





Fast Facts:

* Purchase Price: $54.00
* Purchased from: Dirty Bird Pottery
* Special features:
* Reservoir capacity: 13.5 ounces
* Primary strength: wide lathering area
* Primary weakness:



Heat retention (165-degree water initially introduced into scuttle):

* After 5 minutes: 143 degrees F
* After 10 minutes: 138 degrees F
* After 15 minutes: 133 degrees F
* After 20 minutes: 130 degrees F
* After 25 minutes: 125 degrees F



Dimensions of scuttle:

* Height: 3 3/8"
* Base width: 4 7/16"
* Width on top: 5 9/16" (6 5/8" with spout)
* Inside diameter of lathering area: 4 5/16"
* Depth of lathering area: 2 1/2"
* Texture of lathering surface: an endless string starting at the bottom, winding its way to the top

I have been using my 1.5 Dirtybird scuttle for about a week now, and I have to say it is fantastic. I have the brown glaze, and it looks great in my bathroom. I fill the top and bottom bowls with hot tap water and let my brush soak in the top one while I shower. I then empty the bowls and fill the bottom one again with hot tap water. I swirl my brush a bit on a puck of soap and then whip up a lather in the bowl (I have only horizontal lines, and it works great for me). The scuttle keeps my lather very warm for my 3-4 pass shave.

Just a beautiful product - one I will enjoy using every day.

Scott

I just received my Dirty Bird scuttle from Julie today. This is one fine piece of shaving gear, and I rated it 10's across the board. The one I have has the ridges just like the one's on the photo's above.

I had ordered the regular size Dirty Bird a few weeks before this post. When it arrived the handle had been broken during shipment. I contacted Julie right away and told her about the scuttle being broken. She emailed me back within the hour and told me that she would make me another. I didn't have to contact UPS, the postal system or anything. She didn't even want me to send the broken one back. She just told me that she's making me a new one, and that if I could somehow use the broken one to go ahead and do so. Now that's what I call customer service done the right way.

I was able to use the scuttle, only the handle was broken, and it made some very fine lather. I did realize that the regular size scuttle was a bit on the smaller size, so I emailed Julie and asked her if she would update my order to the 1.5 size scuttle. She replied right back, very nice, as few companies take care of business like this, and told me no problem. Since the regular size was already paid for, all I needed to do was add another $12 to the order and I'd have my 1.5.

The entire process, from ordering, to the problem with the broken scuttle, to changing my order, was handled in a most professional and caring manner by Julie. I'd do business with her again in the future, and the Dirty Bird scuttle is a very nice piece of shave gear.

I read a lot of reviews on scuttles and decided to buy the Dirty Bird 1.5X size. I think it's wonderful! The size is perfect for bowl lathering. I use hot water from sink(measured at 125F) and it keeps the lather very warm for the entire shave. I pre-heat the bowl while I shower as others have mentioned. I suggest anyone thinking about this to try it out - you won't regret it one bit.

Soakin.

Some TOBS Sandalwood and my Rooney 3/1 Super

Horizontal+Vertical Lines=Lather Machine

Merkur HD and Rooney with the DB

Different angle


I love this thing, keeps my lather so nice and warm, hold ~25oz of water, i let it soak (filling the water chamber and inner bowl) while i shower then refill the water chamber with more hot water and go to town, the size is inbetween the two on the website, giving it a ~4.5in diameter for the inner shaving bowl, and i requested a little more of the white finish as apposed to the darker blue, so if you order one with just hte blue glaze or see other pictures you will notice the darker blue ring will come up a little higher than mine does.... the woman making them was very nice on the phone with helping me come out with exactly what i wanted!

Great product, it was a an easy decision to choose this scuttle over the others. I can't imagine having to lather in a a seperate bowl and then transfering it over to the scuttle. Julie was a pleasure to deal with. I would recommend this product.

I just recieved my scuttle from Mrs. Moore and I am very pleased with the results.


Simply fill the bottom chamber with boiling water, create your lather, and enjoy.

I kept lather hot for 5 passess with time to spare.

An important tip: Make sure you get the scuttle hot using boiling water. Then when the scuttle has sucked up some heat replace the water with fresh boiling water. This will ensure you have hot lather your entire shave.

I strongly recommend this scuttle.

