I like to boil some water in the microwave to put in my scuttle its too hot directly and stays warm through pass four. I'm am a daily user of the scuttle every time I shave I'm addicted to warm lather
I'm sure everyone has explained how a scuttle works. You put hot water in the spout, work up a lather in the bowl above & the hot water keeps your lather warm. DONT BOIL WATER........boiled water breaks down your lather to the point where it gets soupy. You can heat up water in an electric kettle which I do because I have a small hot water heater & I mix it w. the barely hot water coming out of the tap & then pour some in the sink.......but don't put straight hot water in there.....unless you like perfumed soup all over ya!
Any good places to buy a shuttle? I have found very few online, should I just be trolling antique stores?
That should, obviously, say scuttle. To buy a shuttle would be cost prohibitive. And perhaps I should pay more attention when I type.
I don't use a scuttle, but the two I have heard mentioned more then once are offerings from Dirty Bird and also Robert Becker. Try googling to see if either have a website. For some reason, I think Robert Becker sells on ebay.
If you want to get a feel for what your getting into without dropping a whole lot of $$, try a "Redneck Scuttle". It's just a self-watering violet pot from Wally World for about $5. Put hot water into the outer bowl, whip up your lather in the inner bowl. Rest your brush there, as well. It was with that that I'm glad I didn't pay out $50+ for a scuttle. For me it made the lather thin out more than my liking. Mind you, that's me. Many folks use and enjoy their scuttles.
Ah, thanks, I'll give that a whirl first. As I'm using it for leg shaving, I think anytyhing to help keep the lather warm might be a benefit, but, it might not be...
Endeavor, Challenger, & Discovery may be up for sale, I'm not sure if NASA has a business phone, but you MAY check E-Bay, LOL!:happy102
I'll second that one!! I was the miserly Scrooge when it came to shaving. I would by the cheapest Gillettes that Wal Mart had, and shave with either the cheapest shave cream (can) like Barbasol, or buy the $1.58 VanDerHagen soap for my old 1950 shaving mug that was given to me by my Great Uncle (along with his shaving brush....I still use ) Birthday is coming up on the 7th and just the other day ordered a Wacker razor (new) in 5/8 black handle. If you all know Wacker, they ain't cheap. I now have 4 scuttles, and about 22 other razors, Revisors, GOTTA(new) and DOVO. So much for saving money!! Just wanted to add..... when I was growing up in Western Nebraska I saw my Uncle Ben Yetter shave with his straight razor, along with some other relatives. This was back in the late 50's early to mid 60's. Farmers, and they only had one straight razor to their name to shave with, a hone and a strop. I never heard of a 7 day set. I would imagine that was relegated to Bankers, and others that had a lot of money. Most farmers could afford a 7 day set, no doubt, but their interesst were more in what kind of grain drill could I buy, or what about that Angus bull coming up for sale at the auction for the herd improment, not razors. To them it was simpy a utility of getting a clean face, and anyone then would have jumped at the chance for doing it with a plastic 2-4 blade razor for cheap. Coming full circle we are now the "Keepers Of The Blade" the last bastion of an art of shaving that few have ever even tried, or even know it still exists. I know I new nothing of straigh razor shaving as near back as Jan of this year. Didn't think anyone ever used one nor that they were even still being made. Imagine if there were some commercial on TV that showed a guy, known actor, shaving with a new DOVO?? So, yes the scuttles are very nice. Warm lather is something that has been sought for a long time. Also, going back to the early years of straight shaving, a lot of houses were not plumbed for water. Seriosly! And, if they were, it was only the kitchen as it was in my Uncle Ben Yetter's house. They would get hot water from the tea kettle into the scuttle through that opening and take it to where they wanted to shave with a mirror, ususaly the entry way. It was a way of shaving with little water and keeping the lather hot. The razor was wiped off between passes with a wet wash cloth, and the brush was dipped in the hot water large openning of the scuttle to get more water for a piece of soap in the upper part of the scuttle. Holes in the top allowed excess water to drip back into the bottom, but also provided warm air from the bottom to "leak" to the upper bowl as well.
Kate, I got 2 scuttles from eBay for about 10.00 each. One German one Kent England. Really nice. You can also get a brand new scuttle from here: http://www.heimerdingercutlery.com/...barber-shaving-scuttle-almond-soap-p-244.html and includes a Col Conk Almond soap as well.
I recommend a Becker scuttle, with an area to wet your brush during the shave. Here's mine (much cheaper than most): rbecker13@att.net is his email address and his online store, Robert's Ceramic Feats of Clay, is an ebay vendor with all Buy It Now merchandise. If you send him a picture of mine he'll make you one like it.
