What all did I get here?

[SliceOfLife]

Bought a lot of shaving brushes, not positive what they all are. Any ideas?

My guesses...
Razorock "the hulk" 3band
Vulfix 2235s super
??? 3band in horn
??? Pure badger?
??? Pure badger?
Vulfix 1000a pure
Semo 610
Semo 620
Plisson black badger
Vulfix 2236s super
Vulfix 660s super
Thater 4125 silvertip

Anyone got any more info or see one I'm guessing wrong?

 

[nemo]

Nice lot, that last Thater especially. Good price, too!

Some of the colors (hair) seemed a little off, maybe the camera? Nice score.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Thank you. Thought about just bidding and trying to get it cheaper, but felt like the BIN was a little low and it’d go higher at auction so I took the BIN. I don’t notice anything off with color but I’m on my tiny phone. Free returns, so if they are damaged, can always return them.

Kind of hoping the unknown black handle is a shavemac, but knot shape doesn’t look right.

The horn could be anything... maybe I’ll get lucky and it’ll be an early m&f.

The horn with the metal collar I’m not too hopeful about. Don’t know many good badger brushes with collars.

 

[azwetshaver]

Nice score.

The 4th brush from the left (black handle badger) looks like a 4125 handle like the white one on the end. The loft looks high and the knot not as white. I have not seen another maker besides Thater and Shavemac use that handle design. I wonder if it's an early version.

 

[ajkel64]

Great score, lovely brushes. Congratulations and thanks for sharing them with us.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Thanks. Yes if I got two 4125s, it was a great price. I also thought the knot on the black brush looked off for one though. From the top down image, it’s plenty dense at least. Looking forward to the big reveal when they get here.

As for the horn handle, I remember there was a (Malaysian I think) website selling water buffalo horn handles for $50 each several years ago. I think they also sold full brushes made with some unknown badger knots for a little more. Sort of suspect that is what I’m looking at there. Still no clue on the collared horn though... something from a shaving set maybe?

 

[BigJ]

Great haul!! Love the Thater and the Plisson!!

 

[SliceOfLife]

Thank you sir. I'm pretty excited about it. I gotta stop spending money, but I keep finding deals like this when looking for beautiful coticules and thuris... and can't pass them up.

Kind of curious about the Plisson Black Badger. I've not been impressed when I tried Plisson in the past, because I tend to like a lot more backbone than they usually have... but every once in awhile a Black badger hits just the right mix of flow, backbone, and scrub, without feeling like a belt sander on your face... so maybe this will be one of those.

On top of this, I've got on the way a Wood handled Simpson Boar brush, a BB rebadge Simpson scotch, Macy scotch (Looks like that old plisson boar handled brush but is a crummy badger knot... most likely gonna become a handle for one of the mixed knots I got on BST), and a little tiny unmarked travel brush that looks like it was carved from a piece of burl and shellac'ed. Absolutely adorable. Will probably shed every single hair on the first use... but it's so cute.

 

[Borderboss]

The one on the far left looks the same as The Hulk that I have. I love it, even with its synthetic knot.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Yeah, it's a Razorock brush and the handle definitely looks like the hulk... but the knot appears pretty clearly badger, not synth. Do they put badger in that handle? I could only find Synths online but I assumed they must.

 

[Borderboss]

Yeah, it's a Razorock brush and the handle definitely looks like the hulk... but the knot appears pretty clearly badger, not synth. Do they put badger in that handle? I could only find Synths online but I assumed they must.

Not that I'm aware of. I wish they would put badger in there. I asked about buying a handle without a knot, but they wouldn't do it. They also gave me a bunch of blah blah about how to defeat the cement they use on the knot. I think I'll hit them up again on defeating the cement to see if I get a different answer.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Well if it gets here and it’s an unobtainium badger hair hulk, I’ll sell it to you for the bargain price of only $900.

 

[azwetshaver]

....As for the horn handle, I remember there was a (Malaysian I think) website selling water buffalo horn handles for $50 each several years ago. I think they also sold full brushes made with some unknown badger knots for a little more. ...

Was it Kimso? Or something close to that. I remember them getting very good reviews for their price tags.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Yeah, that sounds right. Good memory.

Here we go... Kimson
Genuine Horn and Bone Shaving Brush from Vietnam- Kim Son


Hoping these arrive today... leaving tonight to visit my folks... so if they don't it'll be next week before I can give any answers.

 

[MrSmith83]

The black octaganol brush is more likely to be a shavwmac than a Thater. The tjaters are usually lower lofted and the handle itself is slightly 'chubbier'. At least that used to be the case, my Thater 4125 is about 8-10 yrs old with the italic script, when they were marketed as 'chubbies'- perhaps they've changed and become more shavemac like.

 

[MrSmith83]

Not that I'm aware of. I wish they would put badger in there. I asked about buying a handle without a knot, but they wouldn't do it. They also gave me a bunch of blah blah about how to defeat the cement they use on the knot. I think I'll hit them up again on defeating the cement to see if I get a different answer.

