Do any of you put the shave puck in the scuttle and build your lather off the puck or are you supposed to have the puck in a separate container?
Thanks.
Thanks.
Old Shave Scuttle Question
- Thread starter Hawkeye_90
- Start date
Whatever works for you! That said, most guys will have the puck held separately for loading and storage. Most scuttles don't really have room for a full puck. Plus building lather away from the puck makes adjusting the water content easier.
One thing to keep in mind is that if you make your whole lather in the same container that your soap Puck is stored in, you're constantly adding soap to your lather.
Everybody is a little different, but there will probably be a time, maybe a quarter or halfway through your lather process , where you need to switch from picking up more soap to just getting a good mixture of water and the soap you have already in your lather. You know, integrating everything thoroughly and maybe working out some of the larger bubbles perhaps. Adding a bit more water, etc. This is also the place where a little effort in mixing can turn a good lather into a great one that is luxurious and creamy.
During this second phase, you don't want to add more soap because you've already got enough. And in this case, more than enough is ... too much. That will make your lather dryer and not nearly as slick as it could be. It could also cause skin irritation and a dry itchy feeling during or after the shave. It can cause your lather and stubble to Gunk up under your razor and clog it up. And my experience has been that dryer lathers are not nearly as slick and protective as a well hydrated ones.
So in my opinion, you definitely need a time of mixing the lather together where it is not exposed to the soap anymore, and you're not continually adding more and more soap to the lather.
I do this by using a lather bowl where I finish off my lather after I've loaded from the tub of soap separately.
Other people do this by lathering directly on their face and gradually adding more and more water as they work the lather up on their face, without using a separate lather bowl.
But ... like a previous poster already said, you do whatever makes you happy. There are no objective rules in shaving. You may prefer to use a lather that I would consider pasty and scrapey and not enjoyable at all. So maybe having a puck of soap in your lather bowl suits your preferences, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Just my two cents. Hope it helps.
(Sent from mobile)
Everybody is a little different, but there will probably be a time, maybe a quarter or halfway through your lather process , where you need to switch from picking up more soap to just getting a good mixture of water and the soap you have already in your lather. You know, integrating everything thoroughly and maybe working out some of the larger bubbles perhaps. Adding a bit more water, etc. This is also the place where a little effort in mixing can turn a good lather into a great one that is luxurious and creamy.
During this second phase, you don't want to add more soap because you've already got enough. And in this case, more than enough is ... too much. That will make your lather dryer and not nearly as slick as it could be. It could also cause skin irritation and a dry itchy feeling during or after the shave. It can cause your lather and stubble to Gunk up under your razor and clog it up. And my experience has been that dryer lathers are not nearly as slick and protective as a well hydrated ones.
So in my opinion, you definitely need a time of mixing the lather together where it is not exposed to the soap anymore, and you're not continually adding more and more soap to the lather.
I do this by using a lather bowl where I finish off my lather after I've loaded from the tub of soap separately.
Other people do this by lathering directly on their face and gradually adding more and more water as they work the lather up on their face, without using a separate lather bowl.
But ... like a previous poster already said, you do whatever makes you happy. There are no objective rules in shaving. You may prefer to use a lather that I would consider pasty and scrapey and not enjoyable at all. So maybe having a puck of soap in your lather bowl suits your preferences, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Just my two cents. Hope it helps.
(Sent from mobile)
(face lather!)
Can we see the scuttle? "Old" scuttles are completely different from the contemporary designs; they're designed to hold soap in the upper chamber, with the hot water and brush in the lower compartment.
"US107450A - Improvement in shaving-mugs - Google Patents" US107450A - Improvement in shaving-mugs - Google Patents - https://patents.google.com/patent/US107450A/en?q=Shaving+mugs&oq=Shaving+mugs&page=1
Of course you can do anything you want with one of the old mugs. Drink coffee from it, if it pleases you. But I think you are asking how they were designed to be used. Yes, they are meant to hold soap in the top. There are soap puck specifically made for them that are about 2 ounces. Read the patent in the link above.
In the old days you churn up a little lather and apply it to your face. A lather bowls weren't around until the 21st century.
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Of course you can do anything you want with one of the old mugs. Drink coffee from it, if it pleases you. But I think you are asking how they were designed to be used. Yes, they are meant to hold soap in the top. There are soap puck specifically made for them that are about 2 ounces. Read the patent in the link above.
In the old days you churn up a little lather and apply it to your face. A lather bowls weren't around until the 21st century.
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Here is the diagram.
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Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk
A few minutes of research on Google Patents shows numerous non-scuttle shaving/lather bowls that were invented in the 1920s and 1930s.
I particularly like this one from 1937 that screws onto the top of your shaving cream tube,I might have to duplicate one with the 3D printer. US2069048A - Lather bowl - Google Patents - https://patents.google.com/patent/US2069048A/
I did not particularly like "Multipurpose device, can be used as a mouthwash cup and shaving bowl" from 1953.
That just further demonstrates my point. None that I could find were anything like a modern lather bowl, where you would load from one container and whip up the lather in another. The one that screws on the end of a tube of cream allows you to lather of a cream the way you would off a soap in a mug.
There a number of shaving bowls, but they are small and are for holding a soap. They are the functional equivalent of a tub of shave soap.
JD
There a number of shaving bowls, but they are small and are for holding a soap. They are the functional equivalent of a tub of shave soap.
JD
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I think Arko is also a perfect match for the really old school type of scuttle's like the union scuttle types where they have the reservoir for the water and brush on bottom and the drain holes on top for the soap?
Like this one.
