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Brush Acquisition Thread

Simpson Special S1 Pure - this is no super tiny brush
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bloomed with his brethren
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with a couple of other small knots in the 20-22mm range
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Beautiful new brush, and a great lineup as well. I enjoy pure badger myself. I didn't know County Donegal had a postal system any longer. Surely can't be An Post:innocent:
I took some blessed time but it was holiday season and COVID and Brexit and what not...
For the next 4-5 shaves I will only do Pure or Mixed brushes and strictly facelather to make it work.
 
Simpson Special S1 Pure - this is no super tiny brush

bloomed with his brethren
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with a couple of other small knots in the 20-22mm range

Thanks for posting this. I have been considering an Eagle 3, but this pic shows that the handle will be too small and thin for me. I have two Specials (pure and best) and that is about as small and thin a handle as I would want.

Is the brush on the right a Captain 2?
 
Thanks.

I am deciding on a Manchurian and just can’t justify picking the Eagle 3 over the M7 as they are very close in price. Of course, I say this as someone that has never seen an Eagle 3 in person let alone used one.
Owen has multiples of both so he is the authority on this but I have to say that the Eagle fits my hand better than the Captain. That being said for a not overly tall Barber-style handle the Zenith is hard to beat.
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Owen Bawn

Garden party cupcake scented
Thanks.

I am deciding on a Manchurian and just can’t justify picking the Eagle 3 over the M7 as they are very close in price. Of course, I say this as someone that has never seen an Eagle 3 in person let alone used one.
The Eagle G3 is just about the same size handle as a Duke 3, but more shapely. The knot and the handle are each supposedly 1mm more than a Duke 3.
 
The Emperor 3 came in the other day but didn't take the time to post the pics. Upon first use I liked it MUCH more initially than any of my other Simpsons brushes. It just felt so soft and easy to use. I can very easily see this becoming my favorite brush! had a few more loose hairs than my other brushes. I hope it's not a bad omen. Lots of fantastic lathers to look forward to.
 

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More vintage! If 'vintage' means 'hammered' this MAYD-WELL exceeds expectations. It was probably built to a very utilitarian standard from the start. No element is elegant or dainty.
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The knot is very bent, but it is surprising dense. There is no boasting about "set in rubber". It is just full of bristles, probably as many as it had on the day of its birth, long, long ago.

You could return the favor to our porcine brethren, and lather a full sized rip-snorting boar with this knot. I'm having second thoughts about re-knotting. Is there any way to turn this into a knot I would touch to my face?

The MAYD-WELL restoration is complete. I went with a Shave Forge mistura knot. I don't know where to find a new boar knot that could hold a candle to the original. This project was more complicated than expected.
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Are you going to use it? I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on that knot.

I have used it once. I also have the same knot in a barber style handle I turned over a year ago and have used several times. I regularly use an Omega 11047 'mixed midget' as a travel brush, so I have that as a mistura comparison knot.

Bottom line - All three mistura knots do a great job generating and releasing lather. The Shave Forge knot is very similar in feel to the Omega. I am not a big fan of mistura, though. It feels a little pokey to me, surprising since I am a scrubby boar guy who uses badgers just for an occasional change of pace. These are not top end mistura knots, and may use lower grades of badger hair than I have in my badger brushes.

The knot in the MAYD-WELL has shed more than the first Shave Forge mistura I set, but I think that the shedding is due to having to wrestle the glue bump into the metal ferrule.
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