Background

On September 21, 2008 I sent an e-mail to Julie Moore (Dirty Bird Pottery) regarding and idea for a brush scuttle with a conical chamber that would maximize the contact area between the brush and scuttle. After a flurry of e-mails, the completed scuttle arrived at my door on October 6th!



Julie did an amazing job of working with me to turn my overly-complex initial ideas into a simple, elegant, and functional final product.



Brush Scuttle and Insert



Attachment 32006

The Brush Scuttle comes in two pieces: the Scuttle and the conical Insert. The Scuttle is approximately 4” tall by 4” wide. It narrows near the top to provide an easy grip. The Insert has an outside diameter of 4” across the top, matching the diameter of the Scuttle. The ‘brush chamber’ has a 2 ¾” diameter opening at the top that tapers to a diameter of 1”. The brush chamber is 2 ¾” deep.



Lather Bowl



Attachment 32011

The lather bowl is a separate piece and has an inside diameter of 3 ¼” and is 1 ¾” deep. The bowl interior has spiral grooves that help create lather. It also has a slight bulge and a lip which work together to keep the lather in the bowl and directed to the bottom of the shaving brush.



Quality Touches



Attachment 32012

All three pieces are of very high quality. The finish is beautiful – my photos don’t do justice to Julie’s work. All the pieces fit together securely. You can stack the Scuttle on top of the Lather Bowl or the Lather Bowl on top of the Scuttle. The bottom of all three pieces is completely flat – absolutely no wobbles - and skid resistant.



The bottom of the Scuttle is stamped with ‘Dirty Bird Pottery King George VA” in black ink. Additionally, the manufacture date and unit number are inscribed. Mine has a unit number of ‘#1’ and a date of 08-03, meaning the third quarter of 2008.



Performance evaluation

I wanted to provide some hard numbers regarding the Scuttle’s performance. I used an infrared thermometer – just point it, press the button, and the temperature shows up on the display. All times were measured with my watch.





Attachment 32013

With the insert in place, the Scuttle holds about 10oz of hot water. For these tests, the ambient air temperature was 78 degrees and the water coming out of my faucet was a very hot 125 degrees – I can only hold my hand under the faucet for a few seconds at that temperature.



I filled the scuttle with 125 degree water and put on the insert. The insert is heavy and easily displaces the excess water. I let this sit for 2 minutes while I made lather in the lather bowl. For all these tests I used a Shavemac 177 with a 23mm knot. Temperature readings were made from the tip of the brush.



I did not heat the lather bowl – the increase in temperature over ambient was from using hot water. Here are the results:



Test 1 – Keeping a brush warm



Elapsed Time, Brush Tip Temp Degrees F

0 Minutes, 82 Degrees

2 Minutes, 112 Degrees

5 Minutes, 118 Degrees

8 Minutes, 117 Degrees

11 Minutes, 116 Degrees

14 Minutes, 114 Degrees

17 Minutes, 111 Degrees

20 Minutes, 110 Degrees



Conclusion: The relatively small size of the Scuttle does not seem to hamper its ability to heat a brush and keep it hot. The brush was heated from 82 degrees to 112 degrees in 2 minutes. It remained over 110 degrees for the next 18 minutes. To me, a 100 degree brush feels ‘warm’, 110 degrees feels ‘hot’, and 115+ degrees feels ‘very hot’.



Test 2 – Initial heating of a brush

This test was to see how long you would have to wait to have a nice, hot brush. One goal in this process was to come up with something that would not cause delays in my morning routine, so it would need to heat the brush quickly.



Elapsed Time, Brush Tip Temp Degrees F

0 Minutes, 82 1egrees

1 Minute, 110 Degrees

2 Minutes, 112 Degrees

3 Minutes, 113 Degrees

4 Minutes, 114 Degrees

5 Minutes, 112 Degrees



Conclusion: It heats a brush in a minute.





Test 3 – A ‘Real’ Shave

Well, I did slow things down to 5 minutes between lathering, but this at least takes into account the fact that the brush is being removed and heat is being lost as you apply the lather.





• Add hot water to the Scuttle.

• Place insert on top.

• Wet brush and make lather (taking 2 minutes while the Scuttle heats).

• Brush tip is at 82 degrees.

• Place brush in Scuttle.

