First Shave Using a Scuttle

[KenM]

I just finished my first shave with a scuttle. What a luxurious event! If you like warm lather give one a try. I bought the Georgetown Pottery G20 (second). It is huge and heavy but I love it anyway.

I believe I caught the "flaw" in this photo, the horizontal line in the brown part isn't as shiny as the rest of it. I can live with that.
I did notice that the Stirling Scots Pine behaves quite a bit differently when it's warmer. It seems to need less water? Anybody else using scuttles finding they have to adjust how they build lather? What worked for you?

 

[ajkel64]

Nice scuttle. Thanks for letting us know how you got on. And a special thanks for the photo, we loves our photos.

 

[know1special]

Beautiful piece. Once upon a time I had something remarkably similar.

Alas, I've long since joined the face lathering, cold water nutjobs.

Enjoy your shaves!

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

I just finished my first shave with a scuttle. What a luxurious event!

Congratulations! You just stepped into a new world of self pampering, enough to make a lady jealous lol. It is a luxury that every man gets to have, once he gets himself a shave scuttle.

If you like warm lather give one a try.

I like it in the winter time, when its so cold in the house that your fingers and toes are freezing, and your shivering. But once you get that hot water in there, and warm that lather up, life is good again.

I bought the Georgetown Pottery G20

I've seen that scuttle before, but I have never owned it. Its a beautiful piece of pottery, and I have an appreciation for that sort of thing.

It is huge and heavy but I love it anyway.

If you live in Texas, thats sort of a requirement.

I believe I caught the "flaw" in this photo, the horizontal line in the brown part isn't as shiny as the rest of it. I can live with that.

You should know, when it comes to hand made pottery, flaws, (As long as they arn't structural) are considered a positive, as it makes each piece individually unique. Who wants a piece of mass produced, made by robot, garbage? Hand made is where its at my friend!

I did notice that the Stirling Scots Pine behaves quite a bit differently when it's warmer. It seems to need less water?

This is probably due to change in viscosity, same thing that happens with motor oil when it gets hot, it gets thinner, when the oil is cold, it gets thicker, hence the 2 listed weight vectors, like 10W40. Additionally, I am sure the added heat, helps the soap to absorb more of the water, like it does when making oatmeal. Try to get oatmeal to absorb cold water? Not gonna happen lol.

Anybody else using scuttles finding they have to adjust how they build lather? What worked for you?

Oh heck yes I noticed! Infact, my largest complaint about my shaving scuttle after I got it, was my difficulties in working up a lather using shaving soap, instead of shaving cream. Apparently I am a big dumb idiot, and shaving scuttles were really meant to be used with shaving cremes instead, yeah, I suppose I didn't get the memo on that. Now thats not to say you can't use soap, just that creme is easier.

Welcome to my, Captains Choice Starry Night shave scuttle!

It looks so good, that I can't even look at it without my mouth watering!

This scuttle is a heavy piece of pottery tech, and I always recommend using it while its sitting on a towel, as opposed to trying to hold it full of water lol. As you can see, its certainly got the looks, like yours does. Mine doesn't have a spout plug though, so another good reason to not move it, while its full of hot water.

​

As you can see, it has lather spirals inside, this helps to whip up a lather, but only just. As opposed to a standard shave bowl, which has a flat bottom for lather generation, this scuttle lather area swoops upwards. And when you combine that with the fact its such a small lather area, you absolutely cannot achieve success whipping up a lather, using any large sized brush in my experience.

Say hello, to my Omega 636 Silver Tipped Badger brush, with its 21mm knot. I consider this the maximum sized brush anyone should use in a scuttle. And if you got one of those 18mm Little Wee Scotts, use that for sure. The idea, is to give yourself enough room, that you can maneuver the brush around, in order to have a chance to whip up a lather, and try to get the bubbles out.

Additionally, I adore Stirling soap, it is my absolute favorite shave soap on the market.

Stirling Candy Cane, look at that, it looks like chocolate, makes you wanna eat it, smells delicious too, peppermint and chocolate, yum.

And for summer time, why not some Glacial Wintergreen, to bring the cool to your face?

