Joel,
I have sent Shavemac an E-mail asking them about their brushes and their construction.
I'll let you know if I get a response.
Paul.
ed
-
bernards66
- Duke of Silvertip!
- Posts: 27393
- Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:02 pm
Joel, This whole issue again ( sigh )....Let me put it this way, it's not the same type of bristle that you would find in a Plisson High Mountain White, Plisson European White, or in Simpson Chubby and Polo Supers. Whether you want to consider it as 'silvertip' despite that, is up to you. All the posts I've read on the Shavemac ( and other better German brushes ) have described them as having a very flexible style bristle, more so then Vulfix or Kent even. Regards, Gordon
Joel,
I have a Shavemac XL "silvertip" that is a great brush. It is a little softer than the other English brushes that I own (BK8, and Vulfix 2235).
For the price, I am very happy with it.
I will be interested to see what Shavemac has to say on the subject, if they respond, and I believe they will.
Steve
I have a Shavemac XL "silvertip" that is a great brush. It is a little softer than the other English brushes that I own (BK8, and Vulfix 2235).
For the price, I am very happy with it.
I will be interested to see what Shavemac has to say on the subject, if they respond, and I believe they will.
Steve
Joel, very interesting indeed. The consesus on this board as to the house style of Kent, and my own experience with kent "silvertip" brushes tells me that if softness and flexibility are the criteria, then my BK12 is most likely "it" in terms of shaving efficacy. I love the Kent, but suffer from the "grass (simpson) is greener on the other side of the fence) syndrome. Simpson house style seems to be "stout" whereas Kent is "soft" and Vulfix somewhere in between. Who knows...
Regards,
Robert
Regards,
Robert
Well fellas,
The brush my wife bought me from ShaveMac last December is GREAT!
It was ordered from the 'construct your own ' link at ShaveMac...
It is so 'soft and flexible' that I would think a brush more flexible/soft would probably be unusable. I have nothing to compare my brush to, but thought I would add those thoughts.... oh yeah, it was inexpensive too and came in what ShaveMac calls "Finest" badger. It is a very nice brush, holds a mountain of lather/water.... I just don't see how much better a brush can get (I am sure one day I will try though!
)
Gramps
The brush my wife bought me from ShaveMac last December is GREAT!
It was ordered from the 'construct your own ' link at ShaveMac...
It is so 'soft and flexible' that I would think a brush more flexible/soft would probably be unusable. I have nothing to compare my brush to, but thought I would add those thoughts.... oh yeah, it was inexpensive too and came in what ShaveMac calls "Finest" badger. It is a very nice brush, holds a mountain of lather/water.... I just don't see how much better a brush can get (I am sure one day I will try though!
)Gramps
~~ Larry ~~
-
bernards66
- Duke of Silvertip!
- Posts: 27393
- Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:02 pm
Joel, Of course, 'silvertip' is an English brushmakers term, and was originally descriptive of the bristles appearance. This was many decades ago, before the practice of bleaching the tips of brushes started. The Chinese producers and sellers have their own gradation system, just as they do with tea. But English tea buyers and blenders continue to use their own terms, which evolved over the centuries. All the ultra expensive brushes being offered today have medium-stiff to very-stiff ( or 'stout' ) bristle. Peter, in Holland, who has all these brushes, says that his Simpson Manchurian is very similiar in feel to his Plisson HMW, and both are a bit less stiff then his Simpson Chubby and Polo Supers. But they are still quite stiff, as compared with most other badger brushes ( as you discovered with the Plisson HMW that you had ). The 'softest' most flexible bristled brush I've ever personally used was a $45 Vulfix Pure Badger. Regarding personal use, it comes down to preference, beyond a doubt. I'm personally not that keen on super stiff brushes either. My Plisson European White is about as far in that direction as I'm comfortable with. My point was only that those German brushes are a very different bristle then what you find in the most costly brushes, the ones that most agree are undoubtedly 'silvertip'. If one wants to believe that it's somehow a 'different kind' of silvertip. that's up to them. Regards, Gordon
Here is a copy of the e-mail to Shavemac and their response. I have put their responses in bold.
Paul.
---------------------------------------------------------
Dear Paul R. Bowser,
thank you for your interest in our products.
Please find the answers to you questions below.
Dear Sir,
I have been looking at you sight for some time and find you selection of shaving brushes very interesting.
I have noticed that almost all of your Pure & Finest badger shaving brushes have a metal band of some kind around the top of the handle and I am wondering what it's purpose is. I also noticed that none of the Silver-tip brushes have this metal band.
The metal band indicates that the brush is not hand made but machine made.This means it is not the very high quality and skill of a brush maker masters brush.
We are going to change most of our Pure Badger and Finest Badger quality from machine made to handmade. This will come within the next few weeks. Then all of our brushes are of
the high quality standard as the Silver Tip brushes.
One great advantage of the handmade brush is that the forming of the brush head using a shaping box; the bundle of badger hair is turned over so the the tips are pointing downwards, they are then inserted into the shaping box and carefully “tapped” until the correct form is achieved.
The shaping box has a contoured inside which gives the brush heads their shape. Under no circumstances are scissors allowed to be used to correct any unevenness. No hair is injured or cut. This makes the brush very soft and durable.
Also in looking at your custom brush section, I noticed that I can only get a brush in Pure & Finest badger hair and I can't specify the knot size of the brush. Why do you have these limitations? And can I get a custom made Silver-tip brush?
Yes, we can make every brush with every quality. Please let me know which one you want.
The hair in your first coupe of your Finest badger bushes (Blue/Nickel & Imitation Horn Nickel) actually appears lighter than most of your Silver-tip brushes. Is is due to bleaching?
Sorry no, this is caused by bad picture. The Silver Tip is the brightest one.
For your Pure, Finest & Silver tip brushes, could you please tell me how the brush heads are made (Do you make your own heads?) and how the brushes are constructed? Also will you please define Silver-tip for me and tell me where it comes from?
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.
Paul R. Bowser.
Here are some more info about the shaving brushes:
-------------------------------------------------------------
*The Badger Hair Shaving Brush*
*Quality – Manufacture - Usage - Product Care*
*Quality Grades*
From the various quality of badger hair, we differentiate principally between two types, the *superior or fine badger* and the *pure badger*.
The *superior or fine badger* qualities are categorized by the silver tipped as being the most valuable, and the *grey tipped* as being the value for money alternative.
The main difference between the superior or fine badger and the pure badger, lies in the natural three part coloring of the hair; the lower part being light, the middle area having a significantly darker colour and the tips having a contrasting light colour.
On the “Silver tipped”, the tips are white, thereby giving rise to the claim “the whiter the more valuable” Both are collected in the same way.
Superior or fine badger, the badger’s decorative hair, is mechanically and manually plucked and sorted according to lengths.
The “silver tipped” is collected exclusively by hand.
Pure badger, the mainly grey or black under hair is mechanically
collected and sorted into various lengths.
--------------------------------------------------------
*Manufacturing of the brush handle*
Essential to the manufacture is:
Badger hair, sensitive scales, shaping box for shaping the form, cord, epoxy resin and skilled craftsmanship.
The diameter of the area bored into the brush handle determines the weight of hair to be used for the brush head.
For example, a diameter of 21mm would require approximately 14g. of badger hair.
The next stage in production is the weighing out of the appropriate amount of hair using sensitive scales which have weights from 0.1gram upwards, (1g. of badger hair contains about 1000 single hairs).
Next comes the forming of the brush head using a shaping box; the bundle of badger hair is turned over so the the tips are pointing downwards, they are then inserted into the shaping box and carefully “tapped” until the correct form is achieved. The shaping box has a contoured inside which gives the brush heads their shape.
Lastly the bundle of hair is bound with cord.
Now any small irregularities in the shading of the circular dark pattern are corrected by hand. In brush makers jargon this is called plucking.
The pattern is thereby precisely aligned so the brush head has a symmetrical and an equally parallel circular pattern.
A true sign of the art and craftsmanship of the brush makers.
In the next stage of production the so-called foot of the brush head is cast in epoxy resin. Following the hardening of this glue, the occasional not secured hairs are combed out by hand. The brush head is then ready for further processing - or rather - placed in the previously prepared handle.
What makes a top class hand finished brush head special in quality is because the tips of the badger hair have not been subjected to any mechanical work.
The forming of the brush head is carried out purely by hand using the shaping box. Under no circumstances are scissors allowed to be used to correct any unevenness.
Only in this way can the value of the hair, which comes from its white tips, be preserved.
A brush head which has been mechanically cut to form its shape, even though the finest badger hair is used, is not worth much more than a brush head of less quality hair.
The last stage of production is the joining together of the brush head to the handle.
Epoxy resin is once again used. Once this hardens, a long-lasting and waterproof joint is guaranteed.
-------------------------------------------------------------
*Usage + Product Care*
Together with solid hand crafted manufacturing, usage and product care are the basis for providing a long-lasting shaving brush and customer satisfaction.
It is necessary to use a quality shaving soap or cream, sufficient warm water, a sharp razor blade or safety razor, a shaving brush (badger hair when possible) and some time.
Before soaping it is recommended that the facial skin is well moistened with warm water. Those wishing to be very professional lay a wet, previously soaked in hot water and wrung out, hand towel on the face. This has the effect of opening up the pores and allowing the shaving soap’s ingredients to be absorbed. As a result, the stubble is forced outwards from the skin and allows for a very smooth close shave.
For soaping, warm water should be used to moisten the shaving brush, and before applying to the face sufficient lather produced. A large shaving brush made from badger hair produces especially copious amounts of lather.
The lather is then applied to the face using circular or oblique brush strokes, during which, strong pressure on the brush should be avoided as this leads to premature wearing out of the badger hair.
During soaping, care must always be taken to ensure that the shaving brush is kept moist. Using too little water causes the lather to break up and prevents softening of the stubble.
For a smoother and closer shave, it is essential that sufficient shaving lather is used, and this applied to the face for about two minutes using a shaving brush. The whiskers can then be removed using a safety razor or straight razor, without causing reddening of the skin or irritation.
After shaving we recommend that any residual shaving lather is removed from the face using warm water and then rinsed with cold water to close the pores. In addition to being refreshing, it also prevents to a larger degree any irritation of the skin caused by aftershaves.
* Product Care*
Essentials are warm (not necessarily hot) water and a shaving brush stand.
After use, any remaining residue from the shaving lather is alkali and this can cause the brush hair to prematurely loose its natural oils and thereby become brittle and prone to breaking, and the shaving brush to loose its hair.
To preserve the durability of the brushes and for reasons of hygiene
therefore, any residual lather should be thoroughly rinsed out,
preferably with warm (not hot) water. After cleaning, excess water should be shaken from the brush. The shaving brush should then be placed upside down in the shaving brush
stand and stored in a well ventilated area in order to dry out.
______________________________________________
Shavemac Blos GmbH
Rangaustrasse 33
90530 Wendelstein
Germany
Phone: 0049 (0) 9129 4313
Fax: 0049 (0) 9129 4916
Email: info@shavemac.de
Internet: www.shavemac.de
Paul.
---------------------------------------------------------
Dear Paul R. Bowser,
thank you for your interest in our products.
Please find the answers to you questions below.
Dear Sir,
I have been looking at you sight for some time and find you selection of shaving brushes very interesting.
I have noticed that almost all of your Pure & Finest badger shaving brushes have a metal band of some kind around the top of the handle and I am wondering what it's purpose is. I also noticed that none of the Silver-tip brushes have this metal band.
The metal band indicates that the brush is not hand made but machine made.This means it is not the very high quality and skill of a brush maker masters brush.
We are going to change most of our Pure Badger and Finest Badger quality from machine made to handmade. This will come within the next few weeks. Then all of our brushes are of
the high quality standard as the Silver Tip brushes.
One great advantage of the handmade brush is that the forming of the brush head using a shaping box; the bundle of badger hair is turned over so the the tips are pointing downwards, they are then inserted into the shaping box and carefully “tapped” until the correct form is achieved.
The shaping box has a contoured inside which gives the brush heads their shape. Under no circumstances are scissors allowed to be used to correct any unevenness. No hair is injured or cut. This makes the brush very soft and durable.
Also in looking at your custom brush section, I noticed that I can only get a brush in Pure & Finest badger hair and I can't specify the knot size of the brush. Why do you have these limitations? And can I get a custom made Silver-tip brush?
Yes, we can make every brush with every quality. Please let me know which one you want.
The hair in your first coupe of your Finest badger bushes (Blue/Nickel & Imitation Horn Nickel) actually appears lighter than most of your Silver-tip brushes. Is is due to bleaching?
Sorry no, this is caused by bad picture. The Silver Tip is the brightest one.
For your Pure, Finest & Silver tip brushes, could you please tell me how the brush heads are made (Do you make your own heads?) and how the brushes are constructed? Also will you please define Silver-tip for me and tell me where it comes from?
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.
Paul R. Bowser.
Here are some more info about the shaving brushes:
-------------------------------------------------------------
*The Badger Hair Shaving Brush*
*Quality – Manufacture - Usage - Product Care*
*Quality Grades*
From the various quality of badger hair, we differentiate principally between two types, the *superior or fine badger* and the *pure badger*.
The *superior or fine badger* qualities are categorized by the silver tipped as being the most valuable, and the *grey tipped* as being the value for money alternative.
The main difference between the superior or fine badger and the pure badger, lies in the natural three part coloring of the hair; the lower part being light, the middle area having a significantly darker colour and the tips having a contrasting light colour.
On the “Silver tipped”, the tips are white, thereby giving rise to the claim “the whiter the more valuable” Both are collected in the same way.
Superior or fine badger, the badger’s decorative hair, is mechanically and manually plucked and sorted according to lengths.
The “silver tipped” is collected exclusively by hand.
Pure badger, the mainly grey or black under hair is mechanically
collected and sorted into various lengths.
--------------------------------------------------------
*Manufacturing of the brush handle*
Essential to the manufacture is:
Badger hair, sensitive scales, shaping box for shaping the form, cord, epoxy resin and skilled craftsmanship.
The diameter of the area bored into the brush handle determines the weight of hair to be used for the brush head.
For example, a diameter of 21mm would require approximately 14g. of badger hair.
The next stage in production is the weighing out of the appropriate amount of hair using sensitive scales which have weights from 0.1gram upwards, (1g. of badger hair contains about 1000 single hairs).
Next comes the forming of the brush head using a shaping box; the bundle of badger hair is turned over so the the tips are pointing downwards, they are then inserted into the shaping box and carefully “tapped” until the correct form is achieved. The shaping box has a contoured inside which gives the brush heads their shape.
Lastly the bundle of hair is bound with cord.
Now any small irregularities in the shading of the circular dark pattern are corrected by hand. In brush makers jargon this is called plucking.
The pattern is thereby precisely aligned so the brush head has a symmetrical and an equally parallel circular pattern.
A true sign of the art and craftsmanship of the brush makers.
In the next stage of production the so-called foot of the brush head is cast in epoxy resin. Following the hardening of this glue, the occasional not secured hairs are combed out by hand. The brush head is then ready for further processing - or rather - placed in the previously prepared handle.
What makes a top class hand finished brush head special in quality is because the tips of the badger hair have not been subjected to any mechanical work.
The forming of the brush head is carried out purely by hand using the shaping box. Under no circumstances are scissors allowed to be used to correct any unevenness.
Only in this way can the value of the hair, which comes from its white tips, be preserved.
A brush head which has been mechanically cut to form its shape, even though the finest badger hair is used, is not worth much more than a brush head of less quality hair.
The last stage of production is the joining together of the brush head to the handle.
Epoxy resin is once again used. Once this hardens, a long-lasting and waterproof joint is guaranteed.