• Apply hot water to face (taking 1 minute while the Scuttle heats the brush)

• Lather with brush at 118 degrees, replace brush in Scuttle, make 1st pass.

• Five minutes later, lather with brush at 115 degrees, replace brush in Scuttle, make 2nd pass.

• Five minutes later, lather with brush at 113 degrees, replace brush in Scuttle, make 3rd pass (I would be done here).

• Five minutes later, lather with brush at 109 degrees, replace brush in Scuttle, make 4th pass.



The Scuttle has been used with these brushes:



Attachment 32014

Savile Row 3118, Rooney Style 3-Small, Savile Row 3120, Lee's Vulfix Boar #9, Shavemac 177 (23mm knot)



Summary:

I could not be more pleased with the Dirty Bird Brush Scuttle and Lather Bowl. Everything is extremely well made, compact, simple, and performs wonderfully. The two-piece design of the scuttle allows for easy filling and cleaning, and seems to hold in the heat efficiently – maybe because there is no filling spout to allow heat to escape.



The Lather Bowl whips up lather quickly without a mess and stacks on top of or under the Scuttle.



The bottom line is that I can have hot lather without having to add extra time to my morning routine.



The Brush Scuttle and Lather Bowl are available separately – check here for more information:



http://www.dirtybirdpottery.com/potteryandhoney.html



Thanks,

Bob Pope

First off I must give kudos to Bob Pope and Julie Moore on their collaborative effort in bringing this unique design to solid reality. I received mine (#3) on October 30 at my office and unpacked it for more convenient transport home on the subway. It was very well packed in three pieces, with each part generously wrapped in protective bubble wrap and further cushioned with styrofoam 'peanuts' in a large priority mail box.

Mr. Pope is understating facts when he says that his photos do not do Ms. Moore's work justice. Not only is each piece beautifully thrown and finished to the eye, the compact efficiency in use makes the lather bowl an extension of my palm.

I pretty much followed the same steps as Bob in preparing the scuttle to receive my lather filled brush. I filled the main vessel with water - (I used a small electric kettle to heat my water since the hot water in my apartment doesn't get nearly hot enough) - and soaked my brush in the lather bowl - (the tap water temperature is fine for that purpose as well as for applying hot water to my beard).

I am one of the Nancy Boy faithful and I have both travel size and full size tubs of their signature and replenishing scents. This is where I think a choice of cream will play a vital role in getting the most out of this simple machine.

Heat will indeed degrade lather. I found this out after placing my loaded brush inside of the scuttle which had been charging for approximately two - three minutes while I built my lather. I went about my usual prep routine of wetting my beard and rubbing in a bit of Castle Forbes Pre-Shave. I follow Kyle's method of applying lather to my beard and massaging it in before applying a hot towel for a minute or so and then removing the towel and lather before applying more lather for the first pass.

As there was enough lather left in the bowl, I used my fingers to apply that to my beard for the prep phase. When I was ready to start my shave I took the hot loaded brush from the scuttle and found that my lather was turning to foam, closer to the consistency of bubbles (like in a bubble bath). This is evidence of the scuttles efficiency and not of any flaw in the execution or the design. Again, I LOVE this thing.

As Nancy Boy is designed to be used brushless, and yet most of us still use it with a brush, I believe that by using less water I will be able to tailor a lather that will hold up well to the heat.

I was still able to get two good passes with very warm lather. My third pass was accomplished by mashing the still warm brush into my face and getting good enough coverage to complete what I believe was my best ever shave.

Now if this was possible with 'degraded' (but wonderfully hot) lather, I can't wait to try it again and again with a perfectly balanced Nancy Boy blend.

I must confess that I did not use my normal ratio of cream and water for this first outing with the Dirty Bird Brush Scuttle. Normally I shake my brush out and dip it in the tub and swirl without adding any more water. The result is almost like a soft cake frosting. This time I added a bit more water to the mix.

Reason? Well I am glad you asked because that lets me speak a little about the lather bowl itself.

It is an engineering masterpiece! It fits so perfectly in my palm that it is almost as if my hand is empty. I was having such a good time building the lather that I found myself wanting to watch the consistency change and the lather grow. So I dribbled a little more hot tap water from my fingertips into the bowl and whipped up a perfect slick merangue that could have gone straight onto my beard.

