Nope nothing terribly exotic to see here folks, but hopefully anyone considering any of these solid 'mid-range' brushes will find these photos and comparisons helpful. Will preface this with a big YMMV.
Recently had a relapse of SBAD (and a couple WCS gift certificates to use up) and ended up with these 4 for my collection. Last year was all about Semogues for me but lately I've been wanting to change things up and spend some more time using a badger. I mainly face lather with soaps, but occasionally will use a bowl or creams. Up until now the only badgers I'd been using were the Simpsons Berkeley Best and Case and wanted to step up to the next level and a bit larger and denser brush. A side observance now that I own several Simpsons Best brushes in the $50-100 price range: the particular Berkeley specimen I have definitely seems to be towards the lower end of the Best grading and has quite scritchy tips. Even my similarly priced Case brush has noticeably softer tips. I still like using the Berkeley, though.
Simpsons Duke 2 Pre-Bloom
I'd been admiring the Duke 2 and the Colonel for some time. I also considered the Classic 2 after reading some favorable write-ups, but in the end was concerned about the small handle and wanted something with a bit more heft in the hand than the Berkeley, so I went with the Duke 2. The first couple shaves with the Duke I thought to myself, "Why did I wait so long to get one!" I can see why the Duke series is highly regarded by some as one of the best face lathering brushes. Great brush! and for now my favorite of the bunch. For me it's the perfect 'just-rightness' balance of scrubbiness, soft tips and density but still releases the lather - not sure I'd want a badger much larger than this for face lathering. It does take a bit more load time swirling on soap to really fill up the dense knot, and ensure that it releases plenty of lather. This knot is ~22 x 46.5mm loft.
Simpsons Duke 2 Post-Bloom
The Colonel, which I've had for over a month now and have a had a few shaves with already, I feel this is one of the best values of the lower priced Simpsons and is a true 'jack of all trades'. You can use it with pretty much any soap, cream, face lather, or bowl lather, etc.; kinda like the badger equivalent of the equally versatile Semogue 1305 boar. Would be an excellent choice for the beginner looking to get their first quality badger brush. The performance is not too drastically different than that of the Duke 2 with a similarly sized knot, but is just slightly less dense and the tips a little more scritchier. I really like the design and in hand feel of the handle. Knot is ~22 x 47.5mm.
Rooney 1/1 Faux Horn 3/1 Faux Ivory in Super Silvertip
Rooney 1/1 and 3/1 Pre-Bloom
I wanted to see what the Rooney mystique was all about. I decided on both the 1/1 and 3/1 styles (I'm real indecisive) in Super Silvertip. The brushes Jim at Vintage Blades selected for me, are interesting; on paper i was thinking the knots would be exactly the same at 22mm x 44mm loft, However I could tell from the pre-bloomed knots, they were in fact quite different. The 1/1, while fan shaped still had a bit of a bulb and seemed like a softer version of a typical Simpsons best. The 3/1 on the other hand had a more distinctive and wider, pure fan shape that was flatter at the top than the 1/1 and had much softer tips. At first I was a bit disappointed with this, and thought of returning the 3/1 but in the end decided to keep it as it is quite different than any other brush in my collection and I don't own anything else with a true fan shape like this. I presume this difference between the two brushes is because of batch variation with a handmade item, rather than by design? Also as a fisherman and fly tier I very much understand and appreciate that badger hair is a natural material that comes from an animal and some variation from batch to batch is to be expected.
The 1/1 has a knot which doesn't feel quite as dense as a the other 2 Simpsons but still has some backbone. Should be a good softer alternative to a Simpsons for face lathering most soaps. It's similar in size to a Simpsons Berkeley. The faux horn handle is gorgeous - and truthfully was another reason that sparked my interest in trying a Rooney. See next post for a pic of the elusive back side of brush which you rarely get to see in pics on internet. Knot is ~22mm x 44mm.
Rooney 1/1 and 3/1 Post-Bloom
The 3/1 on the other hand predictably has a much wider bloom than the 1/1. While I've never experienced the so called Rooney 'gel-like' tips I've read about on here with the higher end Heritage brushes-I can say the face feel of the 3/1 is so soft the sensation does feel somewhat gel-like, at least in comparison to any other brush I own. So I dunno? Borders on floppiness in comparison to the above Simpsons. Because the tips are so soft, it probably wouldn't be my first choice for loading up hard triple milled soaps like PdP, but test lathered fine with semi soft artisanal soaps likes QCS and Mikes or soft soaps and creams like Cella, RazoRock, Proraso, TOBs etc. So for that I'd have to take away some versatility points. I also have a Dirty Bird custom lather bowl in the works, and I specifically got the longer-handled 3/1 with using that in mind. Knot is ~22mm x 44.5mm.
