Shavemac Knots question: bulb or fan ?

Hi Everyone, I posted this on a different forum but decided to ask this here as well to hear about folks who have experience with Shavemac brushes.

So I had a few chats with Bernd, and I have narrowed down to these two brushes below with his help / comments, note that I mostly do face lathering 80% of the time. I do own a Simpson CH3 Manchurian and a CH3 Super and love brushes that are big, dense, have a lot of backbone (like boar brushes), I don't mind if they're stiff but do appreciate soft tips every once in a while.


- Silvertip D01 2 Band (most backbone, density and stiffness) 28mm knot, 54 mm loft
- Silvertip D01 3 Band (for density, backbone and soft tips) 28mm knot, 56 mm loft

But I am not sure about the bulb vs fan in those dimensions, I am leaning toward bulb for added backbone for both, but I wanted to ask people who like backbone/density, do you favor fan or bulbs for Shavemac brushes ?

Thank you in advance for your help/suggestions.

Bulb.

(05-08-2019, 12:45 PM)houmi Wrote: Hi Everyone, I posted this on a different forum but decided to ask this here as well to hear about folks who have experience with Shavemac brushes.

So I had a few chats with Bernd, and I have narrowed down to these two brushes below with his help / comments, note that I mostly do face lathering 80% of the time. I do own a Simpson CH3 Manchurian and a CH3 Super and love brushes that are big, dense, have a lot of backbone (like boar brushes), I don't mind if they're stiff but do appreciate soft tips every once in a while.


- Silvertip D01 2 Band (most backbone, density and stiffness) 28mm knot, 54 mm loft
- Silvertip D01 3 Band (for density, backbone and soft tips) 28mm knot, 56 mm loft

But I am not sure about the bulb vs fan in those dimensions, I am leaning toward bulb for added backbone for both, but I wanted to ask people who like backbone/density, do you favor fan or bulbs for Shavemac brushes ?

Thank you in advance for your help/suggestions.

For face lathering I would go with the D01 Silvertip 3 band with a bulb. I had one that was 28mm, but it was set at 54mm. Incredible brush, it was very dense with beautiful fine hair that had fantastic soft tips.  I don't have a D01 2 band, but I have a "Unique" 2 band that may as well be a D01 2 band. It is insanely dense with very firm backbone, and it is scrubby. I do not face lather with it.

Shavemac is a great brush but I can only comment on the bulb I own, which is excellent, even though I never use it having fallen in love with Boar

Fan.

D01 2-Bands have considerably more backbone / stiffness than D01 3-Band.  For that matter, no other shaving brush knot (badger, boar, etc.) comes close to D01 2-Band when it comes to backbone, scrub, etc.  As such, I'm a bit curious why the D01 2-Band has a lower loft than the D01 3-Band.  I've had several D01 2-Bands set at low lofts (3 bulbs and 1 fan) and I didn't particularly enjoy the bulbs.   

Personally, a 28mm D01 3- Band (bulb) set at 56mm is perfection.

I generally prefer bulbs.  However, D01 2-band has a lot of stiffness and backbone.  Additionally, the bulbs in that grade are sometimes pointy.  I find a pointy D01 2-band bulb to be uncomfortable on the face.  Thus, I would opt for a fan in D01 2-band, or set the loft of a 28mm bulb to at least 56mm.

(05-08-2019, 01:36 PM)Puma Wrote:

(05-08-2019, 12:45 PM)houmi Wrote: Hi Everyone, I posted this on a different forum but decided to ask this here as well to hear about folks who have experience with Shavemac brushes.

So I had a few chats with Bernd, and I have narrowed down to these two brushes below with his help / comments, note that I mostly do face lathering 80% of the time. I do own a Simpson CH3 Manchurian and a CH3 Super and love brushes that are big, dense, have a lot of backbone (like boar brushes), I don't mind if they're stiff but do appreciate soft tips every once in a while.


