Steve Woodhead Pottery

I purchased this used on Badger and Blade.

I have the large scuttle in teak. I find it very handsome and it fits beside my sink. I fill the reservoir and bowl with hot water during my prep and soak my brush in the bowl. Then, I tip the water out, refill the reservoir, load my brush and build lather in the bowl.

The deep, ridged, swirls really help the lathering. While the lather isn't "hot", it is nice and warm through the end of a 15 minute shave, longer if you use boiling water from a kettle.

While the cost seems a bit high, I can't emphasize enough how much I have enjoyed using a scuttle. It is qualitatively different to using a bowl or mug. It is a handcrafted piece of art, purpose-built for generating lather and keeping it warm. Steve Woodhead's scuttles would make a beautifully handmade addition to your shaving kit.

I have the white version of this scuttle. It looks great and works great. It is huge, but you can order different sizes.

Steve communicates, if very helpful and straight forward. Plus he is international shipping friendly.

Ordered via his store on Ebay.
I got a larger sized scuttle on sale, because it has a minor glaze fault. The fault is so minor, I'm surprised he even offered a discount for a glaze fault so little. But it only further confirms that Steve is a total perfectionist. So you can't go wrong in terms of quality in ordering from him.

My scuttle took 13 business days, 20 calendar days to arrive. (There was the Memorial Day holiday during the shipping period.) It was very well packaged, in a large box, that had multiple layers of bubble wrap and foam cushioning.

The scuttle performs very well. I can put water in the heating chamber and the top basin, heat it in the microwave for 90 seconds and take it out with my bare hands. Then walk it upstairs to my bathroom to shave. It keeps things very warm while not being overly hot outside. I then put my brush in to let it heat up and pour the water from the inner basin by tilting it towards the handle and letting the basin water fall out while the heating chamber water remains in its seperate area. This helps me have both a warm brush and warm area to make later.

When making later, I found the grooves in the scuttle help the lather build quickly, along with the fact the heat also helps. So my scuttle was exploding with lather after far fewer swirls than when done in a shaving mug.

I do a 3.5 pass shave daily, which takes around 30 minutes to complete at my pace. I had warm lather the entire shave. I did have to direct my brush towards the lower part of the scuttle in the latter passes to ensure I still got warm later, but the bottom line is I had warm lather for the entire shave.

If you don't like the scuttles available on his Ebay store, Steven can custom make one to your liking.

My Scuttle:
Handmade Shaving Scuttle #2B++

Outer bowl is 6.5 inches (16.5 cm) wide by 3 inches (7 cm) high

Lather bowl is 5.25 inches (13 cm) wide by 2.25 inches (6 cm) deep

The scuttle holds 1/2 pint of water ( 250 ml or 10 fl oz.)

The price I paid was 30GBP + 25GBP Air shipping, 55GBP total. Given exchange rates vary, you have to calculate the cost. At my time of purchase 30GBP was equal to about $49 USA.

You can get ground shipping for less, but that takes MUCH LONGER.