Shaving Scuttles and Mugs

Marko, I suspect he is applying too much pressure to the brush when using the bowl, though I think it brings up a point worth discussing.

The Suribachi bowl is made of ceramic earthenware and is unfinished.  It has ridges, though they aren't sharp.  If I bought one that had sharp ridges I would gently use fine sand paper to remove the sharp edge but not the ridge.

The unfinished ceramic with ridges is what makes whipping up great lather a breeze.  

The question is what it does to brush bristles.  I would expect that over time, the suribachi bowl is harder on shaving brushes than a smoothly finished bowl.  I also think it would take a long time.  I don't have any $200 brushes.  If I did, I would probably still use the suribachi bowl, understanding that it might shorten the life of the brush.

My brushes are all synthetic, horse hair or Stirling badger brushes.  I have no concern whatever with them.  The time savings and improvement in making great lather is well worth any shortened life to the brush.

I never compress natural fiber brushes more than 25%.  I doubt the gentleman from the other forum would have run into this if he followed that rule.

Thanks Pete123 , that makes a lot of sense.  I agree with you that brushes are for using and aren't meant to last forever, however, with a little care and attention they can certainly be maintained for a long time.  

I used to be a bowl latherer using either a Dirty Bird or a Sarah Bonnyman scuttle.  They both have ridges/pattern in the bottom, glazed but still fairly rough.  I'm a face latherer now so the abrasive quality of these scuttles on my brushes isn't an issue although I have found that those scuttles will accelerate the break-in period of boar brushes.  The lovely split ends will develop much faster than just face lathering or bowl lathering with a smooth bottom bowl.  

I had an exchange a while back with Leisure Guy where we had a difference of opinion on Semogue boar brushes, the 1305 I think.  I thought (think) its a wonderful brush and he thought it was trash and actually tossed it in the trash (or so he said) - I'm guessing my opinion was because I had been bowl lathering at the time and the abrasive pattern of the scuttles had made my boars into wonderful brushes.  I thought his reaction was a little extreme although I do understand impatience with products that don't seem to work for me when I have so many products that do.  Maybe boar brush makers should sell a line of pre-broken in brushes just like already faded and torn blue jeans.

Marko, I use a suribachi bowl about 80-90% of the time.  And Pete123 is right - they are lather monsters!  I've heard the concern about damaging brushes, but it was well after the fact that I learned I was putting too much pressure on the brush when loading/lathering, easily compressing the brush 50-75%.  But even though I was abusing the brush, here is a pic of my most used brush:



I used the brush 112 times in 2017 and 64 times in 2016.  With several new brushes in the rotation, I don't expect I will see any damage, if any, for many years.

That fellow on the other forum who posted a picture of a destroyed brush must have practically stood on the brush while lathering to get the damage he had.

John, what is the scuttle front/left in the first image. Is that the Georgetown? Very nice looking collection!

That is a Georgetown G5.

I TRIED IT.
MUCH TOO NOISY.

SIPPING COFFEE FROM IT IS MUCH QUIETER.

Thanks for the link.

I bought one, as well; inexpensive, performs well. Just wish it were a scuttle

Nice looking scuttle.