How to use an antique shave scuttle

[Canada]

I recently picked up an old German made turn of the century shaving scuttle. Like most Scuttles made during this period the spout is small because the brushes were small and the soap dish on top always had a few drain holes. When doing research on how these Scuttles were used I found different versions. The bottom part is easy. Fill it with hot water and soak your brush. As for the top (or soap) part there are different views on how it was intended to be used. Some say it was used as a soap dish only. So the soap was placed in the hand and rubbed on the brush and then the soap was put back in the dish on the scuttle and any water on the soap ran into the holes to allow the soap to dry. Others say the top bowl was ONLY used to make a warm lather and the the brush was loaded from a separate container. Others, that the soap was left in the scuttle bowl and the brush loaded from the bowl and then lathered on the face. Here is my take on how most men used this clever shaving pottery. The first version seems to make more sense then the second, but it too may not be how most men used it. As for the second version (leaving the soap in the dish), why would you block the holes with a block of soap? So that does not seem to make sense. As for the first version (build yourself a warm lather) I am sure a lot of men used it this way. But again those holes would only be useful if you added to much water to your lather. You might push some lather through the holes as you whip it up so that isn't good but it seems to make more sense then blocking them if your soap was left in the scuttle. My guess is that most men cut or scraped soap off of a block and pressed it around the holes with their fingers. Adding more as needed. The bowls are usually very small. Even a 56g puck of Williams barely fits and will cover the holes. That German puck with the sheep on it might also fit. The holes in my scuttle are located on the side of the bowl allowing you to press about a 1/4 inch of soap on the bottom just below the holes. So with a bit of soap (about three or four shaves worth) a small pool of hot water will sit on top of the soap without draining into the holes. I guess you would just keep pressing soap into the Scuttle dish as needed. Pull out the old buck knife and slice off some Williams shave soap. Or I could be completely wrong about all this. I did read somewhere that Men would often put their brush into the Scuttle spout with the bristles pointing out after the shave. So as not to damage to the brush bristles by shoving them into the Scuttle and it allowed the brush to air dry. If someone has the definitive answer I would love to hear from you. If I have time I will post a pic of my early 1900's? German made Shave Scuttle.

 

[John Rose]

I have one that was my Grandfather's, but I have never tried to use it because I haven't found any convincing description of the process.

Grandad's Scuttle 1

• John Rose
• Sep 11, 2016

My grandfather's shaving scuttle, recently rediscovered in our basement.

Grandad's Scuttle 3

• John Rose
• Sep 11, 2016

My grandfather's shaving scuttle, recently rediscovered in our basement.

Here's a Civil War era tin scuttle, with no holes in the top cup:

I'm thinking they did not strive for mountains of lather, but maybe just a thick film of soapy water on the face. As long as there's residual slickness it'll do the job. Or just face lathering.
If that's the case, then the method was probably much different/simpler than modern ways of using a bowl or mug.

 

[ajkel64]

I have one that I rarely use but I just leave the soap puck it the top part and lather of it and then face lather. I found a puck that fit it perfectly. From memory it was a replacement puck of Edwin Jagger soap that was round and pretty much slotted straight in. I don't even fill it with warm water, I did once and it made no difference, the lather was just lather.

 

[Twelvefret]

You’ve got the basics correct I think. This Flow Blue was made in Staffordshire.

 

[Canada]

I have one that I rarely use but I just leave the soap puck it the top part and lather of it and then face lather. I found a puck that fit it perfectly. From memory it was a replacement puck of Edwin Jagger soap that was round and pretty much slotted straight in. I don't even fill it with warm water, I did once and it made no difference, the lather was just lather.