No matter what way you cut it, one can fall in love with Stirling so fast, I know I have!

The formation of soaps starting to take the shape of a Saturn 5 rocket, gotta love it when a unexpected plan comes together doggone.

But yeah, pampering oneself is a way of life, and a great way to do that in the winter time, is with a shaving scuttle. In my case, I only had but one choice, a Captains Choice.

 

[GR5233]

You should know, when it comes to hand made pottery, flaws, (As long as they arn't structural) are considered a positive

And some groups (including the Navajo/Diné) will intentionally add a “flaw” to their manufactured products

 

[Boti2634]

I just finished my first shave with a scuttle. What a luxurious event! If you like warm lather give one a try. I bought the Georgetown Pottery G20 (second). It is huge and heavy but I love it anyway.
View attachment 1613204
I believe I caught the "flaw" in this photo, the horizontal line in the brown part isn't as shiny as the rest of it. I can live with that.
I did notice that the Stirling Scots Pine behaves quite a bit differently when it's warmer. It seems to need less water? Anybody else using scuttles finding they have to adjust how they build lather? What worked for you?

Great looking scuttle, KenM! I have a G20 myself that I love. Enjoy it, sir!

 

[Four for Luck]

Congratulation! Glad you are enjoying it.
Santa brought me a twin to yours.
In the spectrum of enjoying the process of the shave, it ups the scale tremendously!

 

[Obetron Rex]

@KenM Congrats, very nice. I have the same one too. I got it for Christmas 2021 I think. Their seconds are a great deal. Works great. I don't use mine as often as I should!

 

[KenM]

I have learned something, hotter isn't better. I use mostly Stirling soaps and it seems that if I get the scuttle too hot they don't lather well. Same with Mike's, Razorock and other tallow based stuff. I guess the tallow melts and loses it's structure?

 

[Obetron Rex]

I don't recall ever having trouble like that. I pretty much stick to Arko and Stirling soaps too. Mostly menthol Stirlings. I don't think I have any non tallow based soaps. I'll use mine sometime in the next couple days and see. Maybe soft or hard water makes a difference or try more or less water than usual. But most Texas water is hard I think. I just use hot tap water in it, not boiling water.

 

[Old Navy_1]

I use this everytime I shave. Its a "Dirtybird Scuttle". Sadly, I'm going to retire it as soon as a replacement arrives. Julie, "Dirtybird's" Chief Potter, has passed. AFAIK, they are closed permanently.

I've ordered a "Moss Scuttle" from Sara Bonnyman of NovaScotia. It should arrive in a few days.

b/r

ON_1

 

[Old Navy_1]

"Potter', poor choice of words. More properly, Julie Moore was a true Artisan of the highest order.

b/r

ON_1

 

[Tomo]

I’ve always liked the look of the Moss Scuttle. In practice I find it easier to simply rest my lather bowl in an inch of warm water in the sink. The effect is the same, the bowl is lighter and you can use any bowl that you like. They can be nice looking pieces but they are often heavy and cumbersome.

I’d really like to see someone make one with a thermos style, insulated, vacuumed chamber. That would be a major step forward in providing a more stable temperature.

 

[flask28]

Congratulations! You just stepped into a new world of self pampering, enough to make a lady jealous lol. It is a luxury that every man gets to have, once he gets himself a shave scuttle.



I like it in the winter time, when its so cold in the house that your fingers and toes are freezing, and your shivering. But once you get that hot water in there, and warm that lather up, life is good again.



I've seen that scuttle before, but I have never owned it. Its a beautiful piece of pottery, and I have an appreciation for that sort of thing.



If you live in Texas, thats sort of a requirement.



You should know, when it comes to hand made pottery, flaws, (As long as they arn't structural) are considered a positive, as it makes each piece individually unique. Who wants a piece of mass produced, made by robot, garbage? Hand made is where its at my friend!



This is probably due to change in viscosity, same thing that happens with motor oil when it gets hot, it gets thinner, when the oil is cold, it gets thicker, hence the 2 listed weight vectors, like 10W40. Additionally, I am sure the added heat, helps the soap to absorb more of the water, like it does when making oatmeal. Try to get oatmeal to absorb cold water? Not gonna happen lol.



