Vintage Star Brush

[rocketman]

Take a peek at my new Star Baby!!



I'm not sure of the age - hard to say. Any thoughts?

[Mario]

1920's...

[mbwhoosh]

No clue about the age but a nice brush none the less congrats! ;D

Are you planning to re-knot it or is it in good enough shape to use as is?

[Possum]

Beeeeeeeutiful. Now how does it do in the lather making department?

[rocketman]

Ahhhh, thanx guys. More! More!! (just kidding!)

The knot is really in nice shape. There is a bit of shedding going on as you can see from the photo so I need to experiment a little and see if is going to stop.

Actually, I am not going to use this brush. As you can see, the brush has been used very little if at all, and still maintains a nice unused shape to the knot. I tend to just keep brushes in this shape, and treat them a little more as collectibles rather than as user grade items. I kind of like to line em up in a row sometimes and play razor soldier! (I know, I got it bad.) I really have some nice examples of brushes through the ages that are pretty much mint - I want to keep them that way.

My experience using vintage brushes has not been that satisfying anyhoo. I find that the badgers I have tried tend to be floppy and the heads are not usually stuffed that tight, which is what I prefer. Also I find that the hairs used were finer if that is even possible. The hair tends to clump a little more than with modern brushes. I'm sure that may be because the quality of brushes I have managed to pick up is more of the department store variety rather than high end brushes of days gone by. (Although I have a couple and they seem similar in density and grade of hair).

Boars, like the one above and many of the ERs, Klenzos, Rubbersets, I find the heads too narrow for my liking - unless I work the heck out of em and beat them into some sort of wider shape - which I hate doing to an old little used brush. For boar, I prefer my big schwackin Omega 4P Professional, or even the standard sized 5P if I want a soft fuzzy (where?) brush for cream.

So, I will keep this brush for display. I kind of like this one a lot since it has the *STAR* logo and will display nicely with a STAR razor set. That is why I would love to narrow down the age. I was sort of thinking 1920's as well as Mario because of the shape. It could be later though, perhaps the 30's. I want to pair it with more or less the right era razor - although I haven't any star razors from the 20s yet. (The history of stars in the 20's - 30's is a little fuzzy (where?) for me as well. The early ones are very easy to date and identify. The D/Es as well once they started making em in the late 30's. But between....)

Boy, I do babble! ;D

[mbwhoosh]

Ah I see well it will make a nice display piece

I'm not much for collecting when it comes to shaving stuff, that's what i like about the wetshaving hobby you get to use the items daily ;D

I am in agreement with you about the vitage knots though, I have only used a few (for a reason)and find them to be very floppy. The ones I had were set in vulcanized rubber so re-knotting them was not an option without destroying the handle.

Lol at least once you figure out what time period the brush is from it will be easy to get some soap from that same time frame......that is if Fuzzy hasn't bought it all yet

[wchnu]

Any time is the time for Williams just to point that out.



Wonderful looking brush there. I would not be able to not use it though.. would have to at least try it out a few times.. just weird that way I reckon.

Fuzzy