That being said, and without turning this into a Nancy Boy review, I believe that less water in the mix will create a lather that holds up quite well to the additional heat. Conversely, it may be possible that using hot tap water instead of boiling water from a kettle is the answer to minimizing or eliminating the degrading effect. As always YMMV.

All in all I am happier with this design than I was my my Moss Scuttle (large size).

The Moss is a good lather mixing bowl, but the large size paired with my smallish brush (Edwin Jagger Medium) does not make for good heat retention. I had been considering buying the small Moss and lather bowl set when I caught wind of this design idea and development process. I am glad I waited and followed the thread until it was perfected. So many B&B members contributed to this and all of the members should be proud to see it come to fruition.

Finally a brief word about the artist herself. Julie Moore is a joy to deal with and my package arrived about two weeks earlier than I had been told.

I have significant pride in ownership of Dirty Bird Brush Scuttle number 3.

As I spread the word about wet shaving to those seeking to join us in this personal and most fulfilling hobby, I am going to include this marvelous tool in my recommendations.



Mason

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I would rather be with the people of this forum than with the finest people in the world.

Thanks Mason! I appreciate the kind words and I'm glad you like the scuttle. Julie does some fantastic work.



I had the same experience with the scuttle outperforming the lather. One solution would be to use not-so-hot water in the scuttle - but who's going to do that? Another would be to have soap with a higher temperature 'rating'. Maybe some soaps do better than others. Or maybe a manufacturer could come up with a 'High Heat Scuttle Soap'!



But a simple solution is to stop short of making perfect lather in the bowl and then heating it in the scuttle. If you use creams, I've found that if you barely mix the cream in the brush, heat the brush in the scuttle, and then face lather it works better. The more concentrated cream stands up to the heat better. If you use soaps, apply the soap to the brush, heat it in the scuttle, and face lather. Face Latherers can use the lather bowl as a soap container - it is the right size for the 3" pucks such as Tabac and Mitchell's Wool Fat. And you can stack the scuttle on top of the lather bowl as a 'lid' for the soap.



So just 'undercook' the lather before heating it up in the scuttle.



Regards,

Bob

Perfection!

Your suggestion of 'undercooking' my Nancy Boy worked wonders. I also added the step of giving my brush a few swirls in the lather bowl for my second and third pass to build it a bit more while the brush was hot. I do think that this will work best with creams that are formulated for brushless application, but I am still a relative novice to wetshavng so add a BIG YMMV to my opinion. I look forward to picking up a tub of CF Lavender to try. My understanding is that CF creams are very dense and therefore should be ideal for abbreviated mixing before heating in this way. The bottom line is that my third pass lather is very nearly as hot as my first, and my first pass lather is hotter than it has ever been.

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I would rather be with the people of this forum than with the finest people in the world.

Thanks Bob for such an informative review & evaluation of what looks like just a fantastic lather bowl & brush scuttle combo. Your photos are top notch also! I really appreciate all of the thought & design work on this bowl & scuttle that both you & Julie must have done. I decided it was a "must have" & following a phone call this morning to Dirty Bird Pottery just to have a few final questions answered, I eagerly placed my order. Now the eternal waiting game begins

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Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Nothing spent, nothing acquired!

I just received my Dirty Bird Brush Scuttle today. It's #5 and the glazing is green. Being too eager to wait until morning to try it out, I put it through it's paces as soon as I could. Here are all three pieces separated



All three pieces together. I love the way I can stack this all together and place it on the corner of the counter.



Lathering bowl after a minute with some generic VDH deluxe soap and a boar brush. The groves in the bottom of the lathering bowl made a big difference in the speed of lathering.



Brush and lather moved to the scuttle. At this point I prep my face with a hot towel. The brush takes a minute or two to reach full temperature. But once it's there, it stays very warm.



I kept waiting for the lather to cool down but it just didn't. After 20 minutes and still having very warm lather, I called it a total success. It's amazing!



When I'm all finished, I shake the water out of the brush and put the handle down into the scuttle so the bristles can dry.

Great pictures. I Good Lord, I really, really want one. Hurry Christmas.

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Dave LeBlanc
Of a thousand shavers, two do not shave so much alike as not to be distinguished.
Samuel Johnson: Boswell's Life, Sept. 19, 1777

I just placed an order for one this morning. I can't wait to try it out. Thanks for the great reviews. They really persuaded me into getting the brush scuttle over the shaving scuttle. The countdown begins.