Could be the handles from a razorock synth and has been reknotted, or could be original from somebody like yaqi. They (and some other factory direct to aliexpress makers use that exact handle). I have a yaqi synth in that model and it's a nice heft, solid resin thing.

 

[SliceOfLife]

The hulk is 100% a razorock. The pictures of the base have it etched razorock.

Interesting thought about the reknot.

Thank you.

Brushes would be delivered today if we were home. I’ll know Monday.

 

[SliceOfLife]

So the brushes are here I’m starting to soak and wash them. The horn handled brush without the collar does appear to be very nice quality. The knot is dense and the horn is one piece, not plugged at the bottom.

The razor rock, I’d have to measure to confirm but it does appear to be a Hulk handle. They’re knot is silver tip, and installed very well. If it’s a reknot it’s done well. The tip do have the curls on them that “gel tip” Two band often does, so they could’ve been a special knot or a request to a reknotter for this type of hair.

THater is a very nice looking brush but on the small side, a little bit bigger than a chubby one perhaps.

The 610 looks a little used the 620 looks new.

Plisson is a Plisson, looks like it’s really carefully made but not very dense.

I think I was right on the Vulfix except the larger brush is two of the same not two different models. Just one is badged Vulfix and the other TOBS. Both are super, but the hair is quite a bit different, with the TOBS brush appearing more like a traditional silver tip With a thin band and yellow tips.


The other potential THater/Shavemac, Is a huge brush, as big or bigger than the razorock The hair appears like it’s probably a pure grade, But the brush is very dense and the loft is high so it’ll be pretty insane.


The final horn brush, as I suspected either a very specialty brush from a good maker like Plisson, or more likely a fairly cheap brush that did a horn handle as a gimmick. It’s a round piece of horn that they polished and put a cap on and the knot isn’t very dense at all and is pure grade. If I were to take a wild guess I’d say it’s probably something like out of a weird horn themed art of shaving kit

 

[SliceOfLife]

Alright... Brushes are washed, conditioned and drying.

What did we learn?

Assuming these are all from a single person... my suspicion is they are a member here or at another forum. They probably started out with the Vulfix brushes, worked their way up in size, branching out a little here or there. Seems they tended to prefer larger brushes, but most recently were using their boars... possibly they found a boar that was their perfect brush and that's why they sold this collection?

Many of the brushes still had noticeable soap perfume. By FAR the strongest was the smell of MWF on the 610.


The Razorock is a 28-29mm knot, fairly dense... mostly those curled "gel" tips.

The Black "Shavemac" is a 32mm knot. The densest brush I've ever seen except Rooney Finest. Probably a pretty similar knot to a Chubby 3 3-band super, but higher loft. Definitely not a pure, just a very dark Silvertip. A Thater 4125/5 maybe? This thing is bigger when bloomed than my Kent V14.

The Nicer Horn handle brush looks nice too. VERY pale silvertip, and hairs are so thick they almost feel like boar bristle or sturdy two band when palm lathering. Like the Razorrock, mostly hook/gel tips. Density seems pretty good, but face lathering will give more details. Beautiful handle. My suspicion is that Kimsom was a very good guess. Knot does have a few odd overlong hairs that suggest slightly amateurish hand-tied. ~26mm knot

Plisson is a Plisson Black. Not much more to say. Very loosely packed, black badger scritch. If I ever owned a Plisson, it was going to be a black (I like black badger, and they're the only Plissons not completely stupidly priced last I looked). I'll give it a try and see if it's worth using. 24mm

Thater looks almost new. 24mm knot. I believe that makes it a 4125/1 Silvertip... so a nearly new $140 brush... not bad.

As Mentioned above the Semogue 620 and 610 were in great shape

The collared bone handle is about plisson dense (not dense at all).. I'd call it pure, but depending on the quality of the maker, it could be pure, best, silvertip, super, whatever they felt like. Like I said, I suspect it's out of a fairly low-edge (but gimmicky) Horn-themed shaving kit. But it could surprise me. I mean Waterford crystal has a brush less dense than this and it was high end in its day. 22mm knot.

The Vulfix 1000a has a small chip in the base. Nice little pure badger tho.

The 660S is a large Super 21.5mm

The other two vulfix are the same. Both 2235S Super Badger ~24mm knot. The TOBS labeled one has significantly lighter/finer hair.

 

[SliceOfLife]

So I wanted to let the two biggest brushes dry another day before using them, so today I used the nicer of the two horn brushes.
I'm not sure if it's a Kimson (never had one to try). But it does strike me as a very high end brush. The handle is of course lovely... and the hair in the knot is definitely very impressive. It's not super-dense and the loft is high, but the hair has great backbone and it's one of the softest tipped brushes I've used. I suspect it's a very high grade hair. With the big bloom and good backbone on top of the curled tips, this brush made an absurd amount of lather. I could have had three or four shaves with it easily. I guess I'm used to smaller, lower lofted brushes. It doesn't push against your face like a Simpson Chubby does, but it isn't floppy either. It just fills up with lather and becomes a big fist sized puffball of badger hair and lather massaging your face. Not my usual shave at all, but plenty nice.