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- #21
@kooshman7 - thank you so much for taking time out to write such a detailed reply. So which Zenith Manchurian will you select, if you had to buy one?For myself I wouldn't buy the 508 because the effective loft is so short at 43mm. I'm not fond of brushes with so little loft to mix the shaving lather. That isn't to say you couldn't like it, more that it is my personal preference to not go down that low. I believe the 505 has the same problem of being too low. In terms of the size making it unusable, no it wouldn't make it unusable. For myself I've been on a large kick for quite a few years. It's funny as when I started I thought they were too large for me. I find my preferences can come in waves. I still have smaller brushes to reach for when I want those. I will say the brushes I have that are 31mm and larger have a longer loft. If you set the loft too low it just makes it harder than I care for when trying to mix lather. It can be done, yes, but my preferences don't call for such a low loft. It has a decent glue plug in it. Having it set that low will definitely increase the density. I like the 508 handle better, and I would buy one of those if I could get it in a larger loft and without a glue plug. I tend to like 3-band Silvertip better and that was my preference when I had some Zenith brushes. I had the 505 style handle in silvertip, and a manchurian in olive wood. The quality on both was good.
I don't have experience with the 508, but I imagine it should be good. That is interesting a mix of silvertip and manchurian, but not unheard of. Shavemac's Finest was a combination of their pure and silvertip, and that was an excellent grade of hair. The difference on the 506 and 507 is more from the handle, but the effective loft for the 506 is a bit shorter than the effective loft for the 507. If I had to choose from one of the two I would take the 507 for a slightly higher effective loft in the knot. They're just too short for my tastes, however. It's the glue plug that throws it off for me. I'd be okay with the lofts as they were, but that glue plug just makes it to where I don't enjoy using them. I can't really say which one to get.