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Purpose of a scuttle?

I thought I understood it until I looked at these instructions for lathering.

I don't know much, but I doubt a scuttle is just to fill with hot water in the bottom and then in the upper part, too, to have a brush in. Can someone clear this up for me?

Thanks
 
Timb,

You'll find many varying preferences on scuttle usage here -- some like to lather in it, others use it simply as a "brush warmer." Whether lathering in the scuttle is even possible may depend more on the size of your brush/scuttle.

This, as with many facets of wetshaving, is one of those things whereby there's no hard and fast "supposed to" way of using it. Whatever gives you the warmth and quality of lather you're looking for is how you should use it. Experiment!
 
Timb,

You'll find many varying preferences on scuttle usage here -- some like to lather in it, others use it simply as a "brush warmer." Whether lathering in the scuttle is even possible may depend more on the size of your brush/scuttle.

This, as with many facets of wetshaving, is one of those things whereby there's no hard and fast "supposed to" way of using it. Whatever gives you the warmth and quality of lather you're looking for is how you should use it. Experiment!

Just using it as a brush warmer seems to defeat the purpose of having a scuttle rather than just a bowl. I thought the idea was to keep the top bowl compartment warm with hot water below it. Maybe people just use it as a brush warmer so they can say a scuttle is part of their shaving routine. :rolleyes:
 
Just using it as a brush warmer seems to defeat the purpose of having a scuttle rather than just a bowl. I thought the idea was to keep the top bowl compartment warm with hot water below it. Maybe people just use it as a brush warmer so they can say a scuttle is part of their shaving routine. :rolleyes:

Mmm... not so much. True, you can pre-warm a bowl and get similar warmth retention in your lather, but the hot water (especially if you're one of those people lucky enough to get scalding-hot out of your tap) beneath the brush/lather really does help things stay warm better than a bowl alone. Alternatively, there are a lot of other methods to getting and maintaining "hot" lather (see the "hot pot" thread in the pic/vid subforum, for example).

Plus, scuttles look cool. :tongue:
 
....the hot water beneath the brush/lather really does help things stay warm better than a bowl alone.

Yeah, I thought it was for having hot water underneath and lathering in it, to keep the lather warm. Hot water beneath lather is how I thought it worked. Hot water beneath water with a brush in it isn't how I thought it worked. Ah well. Thanks for the info.
 
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, it's put in the scuttle at the end, because you can't lather in the scuttle. I didn't see the scuttle being used after the soaking. Boy is my face red. :blushing:
 
I use a scuttle as a "lathered brush" warmer, when lathering on my face. I always thought that they date back to the days before central heating, and running hot water. (pre 1960s).
A kettle would be boiled over the house coal fire, and the hot water put into the scuttle.
 
I have the large Moss Scuttle. If I'm using cream, I lather in the top of it. If I use soap, I lather on my face. Either way, the scuttle is used as a brush warmer between passes. I also have the scuttle that was used by my great-grandfather, a straight razor shaver who died in 1956.

Norm
 
To take up additional space on the bathroom counter thus allowing the claiming of additional territory....possession is 9/10th's of the law.
 
The original design for a shaving scuttle included a wide mouthed spout that allowed one to dip the brush into the hot water water that filled it. A very handy design in the days before running hot water, with the side benefit of keeping the extra lather warm for the next pass. The Moss Scuttle does not include the wide mouthed design.
 
Just using it as a brush warmer seems to defeat the purpose of having a scuttle rather than just a bowl. I thought the idea was to keep the top bowl compartment warm with hot water below it. Maybe people just use it as a brush warmer so they can say a scuttle is part of their shaving routine. :rolleyes:

You can do all of this with Ansgar's Scuttle, build your lather right in the scuttle, keep your lather warm, keep the brush warm......... it also takes up a bunch of additional territory and looks really cool too... :wink:
 
You can do all of this with Ansgar's Scuttle, build your lather right in the scuttle, keep your lather warm, keep the brush warm......... it also takes up a bunch of additional territory and looks really cool too... :wink:

Are there two places for water in the Ansgar?

==Tom
 
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