TSR Custom Brush
- Thread starter hando
- Start Date
- Messages
- 3,572
- Location
- ATH
Count me in for one and in for prototype testing if needed as well.
OP
- Messages
- 1,931
- Thread Starter
- #151
...mmm
this seems to have taken a bit of a downturn
i liked the prototype, handle, loft etc
i would have liked more backbone, with more boar in the knot rather than a shorter loft
the more people that test it the better
a different prototype would give a comparrison but that means we could be at this forever and a day
i also don't want us to give Leon and Sr Gomes the runaround
if we do indeed need 50 brushes to make it work then there has to be more thought and more testing put in
who's got it now?
still busy with the house, odd jobs, decorating etc :roll:
this seems to have taken a bit of a downturn
i liked the prototype, handle, loft etc
i would have liked more backbone, with more boar in the knot rather than a shorter loft
the more people that test it the better
a different prototype would give a comparrison but that means we could be at this forever and a day
i also don't want us to give Leon and Sr Gomes the runaround
if we do indeed need 50 brushes to make it work then there has to be more thought and more testing put in
who's got it now?
still busy with the house, odd jobs, decorating etc :roll:
- Messages
- 3,833
i'd also put myself forward for a whirl, if it still has Antdad's Mod
- Messages
- 3,833
antdad said:...on it's way to Audiolab then Boab without the mod.
Bodge(r) tape on standby! :lol:
- Messages
- 2,878
- Location
- Inverclyde
Had my first shave with the TSR prototype brush today.
Out of the box it smelled great, I thought no way can this be a boar brush it smells too nice :lol:
It smelled of Penns EF to me although I am told it has not been EF that was used before I got it. It just shows you how a "dry smell" can differ, I soaked it for ten mins while showering and had another sniff before I used it, after soaking it was more woody but still nice. Now it is Tabacified and therefore more manly, I need another couple of goes with this to draw a conclusion but here are my initial impressions.
Today I had a second day Polsilver blade loaded in a Chatsworth and got a great shave but how did the brush itself perform. Well it lathered up readily with Tabac but I do have soft water so that is a bit of a moot point for me. I loaded the brush and then mixed the lather to shave grade in a bowl, I find bowl mixing more controllable with a new brush or soap and easier to get it right. When lathering my face I found I was using it more as an applicator than a lather generator, predominately using back and forth strokes because when I tried to do some swirling it splayed too much and I was rubbing my face with the center of the knot rather than the tips and that does not seem to work well for me.
I don't think it is the loft that's to blame, at least not on its own, I think it needs more density. Certainly for boar I expected more stiffness so I am a bit confused with this brush, it's may be bi-polar. Is this supposed to be a face lathering hard soap brush or is it a nice soft cream brush intended for bowl latherers, or and all rounder? I think if I had tried to face lather this morning I would be well pissed off, in my mind people buy boar brushes because they are generally stiffer, cheaper and more suited to face lathering (at least I thought so), I could have done the same shave this morning with my SR3824 and got an identical result but with a nicer experience.
I am biased towards badger and I do not disguise this. However this is not a crap brush but it is also not what I expected, I don't want rock hard stiff but my main gripe was it splayed way to easily and secondary it feels too sparse for my liking. Perhaps if it did not splay as much it would feel more dense, would a loft reduction would resolve this? I don't know. I would leave to someone more knowledgeable than me to decide what would be the best way to make it stop splaying out as much and feel denser in use. Perhaps a bit of both is needed, drop the loft by just a couple of mm and increase the density a bit, who knows....
Tonight I will try the Acrylic one just for a test run, but tomorrow I will try face lathering with the TSR one. As for the handle I like the wood, I would have still liked acrylic but not the one with lots of flat sides, a round acrylic one. However the majority seem to like the wood more and I am happy to go with this part. Just the knot needs a little rework.
I will report back tomorrow and try to get this sent onto next tester before the weekend so they can have it next week and see if we can get this moved on.
Out of the box it smelled great, I thought no way can this be a boar brush it smells too nice :lol:
It smelled of Penns EF to me although I am told it has not been EF that was used before I got it. It just shows you how a "dry smell" can differ, I soaked it for ten mins while showering and had another sniff before I used it, after soaking it was more woody but still nice. Now it is Tabacified and therefore more manly, I need another couple of goes with this to draw a conclusion but here are my initial impressions.
Today I had a second day Polsilver blade loaded in a Chatsworth and got a great shave but how did the brush itself perform. Well it lathered up readily with Tabac but I do have soft water so that is a bit of a moot point for me. I loaded the brush and then mixed the lather to shave grade in a bowl, I find bowl mixing more controllable with a new brush or soap and easier to get it right. When lathering my face I found I was using it more as an applicator than a lather generator, predominately using back and forth strokes because when I tried to do some swirling it splayed too much and I was rubbing my face with the center of the knot rather than the tips and that does not seem to work well for me.
