I read a few reviews of the New Forest brushes and for the most part people seem pleased with their product. They don't seem to have the fan following that some of the other custom makers have, but I liked their classic look and their prices seemed in line with the quality of brush they seemed to produce. I took the plunge about 10 days ago and contacted Peter at New Forest and had him ship me a couple of brushes.
They took about 6 days to arrive from England to Texas, so I was really happy with the turnaround time. The brushes were also well, but simply packed, so there was no issues there.
Here's what they looked like out of the box.
Sorry that the quality of the picture and backgrounds aren't great.
This is Model 2401 with a Briar handle and a Tubby 2 with an faux ivory handle. The 2401 is a 24mm knot with 52mm loft and the Tubby 2 is 26mm knot with 54mm loft. Both knot are 2-band Super Badger and are very soft at the tips, the 2401 especially. The knots seem well formed, decently dense (not near as dense as some of the heavy hitters) but similar to what other custom brush makers are selling.
The backbone in these feel pretty good, not near what I get from a good boar brush, but good for a silvertip badger brush. I would have no fear using either of these on hard soap or face lathering. In fact, the Tubby 2's maiden voyage was to face lather cella which it did an admirable job.
Both these brush appear to eat up lather, so I've to increase the amount of product with both. The Tubby is especially lather hungry. Both brushes were very funky out-of-the-box. The Tubby's odor went away after one washing and one lathering session. The 2401 still smells like a wet weasel though, even after 3 uses. Neither brush seems to shed either. I've lost one hair on the Tubby and 2 on the 2401, so that good too.
All in all, I'm happy with the purchase. These were well worth the money, but I'm not sure if either will become my favorite brush just yet.
Here's another picture of the brushes after a few uses.
Thanks for reading and I hope this was useful to some of you.
They took about 6 days to arrive from England to Texas, so I was really happy with the turnaround time. The brushes were also well, but simply packed, so there was no issues there.
Here's what they looked like out of the box.
Sorry that the quality of the picture and backgrounds aren't great.
This is Model 2401 with a Briar handle and a Tubby 2 with an faux ivory handle. The 2401 is a 24mm knot with 52mm loft and the Tubby 2 is 26mm knot with 54mm loft. Both knot are 2-band Super Badger and are very soft at the tips, the 2401 especially. The knots seem well formed, decently dense (not near as dense as some of the heavy hitters) but similar to what other custom brush makers are selling.
The backbone in these feel pretty good, not near what I get from a good boar brush, but good for a silvertip badger brush. I would have no fear using either of these on hard soap or face lathering. In fact, the Tubby 2's maiden voyage was to face lather cella which it did an admirable job.
Both these brush appear to eat up lather, so I've to increase the amount of product with both. The Tubby is especially lather hungry. Both brushes were very funky out-of-the-box. The Tubby's odor went away after one washing and one lathering session. The 2401 still smells like a wet weasel though, even after 3 uses. Neither brush seems to shed either. I've lost one hair on the Tubby and 2 on the 2401, so that good too.
All in all, I'm happy with the purchase. These were well worth the money, but I'm not sure if either will become my favorite brush just yet.
Here's another picture of the brushes after a few uses.
Thanks for reading and I hope this was useful to some of you.
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