New Forest 2221 - first impressions

[man of leisure]

Think I might be off to China soon. I'll get to the bottom, or the top, of it.

This apparently means that you've been using the term High Mountain Badger without knowing if it designates the same thing that Plisson uses it for. Is that right?

Cary 08,
Not really sure why you are getting your knickers in a twist over this, all I would add is that Peters brushes are great value and he deals with things in a professional way. You only have to look back through reviews of his brushes.
As Peter says there is no industry standard they cannot even agree between makers on grade of badger hair.

 

[cary08]

Presumably Fido has been using the term that his supplier uses, its as simple as that. I've not used a Fido High Mountain or a Plisson High Mountain but the important thing is how the owners of each rate them rather than being able to ID the individual badger your bush came from.

It's easy enough to compare individual brushes that are lined up on a store counter, with little thought to the way they're labeled. When purchasing online, however, accurate written descriptions are essential. This obviously includes user endorsements but that doesn't reduce the need for meaningful descriptions by manufacturers.

The term High Mountain Badger lies outside the well-established pure-best-special-silvertip nomenclature (however much variation there is from maker to maker in the way those gradings are applied). It was never clear if Plisson coined it as a marketing device but it was pretty much theirs alone until the New Forest brushes appeared. My question isn't intended to determine anything more than the reason for the expanded usage. If it indeed did originate with a common supplier in China, Fido should easily be able to confirm that.

Just in case a disclaimer is necessary, I have no involvement whatsoever with the shaving brush industry other than as a consumer. Nor do I wish New Forest anything but the greatest success. One of the best brushes in the arsenal I have thus far accumulated is a New Forest 2204 and I would gladly see it in the company of additional of its siblings.

 

[Gary Young]

As said already in this thread no two brush makers work the same when talking about hair grade. Each maker has their own 'in house' grading system, even though badger hair sourcing comes form the same corner of the world. If Peter wants to call his hair grade 'high mountain' then that really is his perogative and quite rightly so. His definition falls well within that grade.
I agree that if there was an industry norm regarding badger hair grades it would make it a lot simpler to compare one maker's brush to another. This industry has been around for a very long time and there are makers out there that have been using their own hair grade names for decades. They can be (and I know!) a very proud bunch who have recognised terminology that distinguishes one company from another. Unless an industry standard is set up that all makers have to follow then there will always be individuality.
'It does exactly what it says on the tin' - good phrase for this discussion.

Gary