View attachment 1294393
I have one which never got used, because honestly, I didn't really understand it's concept as a vintage scuttle. The top portion of the scuttle seemed too shallow for a whole puck of soap and the foam from lathering with a boar brush, seemed to push sudsy froth over the top and everywhere. It also blocked the drain holes for warm lather, I just didn't get it?
However, after much contemplation and research, I thought, if I could just cut a wedge or small slice, off of a soap that really lathered well, I could press it into the bottom and some of the drain holes would not only allow the heat from the water in the reservoir to warm the lather, but the drain holes would also, keep the froth from pouring over the top.
Arko works perfectly for this. a small, 3/16 of an inch slice off of a stick of Arko which is about the size of a quarter. while the Arko isn't a soft soap, it still is a bit pliable enough to be able to push and form it into the top of the scuttle. And that small piece really lathers well for such a small bit and it will last for quite a few shaves.
Anyhoo, it's great when I get that old school feeling of nostalgia going, I can grab my vintage Union scuttle and vintage Boar brush and scratch that nostalgic itch.
I always wondered
That blue one is a great looking mug. The drain holes are just drain holes. They let the excess water drain back down to the bottom. You got the warmth of the water to the puck by wetting the brush in it and swirling it on the soap.
The soaps for the antique mugs are only about 65 grams or 2.3 ounces. The mugs aren't intended to whip up 3 passes worth of lather at once. Just load up enough to do a pass and finish lathering on your face. Next pass load a little more. You won't be spilling lather over the sides that way.
JD
The soaps for the antique mugs are only about 65 grams or 2.3 ounces. The mugs aren't intended to whip up 3 passes worth of lather at once. Just load up enough to do a pass and finish lathering on your face. Next pass load a little more. You won't be spilling lather over the sides that way.
JD
I am primarily a face latherer. It’s hard for me to have the mental picture of having a small puck of soap in the top blocking the drain holes in the bottom and it still draining?
After I first load my brush and lather my face, the brush is pretty full of lather in it’s own right. Using it the way I do with the small pieces of soap, not allows for draining, but it also allows for the heat from the water in the bottom to still rise up thru the holes which keeps my brush, not super warm, but definitely much warmer than if that brush full of lather just sat on the side of the sink waiting for a cold second pass?
I think I will stick to my modified version of using it.
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Using a candle warmer is great idea for luxury of warm lather.
I use a Q-Shave scuttle. IMHO a hard puck wouldn't work well with it. However a dollop of cream from a tube, or a tub of shaving soap, lathers up very nicely. The tank, when filled with boiling water will keep my lather warm for the shave's duration.
The original post was about the antique "scuttle" shaving mugs. They are specifically designed to hold the soap and the water for shaving in a single vessel. They date from a time before indoor plumbing was common. With a regular shaving mug you would carry water in a second vessel. They were not designed to warm the lather as modern scuttles are.
The photo shows an antique mug with the soap puck freshly inserted. It is a 2 ounce glycerin puck that was gently warmed, in a double boiler setup, until it was soft. It is pressed in snuggly and covers the holes. The holes are like the holes in a flower pot. They prevent water from being trapped under the puck.
You will come across people who will lather in the top without a puck in it, but that is not what the are designed for.
JD
The photo shows an antique mug with the soap puck freshly inserted. It is a 2 ounce glycerin puck that was gently warmed, in a double boiler setup, until it was soft. It is pressed in snuggly and covers the holes. The holes are like the holes in a flower pot. They prevent water from being trapped under the puck.
You will come across people who will lather in the top without a puck in it, but that is not what the are designed for.
JD
I also think the top is just meant to contain the soap when it's not being used and that you're not really supposed to have the soap in there and load right from it because the area is just so small. You would just have soap overflowing everywhere and making a big mess... and this was designed for mainly use without access to a sink, right.
And if it's holding the soap when not in use then the drain holes will provide somewhere for a little bit of water to go so the soap doesn't sit in water.
However I think that's a neat idea about perhaps just being drain holes, like a flower pot, so that you could kind of press a soap into that area and then you would know that water would never somehow make it to the bottom of the soap and stay there. But my guess is this idea is not a strong contender for how these things were designed to work.
Like many of you, I'm just taking my best guess here. It would be great if someday we stumble across someone who is old enough to know for sure.
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And if it's holding the soap when not in use then the drain holes will provide somewhere for a little bit of water to go so the soap doesn't sit in water.
However I think that's a neat idea about perhaps just being drain holes, like a flower pot, so that you could kind of press a soap into that area and then you would know that water would never somehow make it to the bottom of the soap and stay there. But my guess is this idea is not a strong contender for how these things were designed to work.
Like many of you, I'm just taking my best guess here. It would be great if someday we stumble across someone who is old enough to know for sure.
(Sent from mobile)
The best source of information is to read the write ups in the patents. See post #6 in this thread for a link. This earlier one from 1867 is helpful too.
The upper cup is intended to hold the soap during the shaving process as explicitly stated in the patent.
"A shaving-mug formed as above described need occupy no more space than an ordinary mug, while it possesses the advantage of two receptacles, for water and soap, combined in one, it being merely necessary to dip the brush from one to the other to use the amount of soap or water required."
JD
The upper cup is intended to hold the soap during the shaving process as explicitly stated in the patent.
"A shaving-mug formed as above described need occupy no more space than an ordinary mug, while it possesses the advantage of two receptacles, for water and soap, combined in one, it being merely necessary to dip the brush from one to the other to use the amount of soap or water required."
JD
That is simply not true. The mug I shared in post #17 was from December of 2019. That is the second soap I used from start to finish in that mug. There was never a problem with the soap overflowing everywhere. An occasional drop when I was a little careless, but nothing major.
JD
