bk8 silvertip

[gil3591]

just bought a new bk8 off ebay for a nice price. hope i like it. my favorite brush knots are shavemac and saville row so i should like this one.

[rsp1202]

Good find. Same size knot as your SR, tremendous bloom.

[brothers]

Gil, it's an amazing soft and full brush. I hope you enjoy it!

[bernards66]

Gil, Given your current favourites I'd be surprised if the BK8 didn't satisfy. I think it's a beautiful brush, but probably a tad too large for me ( although I have been tempted on occasion ). I kinda wish they made a BK6 but when I think about it realistically the BK4 is probably about the right size for me. Enjoy!
Regards,
Gordon

[Squire]

Should work well for you Gil, give us a report.

[Mr.Max]

The bk8 was my first high quality brush. It's a little big for me these days.

[fallingwickets]

looking forward to read what you think about your new brush, gil

use in good health

clive

[Squire]

Little bib for me as well Matt but I could make it work.

[gil3591]

my bk8 arrived today! some say the bk8 is too large. not for me it ain't! it's not as dense as a shavemac or savile row but more similar to a vulfix. i immediately took it to a shaved puck of arko. not a difficult job for a first lather and found the brush to make lather easily and with a very good quality. i see no reason to suspect it won't do other soaps and think it will attack mwf with ease. it won't message you face as a more dense or stiffer hair brush would but that's why we have other brushes, right?
i didn't like my bk4 cause it was floppy and floppiness was more noticeable cause the knot was smaller. (does that make sense?) the bk8 is a very good brush but i wonder if money would be more wisely spent if you just get a vulfix. as i recall, my vulfix 2236 was very , very similar for a fraction of the price.
now i wonder what an omega silvertip would be like

[bernards66]

Gil, To me, the Vulfix Supers and the Kent BKs are not as similar as I used to assume. My BK4 has a good deal of loft and bloom and because of these factors it is pretty flexible....but it's really a relatively densely packed knot. If you take a BK4 ( and I assume the other two sizes as well ) and a similar sized Vulfix and squeeze both of them at the base of the bristle you can clearly feel the difference in density. Also, the gauge of the individual bristles in the Kents seem finer than what's generally used in the Vulfix Supers.
Regards,
Gordon

[gil3591]

yes gordon, i did notice really fine bristles

[jww]

... think it will attack mwf with ease. ...

My, my, one doesn't "attack" MWF, one massages and coaxes the puck in order to get the porcelain dish to levitate and encourage it to release its magical lather.

[rsp1202]

Gil, good luck with your new brush. I have some familiarity with Kents, and none with Thater. How does your brush compare?

[gil3591]

ron, i've had 2 thaters and they were vastly different from each other. the 3 banded thater was the softest bristle brush i've ever experienced. the finast bristle was more like a 2 band brush. both were more dense than the kent. if i would rate my current brushes they would be: soft tips, 1) savile row silvertip, 2) kent silvertip 3) shavemac silvertip 4) golden nib silvertip.
density. 1) savile row 2) golden nib 3) shavemac 4) kent all release lather equally. but then we have the omega boar. i consider the big knotted boar to give the best face feel and back bone over all the brushes but it doesn't manufacture lather as well which places it in 5th spot. for some reason though,, the boar is superior with a palmolive shave stick!!! go figure

[rsp1202]

Thanks for that, Gil. I started looking at Kents again, and also the Thaters. The Thater 2-band looks terrific to my eyes but it gets very expensive very quickly, and I'm moving away from dense/dense brushes. Their 2-band with plexi handle also seems to be impossible to source from U.S. vendors. When you measure cost vs. performance vs. ultimate feel, the Savile Row still comes out ahead, with the Kent in second place. If I had the money and a contact overseas, I'd love to try the Thater, but what a hassle now, especially when I can get the SR and Kent much more easily.

[brothers]

Ron, is Don at SRD not able to order a two band plexi for you?

[rsp1202]

Gary, we've exchanged emails. He has nothing in stock and doesn't know if it can be special ordered. I'm waiting to hear back from him. This is the 49125 plexi, not the version you have (4376?). The other U.S. vendor has no interest in special ordering one, and sourcing from Europe is too expensive. This "pause" has given me time to reflect, as I mentioned to Gil, that the 2-band might well be too dense for my tastes in any event, not to mention above-budget as is. I thought originally it might be nice to kill two birds with one stone and get a plexi handle with some beautiful 2-band hair, but if it doesn't happen then I've got backup plans with an SR or Kent. Not too much of step down, I'd say.

[brothers]

Ron, yes, mine is the 3 band, not the one you're looking for. Bernd at Shavemac has a nice plexi handle that he could use to make up whatever brush you have in mind, I'm sure. My Shavemac 220 is one of the softest and dense brushes I have. It's not a plexi, but it could have been if the original owner had wanted it that way.

[gil3591]

something is happening here! for some reason i have used the bk8 every day now and i don't know why. i used it just now on a new puck of mwf and i will say wendell, the bk8 made a lamb out of a bear!

[brothers]

Gil, it's good to hear you've hit a winning combination. I hope the honeymoon lasts forever!