I don't think it is the loft that's to blame, at least not on its own, I think it needs more density. Certainly for boar I expected more stiffness so I am a bit confused with this brush, it's may be bi-polar. Is this supposed to be a face lathering hard soap brush or is it a nice soft cream brush intended for bowl latherers, or and all rounder? I think if I had tried to face lather this morning I would be well pissed off, in my mind people buy boar brushes because they are generally stiffer, cheaper and more suited to face lathering (at least I thought so), I could have done the same shave this morning with my SR3824 and got an identical result but with a nicer experience.
I am biased towards badger and I do not disguise this. However this is not a crap brush but it is also not what I expected, I don't want rock hard stiff but my main gripe was it splayed way to easily and secondary it feels too sparse for my liking. Perhaps if it did not splay as much it would feel more dense, would a loft reduction would resolve this? I don't know. I would leave to someone more knowledgeable than me to decide what would be the best way to make it stop splaying out as much and feel denser in use. Perhaps a bit of both is needed, drop the loft by just a couple of mm and increase the density a bit, who knows....
Tonight I will try the Acrylic one just for a test run, but tomorrow I will try face lathering with the TSR one. As for the handle I like the wood, I would have still liked acrylic but not the one with lots of flat sides, a round acrylic one. However the majority seem to like the wood more and I am happy to go with this part. Just the knot needs a little rework.
I will report back tomorrow and try to get this sent onto next tester before the weekend so they can have it next week and see if we can get this moved on.
- Messages
- 2,878
- Location
- Inverclyde
Nothing like a bit of wood in the morning :lol:
Rather than rush through this I took the time last night to bind it up like antdad had, I tried to bind to to 50mm but I think I ended up slightly over so it was 49mm loft. At this height it was a much more effective latherer, on Thursday morning I had tried face lathering with this brush as is and didn't really enjoy it, however when bound it was much better. Still I would like it to feel a little more dense but I would be happier with it like this just set lower. I own a few Rooneys and also had an LE2009 and fan shaped brushes do feel softer and seem to work better when they are dense.
I also used the 620 that was sent along with this and that is stiffer, a really nice wee brush. I didn't find the acrylic slippy or off putting but the wood finish is really nice so definitely the wood handle would be my vote but I think another prototype is needed. Would it be a pain to make two? one set at 45 and one set at 50?
I am convinced that this needs a shorter loft, 50mm seemed to work much better I will try to bind it up some more and see how that goes, then send it onto Boab on Monday.
Rather than rush through this I took the time last night to bind it up like antdad had, I tried to bind to to 50mm but I think I ended up slightly over so it was 49mm loft. At this height it was a much more effective latherer, on Thursday morning I had tried face lathering with this brush as is and didn't really enjoy it, however when bound it was much better. Still I would like it to feel a little more dense but I would be happier with it like this just set lower. I own a few Rooneys and also had an LE2009 and fan shaped brushes do feel softer and seem to work better when they are dense.
I also used the 620 that was sent along with this and that is stiffer, a really nice wee brush. I didn't find the acrylic slippy or off putting but the wood finish is really nice so definitely the wood handle would be my vote but I think another prototype is needed. Would it be a pain to make two? one set at 45 and one set at 50?
I am convinced that this needs a shorter loft, 50mm seemed to work much better I will try to bind it up some more and see how that goes, then send it onto Boab on Monday.
- Messages
- 2,878
- Location
- Inverclyde
OK I am done, I messed about with binding the knot to various sizes over the weekend and binding to to 50mm shows it as a really different brush, it is much firmer. I then tried to get it to 45mm but the while binding was moving so it was limited success. Still even at 45mm I wanted it to feel more dense, fan shapes seem to work better when they are dense, they feel softer and I think this is why the current brush failed for me.
As it stands with the current loft it is just not firm enough for me, I would be buying it to use to apply my shaving talc than lather with it. I did not want to offend Hando, his efforts are admirable and Leons brushes are good but the brush I got I don't like that much. If the knot is the one to be used in my opinion it has to be lowered.
Brush is getting packed up tonight and sent onto Boab but can Leon produce a new prototype?
As it stands with the current loft it is just not firm enough for me, I would be buying it to use to apply my shaving talc than lather with it. I did not want to offend Hando, his efforts are admirable and Leons brushes are good but the brush I got I don't like that much. If the knot is the one to be used in my opinion it has to be lowered.
Brush is getting packed up tonight and sent onto Boab but can Leon produce a new prototype?