Tatara Muramasa Adjustable Brush Passaround Review

Some closing thoughts after passing the brush on, and trying the synthetic knot. The brush and its knots are top quality, lather well, and easily retain enough lather for three hefty passes. I personally found the adjustability more helpful with the synthetic knot, the higher loft really painted well. Given the opportunity, i would acquire this brush, for my den. The price tag is restrictive. Im not an unlimited funds guy, and already have an extensive den. But under the right circumstances l would pull the proverbial trigger. Just not at full retail.

Some closing thoughts after passing the brush on, and trying the synthetic knot. The brush and its knots are top quality, lather well, and easily retain enough lather for three hefty passes. I personally found the adjustability more helpful with the synthetic knot, the higher loft really painted well. Given the opportunity, i would acquire this brush, for my den. The price tag is restrictive. Im not an unlimited funds guy, and already have an extensive den. But under the right circumstances l would pull the proverbial trigger. Just not at full retail.

A very nice summation. I am with you, given the right circumstances, I'd buy the synthetic and badger knots and a handle. As you said, that synthetic did a great job and felt great on the face.

The brushes arrived safe yesterday!   Thank you DanLaw for the opportunity to try them. I will start using them tomorrow and post my thoughts.  Initially, I love the weight/heft.   It also appears the badger has broken in nicely.  More to come ….

I would like to first thank DanLaw for giving me the opportunity to use and review these brilliantly made brushes.  This is my first passaround and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 
I have now had the opportunity to use both brushes for two to three pass shaves.  I also used them to test lather another couple of times.  For each shave or test, I used MdC Nature or Proraso White to keep things as simple as possible in terms of soaps and creams.  When I see some of the remarkable lather made by dtownvino and others, I am quickly reminded that I am still a novice on this skill.  Nevertheless, I hope my review and following pictures are helpful.

Construction:  Before receiving the brushes, I was definitely not entirely sure what to make of an adjustable metal handle.  It, however, fits better in my hand than any other brush I own.  I also really enjoyed the heft and finish of the handle.  It felt like a well-constructed tool that should last for years.  The adjuster was extremely smooth and effortlessly moved the brush inserts up and down with ease once engaged.  I found it very easy to quickly change the settings and to even replace the inserts.  The only potential negative is that the inside bottom around the male end of the engagement mechanism is a bit difficult to reach if it gets dirty and needs to be cleaned.  You will need a Q-tip to clean that area.

Size: I did not find either brush too small or more appropriate for a travel brush.  I prefer 24 mm to 26 mm knots, making these brushes ideal in terms of knot size.  As shown in the below picture, the badger brush was actually very close to a Simpsons Best Badger Commodore X3.  The knot of the synthetic appears small, but it did not act as a small brush.  The loft combined with a tight knot gave it excellent backbone.  I actually think both brushes are elite, which is supported by Tatara’s representation that Mr. Gomes of Semogue personally selects the hair for each brush. 

Performance:  I followed the general consensus of using setting 3 for lathering and dropping down to 1 or 2 for application.  Setting 1 will definitely provide exfoliation, but my preference was setting 2 for application.  Both brushes will easily splay between settings 1.5 and 2.5, which also worked great for painting strokes—my preference.  I quickly generated nice lather at least to my standards at setting 3 for both brushes.  You cannot go wrong with either brush for performance.  It is simply a matter of personal preference.  Still, I agree with the other reviewers that the synthetic is the way to go at first. 

Bottom Line:  The brushes are definitely not the cheapest, but this is a situation where you get what you pay for.  They are unique and I fully understand that there was most likely more engineering and design costs associated with making them.  To me the real value is to probably own all three or at least two inserts.  You would only have to purchase one handle and subsequently buy the knot inserts instead of another handle.  The handle appears to run around $130 for the synthetic and boar and $150 for the badger.  I am not sure why the difference.  Although the boar knot was not included, I cannot imagine a premium boar knot hand-picked by the owner of Semogue not having excellent performance.  I would definitely purchase the brush if I owned a Muramasa razor.  It would be an ideal contemporary display.  It would also be a great three piece set for anybody looking to minimize the number of brushes they own.  They provide a lot of flexibility by being able to change the loft—I was really surprised how much the feel of each brush changed with slight modifications of the loft.  Personally, I would start with the synthetic and later purchase the boar and badger inserts only.

Badger comparison 

Badger lather

Synthetic lather

Synthetic comparison 

Last call for anybody wanting to participate in the Muramasa passaround

Well, my time with the brushes has ended.  Waiting for the next participant, however, allowed me to experiment with different soaps.  The brushes did a great job with everything I tried.  Although the synthetic definitely became my favorite over time, I thoroughly enjoyed being able to adjust the hair length from 3 for lathering to 2 for painting stroke and 1.5 for exfoliation with both brushes. I am not aware of any other brush offering such versatility.  

DanLaw is offering a special opportunity for us to try some very unique brushes.  I highly recommend participating in the pass around.  Thanks again DanLaw for allowing me to do so.