whipped dog silvertip vs high mountain

Hey everyone. Need a little help. I currently own a van der hagen badger brush. I dont like its mushy tall loft, and it has thinned out quite a bit now that it bloomed. I also get huge gaps in the middle as soon as its wet.

This has led me to wanting a dense knot with maybe a tighter, shorter loft.

My research is pointing me to whippeddog since its in my price range. I have been thinking about 24mm set at 47mm loft height. I would use it mostly to face lather but will also be my all around daily brush.

I just cannot pick between silvertip or high mountain. I know high mountain is suppose to have more backbone for slightly less soft tips, but I would still likely want it at 47 mm for maximum density, tightness and backbone. Also, I dont want to sacrifice on a lesser dense knot overall.

For those of you who own both what are you thoughts?

I would love to get opinions on both too, I have a high mountain coming from Larry his customer service is the best.

If you set the silvertip to the deepest Larry will go. It has plenty of backbone. Perfect for face lathering. It barely bloomed. The knot has stayed tight. I have one and it would be great for that, though I am a bowl lather guy. So it is not the go to in my rotation. I do not have his high mountain so I can not comment.

I have both. I also face lather and prefer the HM.it has a lot of back bone and is really soft, nice scruby feeling to it also. Silvertip is also really soft but with less backbone and no scrub.

Jeanluc, is there anything you feel like you are missing out on using the HM vs. the silvertip?

adam110 said:

Jeanluc, is there anything you feel like you are missing out on using the HM vs. the silvertip?

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Not at all. Ever since I got the HM, I stopped using the silvertip. I set mine at 24/49mm and it's the perfect brush for face lathering. I don't think you can get a better brush for the price.

Thank you very much for the reply.

Gentlemen - my appologies for letting some of you wait for way too long...

I have finally have enough shaves and pictures with my WD HM 24/48 (as well as with the Silvertip 24/48) to be able to make a decent review. All things going well it will be up this week.

Here a teaser...

alfredus said:

Gentlemen - my appologies for letting some of you wait for way too long...

I have finally have enough shaves and pictures with my WD HM 24/48 (as well as with the Silvertip 24/48) to be able to make a decent review. All things going well it will be up this week.

Here a teaser...

Click to expand...

Sweet! Thanks for your work on this. Not a lot of info out their on these brushes when
compared with the same specs. Cannot wait for your review.

It does look like from the pic that the HM has more of a bulb shape compared to the silvertip. No idea if that is good or bad, but just an observation.

alfredus said:

Gentlemen - my appologies for letting some of you wait for way too long...

I have finally have enough shaves and pictures with my WD HM 24/48 (as well as with the Silvertip 24/48) to be able to make a decent review. All things going well it will be up this week.

Here a teaser...

Click to expand...

Waiting for your review

I have both a WD Silvertip and a WD High Mountain. Both are 24mm set at 52mm loft.

The silvertip is always wonderful: soft, and easy to lather. Just enough backbone.

The High-Mountain is a finicky lather hog. Some creams and soaps it is fine. Some soaps it just doesn't release anything on the second pass no matter how much product I use. The tips are super soft. The backbone is world's-strongest-man strong. I probably should have kept it at the standard 57mm loft rather than having it drilled down. At a standard loft, it should still have plenty of backbone and would probably release more lather.

If I had to choose one, it would definitely be the Silvertip. I really like mine and recommend it with the 52mm loft.

I don't think I can recommend the High Mountain - at least not one that is drilled down.

OFK1961 said:

I have both a WD Silvertip and a WD High Mountain. Both are 24mm set at 52mm loft.

The silvertip is always wonderful: soft, and easy to lather. Just enough backbone.

The High-Mountain is a finicky lather hog. Some creams and soaps it is fine. Some soaps it just doesn't release anything on the second pass no matter how much product I use. The tips are super soft. The backbone is world's-strongest-man strong. I probably should have kept it at the standard 57mm loft rather than having it drilled down. At a standard loft, it should still have plenty of backbone and would probably release more lather.

If I had to choose one, it would definitely be the Silvertip. I really like mine and recommend it with the 52mm loft.

I don't think I can recommend the High Mountain - at least not one that is drilled down.

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Thanks for the input. Are the tips softer than WD Silvertip ?

I have five whipped dog silvertips and four high mountains that I purchased before whipped dog carried them. From all I have been able to determine, they seem to be the same as the whipped dog high mountain knots. So I will need to start off with the caveat that they may not be the same, but I believe they are.

The silvertips are wonderful. To me, the level of backbone is adequate and the face feel is glorious.

The high mountains have much more backbone, and have a good balance between backbone scrubbiness and soft face feel. They are not as glorious on the face as the silvertips, but still quite soft with absolutely no scritchy/scratch feel.

I enjoy them both, but probably enjoy the silvertips the most.

They both work equally well with any soap for me.

numerounoo said:

Thanks for the input. Are the tips softer than WD Silvertip ?

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The HM tips are super soft when wet. Less scritchy than the Silvertip. But the effect of the softer tips is partially negated by the backbone which inhibits splay.

OFK1961 said:

The HM tips are super soft when wet. Less scritchy than the Silvertip. But the effect of the softer tips is partially negated by the backbone which inhibits splay.

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Looks like 55mm is an ideal loft for WD HM Brush. Thanks !

If I were to buy a WD HM again, I would buy the 24mm at standard loft height. I would not buy the drilled down version. But that's just me. YMMV

Out curiosity, what is the standard loft on these? On the site the WD HM has 24mm/70mm listed and I don't know how the 55, 49, 48, 47, and etc from this post are calculated I guess. I see that the standard drill is 10mm, so would that mean without drilling more that would be a 60mm loft normally correct?

Was interested in putting in an order today.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

I've got both and I love'em

Thanks for the info, so far I do seem to like backbone in a brush so I think I'll be getting a High Mountain one as well as Silvertip One too then.

So did you have them both drilled the extra 10mm then? I think I may go the extra 5mm on the HM and maybe the extra 10mm to see how I like them, but I'll also ask Larry.