One needs to remember that these old Scuttles were designed to be used without running water. Hot water was poured from the kitchen kettle into the scuttle and maybe a large wide metal bowl. A hot lather shave on a cold -25 morning in 1910 with a chill in the house would have been a nice comfort. I'm not sure what brands of shave soap would have been readily available at the time. I know Williams was available. If the Williams puck is the same size today as it was in 1910 then it does not fit out of the box in my Scuttle. So that is a plug for my theory that Men would just slice into their shave soap as needed. A Williams puck can be stuffed into the bowl but it would plug the holes. I'm guessing that an adult male pottery maker discovered that he was able to press more soap into his Scuttle soap dish and at the same time allow water to sit on top of the soap for a few minutes if he put the drain holes high on the sides of the bowl rather then right on the bottom. That's my thought.

 

[Rusty Blade]

I have a small collection of vintage scuttles. I have used them in the past, but not recently. I believe your first description is the correct one: the bowl is for hot water to warm your brush. The top bowl was used as a soap tray. You would hold the puck in one hand, apply the brush and load your brush, or rub the wetted puck on your face and then build your lather with the brush and place the puck back in the tray to drain and dry. Like most things in modern life I believe the soap pucks we use today are much bigger than the pucks of olden days. I used Haslinger soap pucks for my shave scuttles and they were a good fit. I also think they may have cut their soap pucks in half or quarters to fit the tray and get more mileage from a puck.

 

[ajkel64]

Sounds like a fair assumption. The holes in my scuttle are in the bottom, I think that all my scuttles have the holes in the bottom.

 

[Canada]

Even "Pete" the Blade Blank has his hand on his chin and can't figure out how to properly use this Scuttle.

 

[Canada]

I have one that was my Grandfather's, but I have never tried to use it because I haven't found any convincing description of the process.

Grandad's Scuttle 1

• John Rose
• Sep 11, 2016

My grandfather's shaving scuttle, recently rediscovered in our basement.

Grandad's Scuttle 3

• John Rose
• Sep 11, 2016

My grandfather's shaving scuttle, recently rediscovered in our basement.

Here's a Civil War era tin scuttle, with no holes in the top cup:

I'm thinking they did not strive for mountains of lather, but maybe just a thick film of soapy water on the face. As long as there's residual slickness it'll do the job. Or just face lathering.
If that's the case, then the method was probably much different/simpler than modern ways of using a bowl or mug.

I love that Civil War mug! It would be so cool to use it to shave in morning when you roll out of your tent in the woods and use the left over hot water to shave after you've made some cowboy coffee. ;-)

 

[azwetshaver]

So I watched a few Youtube videos and the guys said that the holes were there to let the steam rise and warm your lather. I followed the instructions and it did work.

Here's what I do:
Warm water in kettle
Fill scuttle with warm tap water
Insert brush into scuttle to warm brush.
shower or wait 3-4 minutes
load brush with soap
dump out warm tap water
refill scuttle wit hot kettle water
give the brush a few swirls on top of the scuttle- not enough to build lather but enough to start the lather
place brush on top
wait 3 minutes
build lather on your face
place brush back on the scuttle to warm for the next pass

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I have one, and here's how I use it - and why.

Fill with hot water from tap. As my sink has both running water and a plug hole, I don't need to carry hot water from the fire place to the basin or table or wherever I intend to shave.

Presoak the brush, and use the water to dip the dips of the brush periodically for additional hydration on subsequent passes, so I don't need to dip the tips in the sink water that's got bits of hair in from swishing my razor.

Use the top area for soap, not lather. My handle heavy brushes will fall off as there isn't adequate support for them. I also like a wet lather, not a scented meringue, so my lather would drain down the hole to some extent, plus the heat from the scuttle would dry the lather.

Leave the soap on the scuttle while lathering. Run off water and froth will run around the puck and drain into the water below. If I lift the soap off, I need to hold the puck over the sink for the same reason, and if I drop it, I'm potentially going to be picking up bits of hair on it. (I'm one of those weirdos who believes you can go back to the puck for more soap later if you need it, rather than having to generate enough lather for seven passes right from the start)

I'm not suggesting it should be used that way. In the older days it was nothing more than a means of carrying water, and somewhere for the soap to live between shaves. Whether you load in hand or off the scuttle is entirely up to the user, and I don't believe there was originally any intention or suggestion either way. The soap dish was mainly for between shaves, not during, in my opinion.

