Pure, Best, Finest, Silver-tip = whats the difference in badger brushes?
- Thread starter JudoJim
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This one here is a big can of worms! I'm sure there is a great wiki on this site somewhere that someone could refer you to.
My personal advice would be to avoid pure. Some people are perfectly happy with best, but most will end up with a 3-band silvertip or a 2-band finest/silvertip/manchurian. IMHO the latter is superior because you get the best of both worlds: good backbone but luxuriously soft tips. 3-band silvertips have considerably less backbone. They can hog lather, and are not ideal with hard soaps, but they are seen and appreciated by many as the height of luxury. Best and pure are scritchier, but some folks like that.
With badger hair grades, in most cases you get what you pay for, but not always. A great example of a stellar affordable badger brush is the Maseto 2-band chubby. It's important to understand that any factors affect the performance of a badger brush, including density, knot size and free loft. I defer to the more experienced members of this forum for complementary feedback.
Good luck and have fun with it!
^good explanation above!
My 2c, FWIW, my "Pure" badger brushes work fine!
And, as FYI, one brand's "Super" or "Silver tip", might be labelled by another as "Pure" or "Best".
Indeed, there are no hard and fast 'standards of identity' for shave brushes (Thank Heaven!)!
My 2c, FWIW, my "Pure" badger brushes work fine!
And, as FYI, one brand's "Super" or "Silver tip", might be labelled by another as "Pure" or "Best".
Indeed, there are no hard and fast 'standards of identity' for shave brushes (Thank Heaven!)!
There's actually no universal standard for naming grades of badger hair. One manufacturer's Best will be really nice, with soft tips and good backbone, while another's will be floppy and sparse, or unpleasantly scratchy. Also, you sometimes see brushes, usually cheap ones, which are said to have Manchurian or Super Silvertip knots but are really very poor. On the other hand, there are bargains to be had.
You're best to specify what you want from a knot, and how much you're willing to pay for it, and go from there.
You're best to specify what you want from a knot, and how much you're willing to pay for it, and go from there.
An image showing the differences between Pure, Best, Silvertip, Manchurian and High Mountain White knots:
As you can easily see, the differences are immediately obvious.
An image showing the differences between Pure, Best, Silvertip, Manchurian and High Mountain White knots:As you can easily see, the differences are immediately obvious.
There is no uniform or universal grading or description system. Given that, here is Shavemac’s description of the various hairs and knot types they sell.
https://www.shavemac.com/badger_qualities.html
Shavemac Finest is 70% Silvertip, 30% Pure. Most retailers Finest is straight 2 band.
All Badger hair comes from China. If you call Mr. Chang, and ask for Manchurian/Super Badger/High Mountain/2 band/Silvertip, etc, he won’t know what you’re talking about. His response would likely be: “ You want some 46? I’ve got a lot of 46 today.”
https://www.shavemac.com/badger_qualities.html
Shavemac Finest is 70% Silvertip, 30% Pure. Most retailers Finest is straight 2 band.
All Badger hair comes from China. If you call Mr. Chang, and ask for Manchurian/Super Badger/High Mountain/2 band/Silvertip, etc, he won’t know what you’re talking about. His response would likely be: “ You want some 46? I’ve got a lot of 46 today.”
There is a lot of diversity of opinions just as there is a lot of diversity in how different brush makers identify their brushes.
My very first brush, a vintage Erskine was labeled as pure badger. At the time it was made, probably in the 30s, there didn't seem to much going on about grading. Brushes were boar bristle, a mixture of boar and badger, and badger. Brush makers seemed to be able to make a nice pure badger brush without trimming the tips like they do today. When I first obtained the brush in the late 50s, it was passed down to me from my grandfather and went through the hands of my dad and older brother before it was passed on to me. It was nice at first but it hadn't been well cared for in the past. Eventually it began to loose hair and even eventually for the hair to start breaking. I reknotted it about 2011 with a Whipped Dog silvertip and enjoy it with the freshened up and upgraded knot.
It seems as though most if not all "pure" badger knots are trimmed to shape, making them quite scratchy and pokey. I have had a few and now have only one because I can't bring myself to throw it out or to pass it on. Some I gave away but most I did throw away.
I have had a couple of best brushes. They tend to be very stout and able to take some punishment. If you like a good utility brush that works well and can be used roughly, this is the brush for you. I no longer have any, I gave them away.
I'm addicted to silvertip. I love their soft face feel and can handle what some say is floppiness (some silvertips are softer or floppier than others). Some of my favorite brushes are finest. The face feel on most of them approach that of the best silvertips, but they do tend to have more backbone and can take a bit more abuse. Sometimes these are referred to as two band. My recently made 26mm Maggard two band is an exceptional brush.
These are general comments. Every brush is different.
To mention some other grades, super usually means that it has had the tips treated, usually with a bleaching process, to make them softer. My overall nicest face feel brush is a super silvertip. Only a couple of other of my silvertips are as soft.
Super without any other designation seems to be a best that has had that treatment. I have a Frank Shaving knot of this type and I would call it to be a slight improvement over best.
I have a few high mountain knotted brushes in 20, 22, 24, and 30 mm. They are really a finest and the softness varies with where they were sourced. Some of my best finest brushes are high mountain.
High mountain white seems to be something between finest and silvertip. I'm not impressed enough to likely to pay the higher price for one again.
I'm really impressed with a 22mm two band silvertip I acquired recently. It looks like a two band finest but behaves like a silvertip. Very soft face feel.
As long as I posting I'll mention that horse can be a reasonable option. My Virginia Sheng sourced white horse is too soft to be useful, but my Cremo horse made my Vie Long (or however you spell it) is nearly up to a finest.