Recently had a relapse of SBAD (and a couple WCS gift certificates to use up) and ended up with these 4 for my collection. Last year was all about Semogues for me but lately I've been wanting to change things up and spend some more time using a badger. I mainly face lather with soaps, but occasionally will use a bowl or creams. Up until now the only badgers I'd been using were the Simpsons Berkeley Best and Case and wanted to step up to the next level and a bit larger and denser brush. A side observance now that I own several Simpsons Best brushes in the $50-100 price range: the particular Berkeley specimen I have definitely seems to be towards the lower end of the Best grading and has quite scritchy tips. Even my similarly priced Case brush has noticeably softer tips. I still like using the Berkeley, though.
Simpsons Duke 2 Pre-Bloom
I'd been admiring the Duke 2 and the Colonel for some time. I also considered the Classic 2 after reading some favorable write-ups, but in the end was concerned about the small handle and wanted something with a bit more heft in the hand than the Berkeley, so I went with the Duke 2. The first couple shaves with the Duke I thought to myself, "Why did I wait so long to get one!" I can see why the Duke series is highly regarded by some as one of the best face lathering brushes. Great brush! and for now my favorite of the bunch. For me it's the perfect 'just-rightness' balance of scrubbiness, soft tips and density but still releases the lather - not sure I'd want a badger much larger than this for face lathering. It does take a bit more load time swirling on soap to really fill up the dense knot, and ensure that it releases plenty of lather. This knot is ~22 x 46.5mm loft.
Simpsons Duke 2 Post-Bloom
The Colonel, which I've had for over a month now and have a had a few shaves with already, I feel this is one of the best values of the lower priced Simpsons and is a true 'jack of all trades'. You can use it with pretty much any soap, cream, face lather, or bowl lather, etc.; kinda like the badger equivalent of the equally versatile Semogue 1305 boar. Would be an excellent choice for the beginner looking to get their first quality badger brush. The performance is not too drastically different than that of the Duke 2 with a similarly sized knot, but is just slightly less dense and the tips a little more scritchier. I really like the design and in hand feel of the handle. Knot is ~22 x 47.5mm.
Rooney 1/1 Faux Horn 3/1 Faux Ivory in Super Silvertip
Rooney 1/1 and 3/1 Pre-Bloom
I wanted to see what the Rooney mystique was all about. I decided on both the 1/1 and 3/1 styles (I'm real indecisive) in Super Silvertip. The brushes Jim at Vintage Blades selected for me, are interesting; on paper i was thinking the knots would be exactly the same at 22mm x 44mm loft, However I could tell from the pre-bloomed knots, they were in fact quite different. The 1/1, while fan shaped still had a bit of a bulb and seemed like a softer version of a typical Simpsons best. The 3/1 on the other hand had a more distinctive and wider, pure fan shape that was flatter at the top than the 1/1 and had much softer tips. At first I was a bit disappointed with this, and thought of returning the 3/1 but in the end decided to keep it as it is quite different than any other brush in my collection and I don't own anything else with a true fan shape like this. I presume this difference between the two brushes is because of batch variation with a handmade item, rather than by design? Also as a fisherman and fly tier I very much understand and appreciate that badger hair is a natural material that comes from an animal and some variation from batch to batch is to be expected.
The 1/1 has a knot which doesn't feel quite as dense as a the other 2 Simpsons but still has some backbone. Should be a good softer alternative to a Simpsons for face lathering most soaps. It's similar in size to a Simpsons Berkeley. The faux horn handle is gorgeous - and truthfully was another reason that sparked my interest in trying a Rooney. See next post for a pic of the elusive back side of brush which you rarely get to see in pics on internet. Knot is ~22mm x 44mm.
Rooney 1/1 and 3/1 Post-Bloom
The 3/1 on the other hand predictably has a much wider bloom than the 1/1. While I've never experienced the so called Rooney 'gel-like' tips I've read about on here with the higher end Heritage brushes-I can say the face feel of the 3/1 is so soft the sensation does feel somewhat gel-like, at least in comparison to any other brush I own. So I dunno? Borders on floppiness in comparison to the above Simpsons. Because the tips are so soft, it probably wouldn't be my first choice for loading up hard triple milled soaps like PdP, but test lathered fine with semi soft artisanal soaps likes QCS and Mikes or soft soaps and creams like Cella, RazoRock, Proraso, TOBs etc. So for that I'd have to take away some versatility points. I also have a Dirty Bird custom lather bowl in the works, and I specifically got the longer-handled 3/1 with using that in mind. Knot is ~22mm x 44.5mm.
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Rooney 1/1 with Mike's Hungarian Lavender this morning. I like it so far - no problems loading up brush, and face lathered up a storm pretty easily. Mike's soaps can be finicky sometimes with water ratio, especially with an unfamiliar brush. Still think it's not as dense as a Simpson's - but as a result it gives up the lather nicely. I noticed a bit more scritch too, than I originally thought.
I have a feeling I'll have the overwhelming need to try one of those eventually.