 

[Pepin]

I have one that I rarely use but I just leave the soap puck it the top part and lather of it and then face lather. I found a puck that fit it perfectly. From memory it was a replacement puck of Edwin Jagger soap that was round and pretty much slotted straight in. I don't even fill it with warm water, I did once and it made no difference, the lather was just lather.

I have a few antique scuttles. I put a small puck on the top.
Fill it with hot water and soak the brush. Then load the brush and face lather.

 

[Dog Whiskerer]

I've found this an interesting thread, as I've seen a couple of scuttles at an antique store and have thought about picking one up. But it's a moot point, as I don't have enough sink real estate to support using one.

 

[emwolf]

I was PIF'd a vintage scuttle by a kind member early in my B&B journey. I need to go back and try using it this way and see how things go. It definitely looks more like a sink shaving apparatus than shower (which is my primary shave site).

 

[Clay S]

I use mine to lure unexpected visitors into discussions about the benefits of DE/SE and brush&soap lathering. The pretty design and unapparent purpose often causes a question about it.

 

[Canada]

So I watched a few Youtube videos and the guys said that the holes were there to let the steam rise and warm your lather. I followed the instructions and it did work.

Here's what I do:
Warm water in kettle
Fill scuttle with warm tap water
Insert brush into scuttle to warm brush.
shower or wait 3-4 minutes
load brush with soap
dump out warm tap water
refill scuttle wit hot kettle water
give the brush a few swirls on top of the scuttle- not enough to build lather but enough to start the lather
place brush on top
wait 3 minutes
build lather on your face
place brush back on the scuttle to warm for the next pass

For Steam to pass through and warm the lather? Yes it might, it would take a long time even with boiling hot water. I would think one would have received more heat transfer to the lather via conduction. I still think the main purpose of the "holes" was for draining after loading with your hand and putting the puck down in the scuttle dish or building a small lather in the dish that contained to much water to create sufficient lather. In order for the Gentleman to transfer the heat from the boiling water to his lather he would have to load the bush with the soap in his hand and place his brush in the warm scuttle and transfer a bit of soap to the walls with a few swirls and let the brush sit on the scuttle for a minute. Scoop up as much as he can of the warm soap and begin to build the lather on his face. You don't see the ridges and bumps built into the scuttle for aiding in the build of a lather until the later 1900's. My guess is that most men would lather on their face and use their scuttle as a heat transfer device. They just seem to be to small even by those days standards to build any type of soapy cream for shaving. And the hair on the brushes of the day was long and floppy by todays standards so doing it in a small smooth bowl would have been tough. You would have built a better lather on your face rather then a bowl using the soap of the time. I think.

 

[Canada]

I use mine to lure unexpected visitors into discussions about the benefits of DE/SE and brush&soap lathering. The pretty design and unapparent purpose often causes a question about it.

Sneaky! How to get a guest to ask a "funny you should ask" question. Maybe have a slim or two sitting around that they will get all excited about and want to buy from you at a $20 mark-up from what you just paid for it on ebay so as to cover the cost of the 100 count blades you just purchased from Amazon. Sneaky! Den Move.

 

[BigJ]

Really interesting thread!! I would worry about breaking a lovely scuttle first thing in the AM.

 

[Canada]

I have noticed a lot of the antique shave scuttles available today on ebay have a person's name written on them. Or they are what is known as an "Occupational" shaving scuttle. The ones with names were scuttles that were left at the barber shop on a shelf and were only used by you when you visited. At the time they thought that razor rash infection was caused by using someone else's soap when in fact it had more to do with unsterile straight blades. It seems the "Occupational" scuttles were more mass produced and used at home. So you will see a lot of scuttles with Welders and Fishermen and Farmers et cetera as painted art on many of these scuttles. Some are quite lovely.

 

[Macduff]

This is a fascinating thread!! So there is no literature from that time period on how they were used? It’s so odd that such a common thing could be (kind of) shrouded in mystery. Undoubtedly one of the theories here is correct but it would be cool to know definitively.