- Silvertip D01 2 Band (most backbone, density and stiffness) 28mm knot, 54 mm loft
- Silvertip D01 3 Band (for density, backbone and soft tips) 28mm knot, 56 mm loft

But I am not sure about the bulb vs fan in those dimensions, I am leaning toward bulb for added backbone for both, but I wanted to ask people who like backbone/density, do you favor fan or bulbs for Shavemac brushes ?

Thank you in advance for your help/suggestions.

For face lathering I would go with the D01 Silvertip 3 band with a bulb. I had one that was 28mm, but it was set at 54mm. Incredible brush, it was very dense with beautiful fine hair that had fantastic soft tips.  I don't have a D01 2 band, but I have a "Unique" 2 band that may as well be a D01 2 band. It is insanely dense with very firm backbone, and it is scrubby. I do not face lather with it.

For D01 Silvertip 3 band in bulb, would you say think 28/54 is that much different than 28/56mm ? Other more backbone ?

(05-08-2019, 04:22 PM)Gigster Wrote: D01 2-Bands have considerably more backbone / stiffness than D01 3-Band.  For that matter, no other shaving brush knot (badger, boar, etc.) comes close to D01 2-Band when it comes to backbone, scrub, etc.  As such, I'm a bit curious why the D01 2-Band has a lower loft than the D01 3-Band.  I've had several D01 2-Bands set at low lofts (3 bulbs and 1 fan) and I didn't particularly enjoy the bulbs.   

Personally, a 28mm D01 3- Band (bulb) set at 56mm is perfection.

I am not sure, those were the dimensions Bernd recommended. I am leaning toward 28/56mm or even 28/54mm in bulb for the D01 3-band at this point, but not sure about D01 2 band yet. 

I might do 28/56 in bulb or 28/54 in fan for the D01 2-band.

(05-08-2019, 04:39 PM)TheLegalRazor Wrote: I generally prefer bulbs.  However, D01 2-band has a lot of stiffness and backbone.  Additionally, the bulbs in that grade are sometimes pointy.  I find a pointy D01 2-band bulb to be uncomfortable on the face.  Thus, I would opt for a fan in D01 2-band, or set the loft of a 28mm bulb to at least 56mm.

I was actually leaning toward that as well after reading a lot of posts on the forums! i.e. 28/54 fan or 28/56 bulb for the D01 2 band.

I have 2 Silvertip D01 3 band fans from Bernd and they are both great brushes. My personal preference is fans.

(05-08-2019, 05:14 PM)houm Wrote: [quote pid='917917' dateline='1557351361']

For face lathering I would go with the D01 Silvertip 3 band with a bulb. I had one that was 28mm, but it was set at 54mm. Incredible brush, it was very dense with beautiful fine hair that had fantastic soft tips.  I don't have a D01 2 band, but I have a "Unique" 2 band that may as well be a D01 2 band. It is insanely dense with very firm backbone, and it is scrubby. I do not face lather with it.

For D01 Silvertip 3 band in bulb, would you say think 28/54 is that much different than 28/56mm ? Other more backbone ?

[/quote]

Yes. You can confidently go with 54 in the 3 band bulb. You'll get a little more backbone and it will still feel soft and luxurious. I loved that set-up.

Did you consider the DO1, 2-band in a flat-top?  I highly recommend that one!

If you love your Chubby 3 Manchurian the Shavemac D01 3-band 28/56 probably would feel "floppy".
Chubby 2 Manchurian is my favorite knot and I have always ordered brushes from Shavemac at a lower setting than Bernd recommends. i have probably owned +15 Shavemacs, but only one left at the moment.

For a dense, stiff knot I’d go with a fan because the knot would be less dense and stiff than with a bulb. In consequence, if you’re seeking to optimize the knot’s density and stiffness choose the bulb.

I suggest both...they each scratch an itch.

I have a Shavemac bulb knot and it’s great.