Good luck in picking out what you like. I have gone through a lot of brushes sorting it out. I have not counted those that I have sold or given away, but there were many. My current herd is somewhere around fifty, give or take a half dozen or so.
My very first brush, a vintage Erskine was labeled as pure badger. At the time it was made, probably in the 30s, there didn't seem to much going on about grading. Brushes were boar bristle, a mixture of boar and badger, and badger. Brush makers seemed to be able to make a nice pure badger brush without trimming the tips like they do today. When I first obtained the brush in the late 50s, it was passed down to me from my grandfather and went through the hands of my dad and older brother before it was passed on to me. It was nice at first but it hadn't been well cared for in the past. Eventually it began to loose hair and even eventually for the hair to start breaking. I reknotted it about 2011 with a Whipped Dog silvertip and enjoy it with the freshened up and upgraded knot.
It seems as though most if not all "pure" badger knots are trimmed to shape, making them quite scratchy and pokey. I have had a few and now have only one because I can't bring myself to throw it out or to pass it on. Some I gave away but most I did throw away.
I have had a couple of best brushes. They tend to be very stout and able to take some punishment. If you like a good utility brush that works well and can be used roughly, this is the brush for you. I no longer have any, I gave them away.
I'm addicted to silvertip. I love their soft face feel and can handle what some say is floppiness (some silvertips are softer or floppier than others). Some of my favorite brushes are finest. The face feel on most of them approach that of the best silvertips, but they do tend to have more backbone and can take a bit more abuse. Sometimes these are referred to as two band. My recently made 26mm Maggard two band is an exceptional brush.
These are general comments. Every brush is different.
To mention some other grades, super usually means that it has had the tips treated, usually with a bleaching process, to make them softer. My overall nicest face feel brush is a super silvertip. Only a couple of other of my silvertips are as soft.
Super without any other designation seems to be a best that has had that treatment. I have a Frank Shaving knot of this type and I would call it to be a slight improvement over best.
I have a few high mountain knotted brushes in 20, 22, 24, and 30 mm. They are really a finest and the softness varies with where they were sourced. Some of my best finest brushes are high mountain.
High mountain white seems to be something between finest and silvertip. I'm not impressed enough to likely to pay the higher price for one again.
I'm really impressed with a 22mm two band silvertip I acquired recently. It looks like a two band finest but behaves like a silvertip. Very soft face feel.
As long as I posting I'll mention that horse can be a reasonable option. My Virginia Sheng sourced white horse is too soft to be useful, but my Cremo horse made my Vie Long (or however you spell it) is nearly up to a finest.
Good luck in picking out what you like. I have gone through a lot of brushes sorting it out. I have not counted those that I have sold or given away, but there were many. My current herd is somewhere around fifty, give or take a half dozen or so.
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The terminology can be borderline humorous. I believe the baseline is "Pure" which simply means that the brush knot is 100% badger hair, but whether that is good, gooder, goodest quality becomes the quest for you to figure out. Sometimes one sees "Black badger" which besides reflecting the color of the hairs, usually means the individual strands are thicker and sometimes trimmed into shape. I bought a cheap black badger brush hoping that would be scratchy but it was pretty mild. Next step up is "Best" which is where I get lost in the different brush manufacturers terminology. It is usually less soft than Finest/Silvertip but can be soft enough not to really matter for me personally. So "Best" is not really the best but usually better than "Pure". And "Finest" may be fine but is step down from "Silvertip". And while "Silvertip" might be penultimate it cannot match those from badgers found at the top of a "high mountain" listening to Mandarin. 
There is no uniform grading system for badger brushes. Many brushmakers have their own standards and names for each grade. You would have to check with the company and/or reviews for quality of the knots and comparisons with other makers.
Generally pure badger is the lowest grade with scritchy tips and decent backbone. Although some cheap pure badger has less backbone. Best badger is quite a step up in quality having softer tips though still a little scritch and decent backbone. Silvertip has still softer tips with hardly any or no scritch, but less backbone unless the maker packs more hair into the knot and sets it lower in the handle.
Finest badger in the 2 band variety tends to have soft tips that some describe as gel like and a good amount of backbone. I suspect this hair comes from a different type of badger than pure, best or silvertip. Shavemac finest is a combination of pure and silvertip hair.
Which one is better or worse depends on the care the brushmaker puts into selecting hair and making the knot. Also personal preferences differ among shavers. I face lather and prefer best badger though some would disagree wanting a brush with different qualities.
Generally pure badger is the lowest grade with scritchy tips and decent backbone. Although some cheap pure badger has less backbone. Best badger is quite a step up in quality having softer tips though still a little scritch and decent backbone. Silvertip has still softer tips with hardly any or no scritch, but less backbone unless the maker packs more hair into the knot and sets it lower in the handle.
Finest badger in the 2 band variety tends to have soft tips that some describe as gel like and a good amount of backbone. I suspect this hair comes from a different type of badger than pure, best or silvertip. Shavemac finest is a combination of pure and silvertip hair.
Which one is better or worse depends on the care the brushmaker puts into selecting hair and making the knot. Also personal preferences differ among shavers. I face lather and prefer best badger though some would disagree wanting a brush with different qualities.
Great explainations!
The main point is that there is no uniformity in badger hair grading. These are animal hair products that vary even within a given manufacturer’s system. For example, some Simpsons best badger may be very similar to their super grade while other examples may be closer to pure.
The main point is that there is no uniformity in badger hair grading. These are animal hair products that vary even within a given manufacturer’s system. For example, some Simpsons best badger may be very similar to their super grade while other examples may be closer to pure.
Kent Pure Badger (may have been made by Simpson):
Erskine Pure Badger:
Two in center Peerless Pure Badger:
Simms Pure Badger:
Erskine Pure Badger:
Two in center Peerless Pure Badger:
Simms Pure Badger:
