Difference Between Rooney Finest and Heritage Two-Band

[AABCDS]

I've never owned either brush so I'd like to know in what way these two brushes differ. I've looked at pictures of Rooney Finest brushes and the hair on them looks very similar to the Heritage Two-Band hair brushes at Vintage Blades.

I'm assuming they're different but don't know exactly how. Would anyone be so kind as to explain the differences?

 

[ssultan]

Backbone, scritch, appearance...completely different in all aspects. The only thing common to both is that they're not currently being produced...

 

[nEver-Ready]

Backbone, scritch, appearance...completely different in all aspects.

Absolutely. Heritage has tips soft to the point of being gel-like and middling backbone. Finest has a lot of scritch/scrubbiness with near impossible levels of backbone and density. They are about as different as any 2 2-bands I have tried.

 

[AABCDS]

Thanks for the info. I knew that Finest wasn't being made any longer. I didn't know that production stopped on Heritage brushes too.

 

[ssultan]

I was referring to the heritage 2-band...though if you classify the XL series as 2-band...then yes, they are still being produced. Rooney does this batch production thing where they release a bunch of brushes, then discontinue them...frustrating if you're trying to track one down.

With regards to backbone, yes, given similar lofts and knot sizes, I'd classify Finest > D01 > Simpson. In terms of scritch, I'd say Finest > Simpson > D01. The current production XL knots have a gel like quality and produce this interesting suction affect while lathering. There is next to no scritch so it's a love-hate relationship for a lot of us that prefer a bit of scritch in our brushes. The brushes have very short lofts which combined with the density yields enough backbone for hard soaps. The ends often develop barbs which contribute to the gel like suction felt while lathering though from reports, not all knots are developing these barbs.

 

[franz]

Great summary Sameer! Thanks. I am one of those guys whose skin has trouble tolerating scritch in a brush, and Heritage has been on my radar for a little while now. Just thinking of my poor, defenseless skin... I'd best go protect it right now...

 

[kbuzbee]

Spot on Sameer. Well said.

Great summary Sameer! Thanks. I am one of those guys whose skin has trouble tolerating scritch in a brush, and Heritage has been on my radar for a little while now. Just thinking of my poor, defenseless skin... I'd best go protect it right now...

Yes, you definitely should!

Ken

 

[malocchio]

This model,or handle ,is now out of production,but is this same knot used today ?

 

[bpowellAU]

Thats a super badger, that would be Rooney's Silvertip. This would be a Finest

 

[beginish]

Actually, Rooney used a different grade of Silvertip for the Heritage line, and I can vouch for it being a cut above the Super in the standard 1/, 2/, and 3/ models.

 

[franz]

This model,or handle ,is now out of production,but is this same knot used today ?

No, that knot is not used anymore. That is the three-band Heritage knot... these days the Heritage brushes are two-bands.

 

[malocchio]

No, that knot is not used anymore. That is the three-band Heritage knot... these days the Heritage brushes are two-bands.

and the current 2 band heritage is more dense than the previous 3 band ,or is it just appearance ??

 

[jwilock]

... and how does their current best and super compare to the finest that they no longer offer?

 

[franz]

and the current 2 band heritage is more dense than the previous 3 band ,or is it just appearance ??

I consider my 2-band Heritage brushes to be densely packed, but not too dense -- just the right density for 2-band hair. You would not want to pack 2-band as densely as 3-band because the bristle is significantly more coarse. It could lead to flow issues.

... and how does their current best and super compare to the finest that they no longer offer?

Jim, never tried Rooney Finest so I couldn't say how it compares. I have tried Rooney's 3-band Super and would rate it as significantly softer than the average batch of Simpson Best, but still containing a faint trace of scritch.

Loric and Ken (kbuzbee) would be worth PMing with more questions re: Finest. It is an interesting hair and from what I know, not my cup of tea.

 

[sicknote]

And rooney finest differ. I have a 1/2 finest which isnt that dense and i could call it a little floppy.

 

[marvin100]

My Heritage 2XL has very soft tips and extraordinary backbone. Amazing brush in all regards. I don't need scritch--I face lather, so scritch would just scrape me up (which isn't what I need before running an ultra-sharp knife across it in four different directions!).

 

[kbuzbee]

... and how does their current best and super compare to the finest that they no longer offer?

Loric and Ken (kbuzbee) would be worth PMing with more questions re: Finest. It is an interesting hair and from what I know, not my cup of tea.

Jim, to me, the two most defining qualities of Finest are the stiffness and the scritch. Like all brushes, there are definite differences between individual examples and some folks Finests are actually quite soft at the tips, some were über dense, others are less so. Taller models (like my 3/3) are not scrubby at all while others like my Stubby are intensely scrubby. But "most" Rooney Finests are very stiff with a light scritch.... Slightly stiffer than the Heritage two band which also generally displays zero scritch. As to "scrub" a dense Finest at similar loft will typically be a bit more scrubby but the vast majority of Finests were taller than the current XL series.

Now when you expand the comparison to include three band Rooney super, the super has thinner, more flexible hair which will offer much less scrub than either of the 2 bands and scritch somewhere between the two.

Bottom line, if you are comparing knots of similar spec, folks who prefer scritch will like the Finest, folks who prefer tips you can't even feel will prefer Heritage, folks looking for a "tips only" brush with less scrub will choose super. I'm in the Finest camp.

Cheers,

Ken