What's new

Scuttle feedback sought

We are at the front end of developing a scuttle and I wanted to solicit ideas from you all. Here are a couple of popular ones and for good reason - Dirty Bird Pottery and Georgetown Pottery. We want ours to be unique in some fashion which is where you all come in. Help me out if you like. I see us having our ridges on the interior that are so popular in our lather bowls. Otherwise I want to keep an open mind.

Questions to kick around:

1. What do you look for in a scuttle?
2. What do you like / dislike?
3. Which color is a favorite of yours?
4. Any thoughts on a handle style - what is ideal? A loop handle or a post handle that sticks out?
5. Glaze finish - glossy? Matte?


IMG_4772.jpeg
IMG_4773.jpeg
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
Personally speaking, I tried scuttles and the biggest drawback for me was you had one small hole in it for water to go in or out.
My obsessive impulses just told me that after a while, there was sure to be a lot of "grunge" in there that I could not clean out.
If for some reason you wanted to pour out and add warmer water, you had a balancing act to do.
I finally settled on the poor mans scuttle, the two piece Violet Pot as in the picture below. This is not mine, just an example.
With a removable liner cleaning is easy, and adding some hot water is easy.
The drawbacks of the pot are
1. The Violet Pot is unglazed inside, so it does pass a some amount of water into your lather.
2. The inner pot is rather narrow and deep for really comfortable lathering.

Having a purpose built scuttle of proper dimensions with a removeable inner cup that was glazed would be a win for me.
Although, it's likely that a two piece set in, or two piece interlocking would raise production costs considerably.

Example
$4.9.14 096.jpg
 

Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
Personally speaking, I tried scuttles and the biggest drawback for me was you had one small hole in it for water to go in or out.
My obsessive impulses just told me that after a while, there was sure to be a lot of "grunge" in there that I could not clean out.
If for some reason you wanted to pour out and add warmer water, you had a balancing act to do.
I finally settled on the poor mans scuttle, the two piece Violet Pot as in the picture below. This is not mine, just an example.
With a removable liner cleaning is easy, and adding some hot water is easy.
The drawbacks of the pot are
1. The Violet Pot is unglazed inside, so it does pass a some amount of water into your lather.
2. The inner pot is rather narrow and deep for really comfortable lathering.

Having a purpose built scuttle of proper dimensions with a removeable inner cup that was glazed would be a win for me.
Although, it's likely that a two piece set in, or two piece interlocking would raise production costs considerably.

Example
View attachment 1282254
Is there a fill line? Otherwise I would make a mess with that. Although I think your point about cleaning is very valid.
 
I agree with @luvmysuper in that a scuttle for me should be a two piece one to make it easier for cleaning. My setup is even poorer than the above poor man's scuttle in that it is a pottery bowl and one of those cheap hammered copper bowl. I fill the pottery bowl with hot water, and fill the copper bowl about 1/4 way with hot water to warm up the bowl. I then either pour the warm water into the pottery bowl, or pour some on the soap to get it started. I then lather in the copper bowl, which keeps the lather and brush warm, and easily clean up afterwards by pouring the water from the pottery bowl into the lathering bowl to rinse out the lather.

Of course it doesn't come close to answering Scott's questions, except the part where it might be good to have it as a two piece fitted design with the outer cup and inner bowl.
 
I really like the lathering abilities I have with your ceramic bowls. Size is much to do about this. The area over volume counts. That said, you could sell the idea that building a thick lather before placing it into the scuttle would be workable. Though, not ideal... I dunno. So far my lg Georgetown is the best I've had, but living in the ATL area I don't have the need for it as much as polar latitudes.
 
I have your small copper bowl. I like to create the lather holding it in my hand with by forearm parallel to the floor. Scuttles seem like they would be hard to hold and heavy so you would have to leave it on the counter and create the lather there. I am not sure I would like that.

Might you consider a scuttle that would be two pieces: the bottom reservoir and one would set the copper bowl into it to warm and after creating the lather, but one could take the bowl out and create the lather while holding it in the hand.
 

garyg

B&B membership has its percs
I like the idea of the two piece unit, but have only ever tried one. A while back I was on the scuttle mission, first with the Georgetown, then Dirty Bird, lastly a Sara Bonnyman. I think scuttles end up being a balancing act - make the bowl too big & the heat is lost rapidly, too small & the brush falls out .. (the two piece I tried). The size of the reservoir is also a balance between enough thermal capacity to stay somewhat warm through the shave - but is that a slow old man like here or a two pass chap in a hurry? If the thermal transfer is too efficient (I've read of guys putting heating plates in the bathroom) you will likely muck up ya lather.

Lots of compromises
 

Attachments

  • 1623804525387.png
    1623804525387.png
    457.6 KB · Views: 18
I really like the lathering abilities I have with your ceramic bowls. Size is much to do about this. The area over volume counts. That said, you could sell the idea that building a thick lather before placing it into the scuttle would be workable. Though, not ideal... I dunno. So far my lg Georgetown is the best I've had, but living in the ATL area I don't have the need for it as much as polar latitudes.
Hello fellow atlantian :)

Fayiz D.
 
Here are some of my thoughts:

1. What do you look for in a scuttle?
Elegant shape (nothing over-stylized or vulgar, less is more), ceramic should be reasonably thick and able to retain heat (look at e.g. the Brown Betty teapot for inspiration here), an ergonomic handle that makes it easy to handle, lift, and move around when full (consider that added water weight) and hot.