I ordered one too! in Green and Julie said it was going into the kiln today...I can't wait

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Paco
Viva el Sebo!!

I got my Dirty Bird brush scuttle last night and used this morning. It came at a perfect time since we are having below 30 temp.

First, it is a great design and is beautifully constructed. I was using a G3 and although is a different animal altogether, very good for lathering but it does not hold heat as long as the bird. The G3 went into storage for now.

I'm a bowl latherer and the 3 parts brush scuttle fit my needs perfectly. ( the bowl that fits with the brush scuttle must be ordered separately)

All the parts fit inside each other and the whole thing fits in the sink and cabinet. Quality, beauty and function. It is IMO sculptural.

Now, the main reason to have it is to provide warm lather through the brush and this it does for 4 passes and the heat remained for more. My only worry is that the heat might cause the brush to shed.

It took a while to arrange it around my sink but once put together it takes only a small space. Kudos for the design which I believe the designer is a member of this forum and Kudos to Julie for the creative interpretation of the design.

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Paco
Viva el Sebo!!

Great thread, and seems like a very nice product.



The temperatures stated in the first review are impressive.



But rather than spend money on another scuttle right now, I think I will devise a plug for the spout on my Moss scuttle and see how that works.



As was mentioned in another thread, the spout on the Moss and G3 design allows the temperature of the water in the lower bowl to cool quicker than it would in the lower bowl of this design because of it being totally enclosed. So it has given me the idea to fashion a plug and try it out.

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Regards,

Bill

"Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference."

Originally Posted by bbsupersport

Great thread, and seems like a very nice product.



The temperatures stated in the first review are impressive.



But rather than spend money on another scuttle right now, I think I will devise a plug for the spout on my Moss scuttle and see how that works.



As was mentioned in another thread, the spout on the Moss and G3 design allows the temperature of the water in the lower bowl to cool quicker than it would in the lower bowl of this design because of it being totally enclosed. So it has given me the idea to fashion a plug and try it out.

You would probably be better off creating an insulating blanket for the scuttle than a plug. The percentage of heat lost through the hole will be much less than that lost through the outer wall of the scuttle.

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- Robert -

I bought just the lathering bowl about a week ago and just received it yesterday. Used it lastnight and it performs very well. I used my Rooney 1/1 brush and it worked great, Im just wondering how it will porform with a larger brush. This thing is tiny compaired to what I thought I was going to get.

To anyone reading this,



You may have noticed a pattern here, how many reviews come in at 100% so often?



I bought the set in blue as above about 6 weeks ago and I waited to see how my usage of this item faired after the first few weeks. Firstly the vendor (Julie) is very very good, excellent communications and reasonable shipping even to the UK.



After 6 weeks with this scuttle and lather bowl I use it almost every day. There is nothing quite like hot lather and this delivers that every time. I think it is mainly the conical nature of the insert that facilitates greater contact all round the brush. It is also versatile, you can use the lather bowl for creams and soaps, however this is the tool of choice for any keen face latherer.



Fill both inner and outer chambers and stick the brush in to soak, do some prep. Then empty the inner chamber easily (because you can take it out) and load the brush with your favourite soap and stick back in scuttle to heat for a moment. Get your razor ready and then grab that brush and lather builds very easily with an almost erotic pleasure. I have ordinary scuttles and with them the first contact with the face is nice and warm but once you start lathering and push in a bit the centre of the brush is cold. This effect worsens on send and third passes, not with this scuttle in your arsenal, the brush is warm right through and doing a little bit of scrubbing only reveals a nice soft warm centre which last through 5 passes if you have warmed it properly.



If mine broke (heavens forbid) I would order a new one the next day. I am seriously thinking about buying another just in case. I own about 20 razors, 1500 blades, 6 brushes and close to twenty different creams soaps etc. This is the only constant in my routine and deservedly so. It really does deserve 100% and the more I use it the more I like it.

Ordered my DB brush scuttle with lather bowl early this week and received it a few days later as Julie had one ready to go. Though I'm relatively new to wet shaving, this scuttle has already changed everything. My shave experience has been elevated by having a warm brush and lather across 3 - 4 passes. I love it and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to everyone.