Morris & Forndran Blonde Badger
- Thread starter Loric
- Start date
Took me 8 tries over 7 weeks. Frustrating, but I'm thrilled with the results.
For what it's worth, I tried on and off over the course of 8 months. Despite that, I still consider it time well spent. The fruits of my efforts certainly paid off. Keep trying. It will happen eventually. In my personal opinion, nothing beats using a M&F brush.
I should start emailing now, although I can't afford it at this juncture but the odds on I'll hit lottery first before Lee answers me.
It's never taken me more than two or three emails over the course of the same number of days to get a response from Lee.
I will try not to comment any more on this, but some of you gentlemen have great patience, indeed! I know that I surely don't and that once is my limit! 
Guess I'm just lucky. I sent him one email, he replied within 3 days...we went back and forth a few times about specifics...I paid and received a fabulous brush!
I'm not sure how or why he picks e-mails to respond to, but when I want a brush I send him an e-mail a week and usually hear back by the second or third. I generally just give him a few things I would be interested in and I usually get a reply when he actually has something that I asked for. I'm guessing that the times I get ignored are when he doesn't have anything that I requested. Also, the replies I get are very polite, but generally have typos and are sometimes hard to decipher, I'm not sure how quickly Lee types and if he is doing a modified hunt and peck then I can understand why he wouldn't respond to every e-mail as he wouldn't have time to actually make brushes.
When I started to get ahold of Lee more frequently is when I took the time zones in to consideration. I waited until it was 8pm or 9pm in England and on the weekend. After that, I received a response almost every time I sent. Take everything into consideration. If you ran your side business from an iPad and through email, when would you typically pick up that iPad to check messages?
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+1 This may have been a factor for me as well. When I first started emailing, I would do it in the beginning of my work day (ET) which would be business hrs in England. I then figured I would wait until later in the day so it would be after business hours in England, when Lee may possibly be catching up on side-project emails. That's when I got a response.
The handle may be too specific. He seems to have certain ones in stock at any time. I found that if you go through the last couple of months in here you can get an idea of what he has. From what I've seen a horn 2XL may not be available, but I've seen several others that are. On here and some of the other forums I've seen a few second hand ones for sale recently.
I have a Blonde that acts more like the Finest then...
My blonde badger does NOT bunch up and get crunchy when dry.
FWIW, my Blonde also gets clumpy/crunchy when dry.
On another topic, I'm actually calling my brush a Dirty Blonde. It had uniform white tips when I first purchased it, but got the appearance of a stain after it's inaugural lather back in late december. I happened to be using Haslinger Schafmilch that day which contains lanolin - apparently a potential brush stainer. The same issue, although more severe, was reported by @Tester28 in the Wiborg thread. I washed it like crazy as soon as i saw the discoloration but it did not get better (or worse). Oh well, not a huge deal, it's a fantastic performer.
Anyone else have patches of brown mixed into otherwise white tips in a Blonde knot?
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In my two cases of blonde badger brushes, both have been soft when dry. I assume as it varies between batches of hair.
My first blonde, and M&F, was a Victorian that I got on the B/S/T a while back from Nick. It was about a 24mm knot with, what I consider a medium to medium-full density. The hair was fairly thick, as in, it had thicker hairs than most other brushes I had up to that point. It was similar to boar hair, except with the properties of a badger (hopefully that makes sense?). I no longer have that brush, as a gifted it to one of my friends who had never used a M&F.
My current blonde, the one I received on Christmas eve, has very fine tips. Both have been very soft when dry.
I imagine that it is based, largely on a batch by batch case.
My first blonde, and M&F, was a Victorian that I got on the B/S/T a while back from Nick. It was about a 24mm knot with, what I consider a medium to medium-full density. The hair was fairly thick, as in, it had thicker hairs than most other brushes I had up to that point. It was similar to boar hair, except with the properties of a badger (hopefully that makes sense?). I no longer have that brush, as a gifted it to one of my friends who had never used a M&F.
My current blonde, the one I received on Christmas eve, has very fine tips. Both have been very soft when dry.
I imagine that it is based, largely on a batch by batch case.
That's interesting considering that my brush arrived right around the same time period - within a few days actually. Are the tips of your knot uniform white or does it have some darker patches like mine?
From what I see, it does not have any dark patches. I'll give you an update tomorrow morning, once I give it another use. I've used it enough to give it a good break in (with a few B&M and Mickey Lee soaps, which, of course, contain lanolin.
However, to make things a bit more complicated, my Wiborg White Badger doesn't have any discoloration, either. Maybe it has something to do with water type? I live in the greater Pittsburgh era, currently. In comparison to other places I've been, Pittsburgh has particularly hard water (250+ Total Dissolved Particles through their large additions of Calcium and Magnesium).
Again, I'll post a few pics tomorrow of both brushes.
As an additional thought, I know that Lee sent out my brush mid-November. He had the handle made prior to that, though. As far as the knot, I'm not sure when it was made.
Gotta love the mysterious nature of M&F brushes. At least it is a good topic for conversation! The subtle differences are very cool.
Gotta love the mysterious nature of M&F brushes. At least it is a good topic for conversation! The subtle differences are very cool.
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