The picture says it all. Yet it also raises a bunch of questions.

First of all, I've been busy. You don't create a beauty like the one in the back of my truck without some effort. This project has been a bit of an undercover operation for the last few months. One of the local high-tech-struck-it-rich wet shavers around here wanted a brush like no other. Guys like that go big, and I wasn't going to let him down. This beautiful cocobolo silvertip badger brush is the result.

So that's the answer, what about the questions you ask?
Well, first of all, that looks like quite a load for a '69 Ford pickup. Are you sure it can handle it? It turns out my good ol' F100 comes with factory installed heavy duty springs in back, so the weight was manageable. I just had to tie the load down to be sure it didn't sway too much on the winding trip down the mountain.

Second, where do you get badgers for a brush like that? Most people don't realize that the planet Chiena has supersized resort badgers available for your average 1000 lb., medium firm, 90cm silvertip badger brush. The brush-commissioner ordered the brush for me on his interplanet network and the Space Shuttle (I'm not kidding) picked it up last time they were at the space station --that's why they had such a long mission last trip.

What about the cocobolo tree? They don't come that large! Oh, come on, you know those high tech wizards get whatever they want. He said "make it happen", and the forest complied. Simple.

And finally, how did you get it loaded and unloaded in that very cool truck? I've been spending lots of time with my personal trainer. Fortunately, she is my fiance, so I could afford it. Note though, I am obligated to fix dinner on command until 2020. Works for me. I'd have done that for her anyway!!!

So don't get too jealous of the haves here. I have no idea how to lather this thing up. I'm thinking scuba gear may be required to survive the process. Having that kind of money is more trouble than I would know how to handle. My 28mm works just fine for me!

I hope your April has started as well as mine! ;-)

More very impressive pics tomorrow...

Amyn, you da man!

You would not believe how many positive comments I have gotten on this brush! For the record, Amyn, the commissioner of this brush, designed it. He sent me a picture of the Simpsons Tulip with his changes, I drew it up on Autosketch and sent him two drawings to evaluate. He told me which one fit his vision, and I made the brush. I probably deviated a little from the drawing since I turn by eye most of the time, but the inspiration belongs to Amyn.

So, let me be the first to say to Amyn: "You da MAN!" Very nice work. I hope the brush serves you well. BTW, Amyn has posted a review of the brush here and here. Thanks Amyn, I really appreciate that.

Sometimes it's just "same ol' same ol'"

The pic shows the view from up here on Mt. Tamalpais. My shop is atually on the dark ridge just on the left edge where the tree is. Life is good!

So how was your shave today? I had a new, red, IP in my Merkur and it was no cakewalk let me tell you. I had some pulling and scraping to contend with. I'll give it one more day, but if that blade doesn't shape up I'm going to ditch it. I guess if it is bad, I can allow for a few bad blades (at 10 cents/blade) at the moment.

Everything else about my shave was great by the way. I have been using this Truefitt and Hill 1805 shaving cream. The rest of the toolkit included my firm, 28mm brush, and coastal oak bowl. That brush is just sweet! And so is the T&H 1805. Very nice indeed!

Well, we have an update to the Rakowski case. 1Adam12 has experience with Rakowski brushes. Hmm, not good experience either. Check out his post at SRP.

Hey, this gets me off on a tangent. 1A12..., with a moniker like that, we know he's not a kid don't we? 1 Adam 12 was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid. I guess that means I ain't no spring chicken either. In fact, I'm so old, I'm too grumpy to watch television anymore; so I got rid of it! It's the blogging life for me.

So anyway, 1A12 appears to have purchased an early Rakowski brush. $20 is a bargain for sure. Though, it appears as if his brush had problems with the finish and construction. 1A12 ended up re-gluing the knot into the handle and re-finishing the cracked wood finish. That is not good. What surprised me was he had no criticism for the badgers from the, as thebigspender suggested, generic Chinese badger ranch. In fact, he likes his brush now that he has it fixed up. Imagine how good it would be if those badgers had been in a branded resort before they became a shaving brush!

Ah shoot! Enough of the badgering again!

Hey, I've been working on some Stubby/Chubby look-a-likes. These particular handles are smaller handles for smaller knots. The knots are set deep to make them firm. They're kind of cute actually. I'll post the pics when they are available of course. I have to admit they are fun to to turn!