2. What do you like / dislike?
Above.

3. Which color is a favorite of yours?
There are so many great options here. I think that the right glazing can make or break a ceramic piece. Doesn't need to be "traditionally masculine" -- I think worrying too much about that could make it boring (think about some of the fantastic colours artisan shaving brushes come in these days -- glazes are of course a different beast from brush resins, but keeping it playful could work; that said, so could a well-considered monochrome option).

4. Any thoughts on a handle style - what is ideal? A loop handle or a post handle that sticks out?
My first instinct is a loop handle. It needs to be the right size though.

5. Glaze finish - glossy? Matte?
I think glossy would be preferable. It pulls out colour better and makes it more vibrant. Also might be easier to keep clean from soap scum etcetera since it's an inherently smoother surface.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
 
I like the idea of a two piece scuttle. Maybe have a lip mechanism that allows you to lock the top (lather part) to the bottom (water res) with a twist.

Fayiz D.
 
I like the idea of the two piece unit, but have only ever tried one. A while back I was on the scuttle mission, first with the Georgetown, then Dirty Bird, lastly a Sara Bonnyman. I think scuttles end up being a balancing act - make the bowl too big & the heat is lost rapidly, too small & the brush falls out .. (the two piece I tried). The size of the reservoir is also a balance between enough thermal capacity to stay somewhat warm through the shave - but is that a slow old man like here or a two pass chap in a hurry? If the thermal transfer is too efficient (I've read of guys putting heating plates in the bathroom) you will likely muck up ya lather.

Lots of compromises

The one in the pic you posted is lovely.
 
I've never used a scuttle. The closest I got to that was an ad hoc brush scuttle. I filled a Van Der Hagen apothecary shaving mug with hot water, then placed an empty old yogurt cup inside the mug. With my brush inside the yogurt cup, it helps keep the cup lower in the mug. This keeps my brush warm between passes.

I can see a scuttle being built along these lines (though with a full lathering bowl up top, instead of just a brush holder).

FWIW, I'm really find of the Seaworthy bowl I bought from you last month. It works a treat! If you had something like this as the top bowl for the scuttle, it would probably be pretty good. Though, you'd probably have to reduce the bowl size a bit so it would work better for a scuttle.
 
I have a Georgetown Pottery G12 scuttle (like the one pictured above and I really love it) and I use it daily. I was recently out of state for a week without it and my quality of shaves seem to suffer. That hot lather does help to soften my beard. Mine came with a rubber stopper and I really like that feature. Captain I like the idea of the lather rings like you have in your bowl. That should help. The one idea I have that would would really improve the scuttle for me is if the scuttle outer is made of ceramic but the lather bowl was copper for better heat transfer. I have no idea how you would be able to make such a thing but perhaps if it is two piece it would work. Also some people like to microwave their scuttles to heat the water (I use hot tap water) so having a two piece scuttle with a fill line so you could microwave it without the copper bowl then place the copper bowl in it should work. The scuttle and copper bowl would probably need notches so that the lather bowl didn't spin around while building lather. I have no idea if there would be a problem with the inner copper bowl floating up. Stainless steel would probably work as well as copper and might be heavier. You might also want to consider a brush scuttle for face latherers to keep their brush warm. PAA makes one but I have no idea how well it works. Maybe a scuttle that is a larger diameter and shallower than the Dirty Bird and George Town scuttles. Many people here like those Simpson brushes with tiny short handles and they just don't work well in deep scuttles and bowls. Good luck with whatever you design!
 
Last edited:
The smaller Dirty Bird scuttle with no handle has been my go to for several years. Keeping the lower part completely clean is near impossible.

A two piece setup with a way to lock the pieces together like Adjustingtolife stated above would be ideal.
 
I have a Robert Becker scuttle that I haven't used in at least two years. The scuttle worked just fine. However, eventually, I switched to face lathering and now use the CC copper bowl.

As for cleaning the scuttle, once a week I put some bleach and water in the scuttle and let it sit for a few minutes and then poured out the solution. I never observed any gunk or material come out of the spout.

1623889582961.png
 
I’m surprised that there are no scuttles on the market that make use of a vacuum insulated outter layer.

I had an idea for a dry scuttle but never made it. Use a vacuum insulated outter layer and fill the gap between the boil and insulation with a high thermal mass material like metal or mortar. Then just change the system by putting hot water in the bowl while you’re in the shower. The bowl would stay hot for ages with no heat loss to the outside of the scuttle. There would be no internal chamber to clean and no water to slosh around. It seems like a big leap forward from the current designs.
 
I'll add something which should be relatively obvious, we need to recognize there is a limitation of brush size that can be efficient and reasonable to accommodate. It seems ironic in context how many folks love their 28mm diameters, or boar mops. (Me included.) Generally, such equipment can not be accommodated if the goal is a warm & firm lather built in the scuttle. (Unless One might use a "churning butter" action to incorporate micro-bubbles into the emulsion. Tho, often cited as detrimental to the life expectancies of natural fibers.) What type of brush and profile are also relevant. Since you have brushes in your product line this can be an opportunity for profitable pairings. Design parameters may dictate new stock choices to achieve the best results.

Oh! and I like @Tomo 's remark about vacuum capsules integrated. Very tough I'd think with ceramics but ..
 
Last edited:
When I started wet shaving I enlisted a soup bowl sized BOSE mug which I used until my kids bought me a scuttle from WCS. I like it and use it every day. I like the size, glazed blue color, the ridges and the loop handle. The depth of the scuttle is better than the deep soup bowl. When it is full of water, I leave it on the sink instead of holding it in my hand when making lather. If I try to hold it, the water slops all over the place. Not sure how you work around that with a new design.
 
Top Bottom