Two shaves in, I'll call it a keeper. Lost a few hairs (not unexpected) when I gave it a dog shampoo bath and a couple more in the first shave. No hair loss in the second shave. It's a very soft brush. I wouldn't call it mushy, but I wouldn't mind a little more backbone.
At that size knot, at that loft, it's not surprising that it needs a little more backbone. The bigger the knot and the higher the grade of hair, the less backbone. At least that's been my experience. That's why I keep at or below 22mm myself. Keep using it. It might grow on you as you learn to use it. And yes, using a bigger or smaller brush than you're normally used to, does require some adjustment and technique re-learning. They hold more water or less water, are heavier or lighter, etc. and you have to get a re-feel for that particular brush.
I just ordered and received a 24 mm Frank Shaving brush in 'Best Badger' on eBay. I have two more that I got 6 months ago from Ian Tang. The interesting thing (besides that it's a great brush) is that it was not marked 'FS'. I guess it really does not matter as the 'FS' logo quickly wore off the two older brushes. The brushes all have very soft tips but the silvertip is very soft and is not scrubby or scritchy at all. They are very luxurious and do not shed. Barry
I've not heard much about the FS Best. What are your thoughts on it compared to your others? Do you only have silver tips, or also a finest?
IMHO, I think the finest in Franks line up is the best choice in general. It works well as I think the majority of FS knots are not very dense. The Best and Silvertip used in Franks are very soft but IMHO they suffer from lack of density. There are a couple of exceptions that I've found. The 28mm Richmond Silvertip that I have has a very densely packed knot, it's nothing like the standard FS silvertip knots. I also ordered a 24mm "custom" from Ian and requested that it have an over stuffed Knot in Best. The overstuffed is much denser than the standard 24mm Best, It had good backbone and is very soft. It's too bad that all FS silvertip and Best brushes don't have knots like these two. The factory that produces the knots can make a very high quality knot. I would guess that the best quality knots may be exported to some other brush makers.
Thanks newb! I really like my 24mm Richmond Finest. It's really making me want to try a TGN finest knot for comparison. Have you had a chance to use both FS and TGN?
I had to wait on him, Ian, to make this one for me but here's the pics he sent me today.. beautiful red Warwick handle, 23mm SilverTip knot.
Haven't really thought that far in advance as it'll be another week to three weeks before it actually gets here but it'll either be TSD Yin Yang, Tet-a-Tet or Palmolive (Euro).
I'm not sure where TGN sources their knots from ? But the Nylon 23mm looks suspiciously like the FS nylon ?
Here was the comparison of the TGN 23mm. synthetic and the FS 23mm synthetic. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threa...is-a-way-synthetic-redux-picture-heavy.25519/