Oh heck yes I noticed! Infact, my largest complaint about my shaving scuttle after I got it, was my difficulties in working up a lather using shaving soap, instead of shaving cream. Apparently I am a big dumb idiot, and shaving scuttles were really meant to be used with shaving cremes instead, yeah, I suppose I didn't get the memo on that. Now thats not to say you can't use soap, just that creme is easier.

Welcome to my, Captains Choice Starry Night shave scuttle!

It looks so good, that I can't even look at it without my mouth watering!

This scuttle is a heavy piece of pottery tech, and I always recommend using it while its sitting on a towel, as opposed to trying to hold it full of water lol. As you can see, its certainly got the looks, like yours does. Mine doesn't have a spout plug though, so another good reason to not move it, while its full of hot water.

​

As you can see, it has lather spirals inside, this helps to whip up a lather, but only just. As opposed to a standard shave bowl, which has a flat bottom for lather generation, this scuttle lather area swoops upwards. And when you combine that with the fact its such a small lather area, you absolutely cannot achieve success whipping up a lather, using any large sized brush in my experience.

Say hello, to my Omega 636 Silver Tipped Badger brush, with its 21mm knot. I consider this the maximum sized brush anyone should use in a scuttle. And if you got one of those 18mm Little Wee Scotts, use that for sure. The idea, is to give yourself enough room, that you can maneuver the brush around, in order to have a chance to whip up a lather, and try to get the bubbles out.

Additionally, I adore Stirling soap, it is my absolute favorite shave soap on the market.

Stirling Candy Cane, look at that, it looks like chocolate, makes you wanna eat it, smells delicious too, peppermint and chocolate, yum.

And for summer time, why not some Glacial Wintergreen, to bring the cool to your face?

No matter what way you cut it, one can fall in love with Stirling so fast, I know I have!

The formation of soaps starting to take the shape of a Saturn 5 rocket, gotta love it when a unexpected plan comes together doggone.

But yeah, pampering oneself is a way of life, and a great way to do that in the winter time, is with a shaving scuttle. In my case, I only had but one choice, a Captains Choice.

Fantastic post!!

I've been watching you scttle show up in posts now for a while, that blue is so attention grabbing. I have the same in the Sage green and struggled so much building a lather in it I put it away.

Thank you for including so much sage "ha!" scuttle advice! I see now I'd need a much bigger bowl inner surface to use these 26mm and 28mm boars.

I've been looking for an excuse to get a Wee Scott

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

Fantastic post!!

I've been watching you scttle show up in posts now for a while, that blue is so attention grabbing. I have the same in the Sage green and struggled so much building a lather in it I put it away.

Thank you for including so much sage "ha!" scuttle advice! I see now I'd need a much bigger bowl inner surface to use these 26mm and 28mm boars.

I've been looking for an excuse to get a Wee Scott

I can't but help share some beauty with the forum, but it is my honor to share some wisdom as well. You have the Sage one? Thats cool! Just get yourself a tiny brush, and with a little patience, you shall work up a lather, as you saw in my picture.

I concur, you need to have larger bowls to handle larger brushes. For brushes in the 21mm to 24mm range, I find Captains Choice standard sized lather bowls, work just fine with them, like my Starry Night Seaworthy bowl, you shouldn't have an issue.

Having said that however, if you are wanting to use even larger 26mm to 30mm big boy brushes, I actually recommend using even larger lather bowls still. And in that regard, I'd recommend Cayhune Workshop lather bowls, like my Dark Nebula bowl.

This ones the large version, and this sucker has got space for big brushes I tell ya. Talk about whipping up a lather in style!

Thanks again for the kind words buddy, I am glad that I can help.

PS: Cute piggy

 

[Old Navy_1]

Beautiful glazes on those bowls! I'm almost reluctant to show, when it arrives, my 'Mud Hen' plain 'Cobalt Blue' Moss Scuttle.

Let's get it here from NovaScotia first, safely and intact, before I decide to get 'shy'.

b/r

ON_1