-Brightonrock

EDIT: Just for clarity I am using the one piece regular sized scuttle.

I just got my DirtyBird about a week ago.
I love the thing, it really works well at keeping the lather warm. It feel nice and heavy and durable. The vertical ridges really help whip up the lather quickly. It looks quite beautiful as well.

The recommendation I have is to get both the horizontal and vertical ridges. I mistakingly asked for vertical ridges thinking that they would be added to the horizontal ridges, but all I got was vertical ridges. So I recommend that you specify that you want BOTH vertical and horizontal. Regardless it still performs great.

I highly recommend this product to anyone!

I just received this scuttle in LARGE with both vertical and horizontal ridges in one piece. It is excellent! I am very happy that I went with the Large size. Julie is excellent to deal with. I also had her make me an extra bowl of the same size. Here they are with my Stubby 2 and some Proraso along with my Merkur 38C for reference.

I am just blown away by this newly arrived knock out of a scuttle . At first I thought Julie had accidentally mailed me a double size scuttle recently listed on her website. After I saw that big boy here on B&B, I was worried the standard size scuttle might be too small. Boy was I wrong. Plenty of room in this one to build a mountain of lather in the bowl.

I had to weigh and measure it before I realized that what I had in my hands was the standard model scuttle. It weighs in at just a fraction over two pounds. Width is 7 ½ inches from spout to handle. Inner bowl 3 ½” across and 2 ½ “ deep which is slightly larger than the website specs.I ordered mine with spiral and vertical grooves in the bowl.

This scuttle is one beautiful piece of ceramic art. I picked Dirty Bird because their products are individually hand thrown. (unlike the GTS which are mold made) So no two scuttles are finished exactly alike and the size & color variations make each one-of-a-kind unique. Thats one of the things I like, that my scuttle is unique. It was obviously made by a lady who knows how to cater to a masculine audience.God! That Julie has some talent!

I just today received my custom made Dirty Bird. I requested 1.5 x the normal size and what i received was exactly what i wanted. I also requested a Horizontal/Vertical inside groove pattern, almost like a spiderweb design and again, it's just like i envisioned it. Price is quite a little on the high side, but overall, for a custom made piece of pottery, which is durable and with outstanding quality, i am more than willing to pay some more than usual.

Oh yeah, performance......EXCELLENT! Making lather is a piece of cake and due to it's extra size, i have no problems with even my bigger brushes. Of course, the lather stays nice and warm for quite a long time, at least more than long enough to finish my shaves, so overall, this is a

A+ Product!

I recently received mine - same blue glaze, spiral swirl on the inner cup.

Very nice heft, easily to fill, builds lather well.

I rated a 9 for quality - it is really great, except that there are some rough spots in the glaze inside the cup (feels similar to a few grains of sand being embedded in the glaze). It's not a big deal but they shouldn't be there.

I rated a 9 for performance because the cup is a little narrow for my liking. I am able to make plenty of lather, but using more pumping motion than whipping.

Julie personalized mine with my initials and an anchor symbol for only a few dollars extra. Delivery was within 2-3 weeks.

Sarah at Dirtybird is great to deal with. The blue glaze looks even better in person and this thing is a heavy monster. I already dinged it once off the faucet and no chip or crack can be found (probably did more damage to the sink). I warm with first with hot tap water and let my brush soak and then dump that a refill with boiling water right out of the kettle. Keeps brush and lather warm for 4 passes. The only complaint is that I prefer a larger lather bowl to do my work in but I can still get the job done here just not the same practice as with a large bowl. Still an everyday item for me.

I recently got a shaving scuttle from Julie Moore at Dirtybird Pottery in Virginia. First let me say that I inquired about the optional 2 piece scuttle. She got back to me very promptly and told me that there was no extra charge for the 2 piece. Julie also told me that I would have one in around three weeks from when I placed the order.
I placed my order for the scuttle and a matching shaving mug, and recieved them both in less than three weeks.
I am very pleased with the scuttle. It has a generously sized deep lather bowl that sits immersed in plenty of hot water. It has spiral grooves formed into it (I hear you can get starburst type grooves also) and building a good lather is easy. It keeps the lather nice and hot for at least twenty minutes.
It is a very nicely made, attractive piece of pottery that is as funtional as it is handsome.