Knot/loft
- Thread starter Fido
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To answer the original question, no I do not have a preference.
The smallest brush I own is a Simpsons Major which has an 18mm knot and 41mm loft, the largest is a CH2 which is 27-28mm knot with 59mm loft. I don’t know how many I actually have but it is quite a few covering the Best, Super, Silvertip, 2 Band and boar types.
Each brush has a place and a reason why I like it. For instance when you hold the 18mm knot Simpsons Major in your hand for the first time you think “yeah right, this aint going to muchâ€Â, but the short 41mm loft gives it the stiffness it needs to produce almost comical amounts of lather from hard and soft soaps. I believe the “Wee Scott†is another very small brush with a similar characteristic; both are excellent travel brushes that are good enough to use in regular rotation.
My thoughts are in line with what has been said before; there is no specific knot and loft size that is better, it is the ratio between them that is important. The material used also affects the equation and is a variable that changes over time therefore the characteristic of some brushes changes as they bloom or as hairs split on boars.
I tend to try to match the brush to the soap, I have a few excellent brushes I reserve for creams and some I like to use on soaps. I tend to lean towards bigger brushes but I do rotate them round as I do my soaps, usually I have three or four brushes in rotation for a month or two then swap them for a different set.
Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.
The smallest brush I own is a Simpsons Major which has an 18mm knot and 41mm loft, the largest is a CH2 which is 27-28mm knot with 59mm loft. I don’t know how many I actually have but it is quite a few covering the Best, Super, Silvertip, 2 Band and boar types.
Each brush has a place and a reason why I like it. For instance when you hold the 18mm knot Simpsons Major in your hand for the first time you think “yeah right, this aint going to muchâ€Â, but the short 41mm loft gives it the stiffness it needs to produce almost comical amounts of lather from hard and soft soaps. I believe the “Wee Scott†is another very small brush with a similar characteristic; both are excellent travel brushes that are good enough to use in regular rotation.
My thoughts are in line with what has been said before; there is no specific knot and loft size that is better, it is the ratio between them that is important. The material used also affects the equation and is a variable that changes over time therefore the characteristic of some brushes changes as they bloom or as hairs split on boars.
I tend to try to match the brush to the soap, I have a few excellent brushes I reserve for creams and some I like to use on soaps. I tend to lean towards bigger brushes but I do rotate them round as I do my soaps, usually I have three or four brushes in rotation for a month or two then swap them for a different set.
Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.
I wonder how many people actually measure the knot / loft? Or, if they just quote the specs off the web site where they orderred it??
I also wonder how long the trend for short loft brushes that not only master any soap thrown underneath them, massage the face & hold enough lather to shave a footy team will last.
I also wonder how long the trend for short loft brushes that not only master any soap thrown underneath them, massage the face & hold enough lather to shave a footy team will last.
antdad said:
I fall into this group with six brushes. The seventh is a 27mm by 67mm professional boar that lathers with the best of em & will cover my chops in tallowy goodness, just without as much of a massage.
All the barber shop shaves I have had ( maybe 20 & none in the UK )the barber used a big boar ( probably why the bigger boars are called professional ??) I asked one of the barbers why he uses a brush that falls into the 15 - $30 range. his answer, they work. They sure do.