That's it for tonight. Tomorrow I will be in Toronto on bidness. At some point, we have to pay the bills! :-)

There's gonna be some changes around here...

Those of you wanting to comment but not having a Google account, sorry about the commenting restrictions. I have corrected that. Anyone can comment, and it will be visible immediately. Have fun!

More later...

Happy Easter!

Good evening. No real blogging tonight. It was a full day of Easter here on the mountain. We started at 5:30 a.m. when about a thousand (only guessing) motorcycles rode by the house. The first wave took over 10 minutes to pass, the next few waves about 5 minutes each, and then smaller groups for the next hour. Those sunrise services do have a price. Unfortunately we had to chip in!

Okay, I finished this brush today. It's a medium firm, 28mm thuya burl (again). It sure is nice isn't it?! Hey, what have you been up to? You're seeing triples! Oh wait, that's just the same brush from three different angles.

That's it for tonight. See you tomorrow I hope!

Shaving Brushes and the Scientific Method

He’s at it again! thebigspender has weighed in with another zinger, this time at The Straight Razor Place. The subject: Custom brush maker Tom Rakowski. At least thebigspender admitted up front that he didn’t know what he was talking about… You can look here to see what I think of thebigspender's poor logic. He is consistent.

I’ve never seen one of Tom’s brushes in person either. I have seen his photos, and he does a very nice job turning his handles. Even without holding one of Tom’s brushes though, I can see a potential problem. And you will see it too when you finish this post.

Tonight, I offer you some direct knot size and characteristics comparisons. This is your chance to look at real photos and be your own knot scientist.

First, lets talk about knot size. Most knots are classified by their diameter. I use 22mm, 25mm, and 28mm silvertip badger knots. This allows me to make a range of brushes from small through pretty large. I have made some 30mm brushes -- those guys were giants!

The following picture shows you a comparison of the three knot sizes I use. All three knots are set in the board with a depth that will give them what I call a medium feel. (Here’s what I mean by medium: They should work well for both creams and soaps. If you’re a dedicated soaper, go firmer, but if you use both and only want one brush, medium is the ticket.)



So, you can see that by increasing the diameter, the knots (and brushes) get much larger. Math alert. This is because the number of bristles increases with the square of the knot diameter. For equally dense knots, a 25mm brush is 29% larger than a 22mm knot. A 28mm knot is 62% larger than a 22mm knot and 25% larger than a 25mm brush. In addition to these differences, the lofts vary. For equal lofts, larger diameter knots are firmer. So for the same feel, a larger diameter knot can support a longer loft.

This also means that we can change the firmness of a brush by changing the loft. A shorter loft on equally dense knots results in a firmer brush. There is some physics behind this, but I won't bore you with that. The empirical evidence is there. This next picture below shows three different lofts for a 25mm knot.

Quite a difference isn’t it? My experience is that many people seem to prefer a medium to firm knot. Even a densely packed knot is going to be floppy if the loft is too long.

Now back to Tom Rakowski’s brushes. Beautiful turnings. Based on his photos, his bristle loft also appears to be a pretty high loft. So if there is a potential problem here, it is that the knots are not set to create the feel that (in my experience) many people seem to prefer.

Finally, if you are a flexible brush person, then a Rakowski brush will probably work pretty well. If you ask Tom to set your knot to a specific loft, you are likely to be satisfied too. After all, that is the point of a custom brush – get it the way you want it.

The brush and the beard.

One of my blog heroes, strobist, says that this is the blogging hour. Of course he is three hours ahead of me, but you have to put some faith in your heroes. Oh, BTW, that means Mr. Hobby's blogging hour is 3:30 a.m.! I would be thinking about shaving if I was up at that hour!

So, the beard...I'm going to grow it back. I just like it. It makes me look thin!

For tonight, just a quick pic. I offer this brush that I finished today shown at left. This was another commissioned brush. It was a modified design of one of the BIG BOYS (okay that's a bit sexist, let's say BIG PEOPLES) designs. This customer knows his brushes, and he creates designs that work don't you think? The wood is thuya burl again. Schweet!!

Alright, that was the brush.

Tomorrow (or is it today?) let's talk about brush loft and firmness... One of my other customers had a great idea, and I'm going to try to act on it to actually create some useful information. That would be very cool! :-)