-------------------------------------------------------------
*Usage + Product Care*
Together with solid hand crafted manufacturing, usage and product care are the basis for providing a long-lasting shaving brush and customer satisfaction.
It is necessary to use a quality shaving soap or cream, sufficient warm water, a sharp razor blade or safety razor, a shaving brush (badger hair when possible) and some time.
Before soaping it is recommended that the facial skin is well moistened with warm water. Those wishing to be very professional lay a wet, previously soaked in hot water and wrung out, hand towel on the face. This has the effect of opening up the pores and allowing the shaving soap’s ingredients to be absorbed. As a result, the stubble is forced outwards from the skin and allows for a very smooth close shave.
For soaping, warm water should be used to moisten the shaving brush, and before applying to the face sufficient lather produced. A large shaving brush made from badger hair produces especially copious amounts of lather.
The lather is then applied to the face using circular or oblique brush strokes, during which, strong pressure on the brush should be avoided as this leads to premature wearing out of the badger hair.
During soaping, care must always be taken to ensure that the shaving brush is kept moist. Using too little water causes the lather to break up and prevents softening of the stubble.
For a smoother and closer shave, it is essential that sufficient shaving lather is used, and this applied to the face for about two minutes using a shaving brush. The whiskers can then be removed using a safety razor or straight razor, without causing reddening of the skin or irritation.
After shaving we recommend that any residual shaving lather is removed from the face using warm water and then rinsed with cold water to close the pores. In addition to being refreshing, it also prevents to a larger degree any irritation of the skin caused by aftershaves.
* Product Care*
Essentials are warm (not necessarily hot) water and a shaving brush stand.
After use, any remaining residue from the shaving lather is alkali and this can cause the brush hair to prematurely loose its natural oils and thereby become brittle and prone to breaking, and the shaving brush to loose its hair.
To preserve the durability of the brushes and for reasons of hygiene
therefore, any residual lather should be thoroughly rinsed out,
preferably with warm (not hot) water. After cleaning, excess water should be shaken from the brush. The shaving brush should then be placed upside down in the shaving brush
stand and stored in a well ventilated area in order to dry out.
______________________________________________
Shavemac Blos GmbH
Rangaustrasse 33
90530 Wendelstein
Germany
Phone: 0049 (0) 9129 4313
Fax: 0049 (0) 9129 4916
Email: info@shavemac.de
Internet: www.shavemac.de
A Peach looks good with lots of fuzz but man's no peach and never was. ~ Burma Shave
John,
I still have my questions about the grade of the silver-tip hair. But I have heard nothing but VERY positive comments about Shavemac silver-tip brushes. I have no doubt I will buy a Shavemac brush, but I will wait till I can find a bush I know is silver-tip so I have something to compare the Shavemac brush to.
Paul.
I still have my questions about the grade of the silver-tip hair. But I have heard nothing but VERY positive comments about Shavemac silver-tip brushes. I have no doubt I will buy a Shavemac brush, but I will wait till I can find a bush I know is silver-tip so I have something to compare the Shavemac brush to.
Paul.
A Peach looks good with lots of fuzz but man's no peach and never was. ~ Burma Shave
-
bernards66
- Duke of Silvertip!
- Posts: 27393
- Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:02 pm
Paul, Then, for now anyway, you will have to go with the top of the line Plissons or Simpson Super Chubbys or Polos. These are the ones that are almost universally agreeded upon as being the real deal. Whether or not you'd like this style of bristle, is something you could only find out by personal experiance. Regards, Gordon
-
clownjuggles
- Resident Juggler
- Posts: 668
- Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2004 11:47 pm
- Location: Celebration, FL
- Contact:
I am sure that there is silvertip out there but I am not neccesarily sure you need to go for simpson or plisson to find it.
Peter
"Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd
His skin was pale and his eye was odd,
he shaved the faces of gentlemen who never
there after were heard of again. He trod a path
that few have trod, did Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
"Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd
His skin was pale and his eye was odd,
he shaved the faces of gentlemen who never
there after were heard of again. He trod a path
that few have trod, did Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.