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Ok, so far as I can tell a scuttle is nothing more than a modified teapot with a modified cup attached to the top of it with the expess purpose to pour hot water within the cavity between them to heat what is lathered in the cup. Now if this is true, why am I seeing scuttles for sale with matching lather bowls? Doesn't it defeat the purpose to lather away from the heat source?
It could be that when they say "matching lather bowl" they're talking about the insert.
On the other hand, long before the moss scuttle (aka modern scuttle, aka what most people around here are talking about when they say "scuttle") showed up, there were what I call "old school scuttles."
The idea of a scuttle originally was quite a bit different. The bowl at the top would sit completely above the water, and typically had drain holes that drained into the hot water chamber below, making them completely useless for lathering.
Also, the 'spout' of the hot water chamber was large enough to stick your brush into.
They were ideal; both for barbers, and for people who didn't have hot running water. (Ah, the things we take for granted today)
A cake of shave soap (not cream) would go in the top, and boiling water from the kettle would be used to fill the bottom. Drop your brush into the spout, and head to where ever you intended to do your shaving. The boiling hot water meant that even in very cold weather, you'd have a piping hot brush, and equally hot lather.
The drain holes in the top compartment meant that if you put too much water on your soap, it would simply drain away. Plus, you could simply tip the water out, and leave your soap without fear of it getting mucked up and soggy before your next shave.
If you prefer to face lather like I do, then a traditional scuttle is all you need. However, if you want to lather in a bowl, it has to be separate because of the drain holes.
Actually what I had been seeing is the Moss Scuttle and the matching bowl is definitely not the insert because what you call an insert looks to be fired and glazed as one piece and the "insert" has a cut into it where the spout is, so definetely different.
Anyways I'm still curious because since the modern scuttles are ment to have the lathering bowl surounded by hot water, and therefore cannot have the holes in the bottom, they have instead concentric circle depresions to aid in lathering. Now if I put a soap in there to start the lathering it defeats the purpose of the depresions. So is this modern scuttle ment to be only used with creams (something I'm not familar with) or how do you use soap with it?
I don't leave my soap in my scuttle, I load the brush from the soap tub and then lather in the scuttle. I'm sure it would work just fine leaving the soap in there. There are some people who do lather in a separate bowl and just keep the brush in the hot scuttle. I just make the lather right in the scuttle.
By soap tub, do you mean a bowl you keep your soap in? Also does your scuttle have the depresions I'm talking about, because I've seen them with the depressions and without. I'm wondering if they play a role at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by sinnfein
Lastly talking about soap, can you use just dove soap for example?
Shaving soap is a bit different. Traditional soap, IE body soap, will dry out your skin and cause irritation and razor burn.Quote:
Originally Posted by Knife
My scuttle has the ridges you're talking about, it's to aid in the creation of your lather, kind of cutting into the soap as you swirl it. I've had both, haven't really noticed a huge difference between the two, so you should be fine with either. I think the separate bowl for the scuttle would be simply to give a choice between the two. Extra's are extra's!
For instance, let's say you're going camping and don't want to lug your enormous SCHWARZWEISSKERAMIK around with you or don't have access to hot water, you can simply bring the lather bowl to lather in and enjoy the simplicity of a cold-shave!
I went to that SCHWARZWEISSKERAMIK site and they have a page where they shave soap with what looks like a cheese grater and then take the shavings and press them to the brim in a tiny bowl then use that to gather their soap. Is there an advantage to this?
So looks like if you want to use a modern scuttle with soap you need a seperate container?
Separate container for the soap, yes. Most soaps you buy online either come in a container, or you can opt for one to store it in.Quote:
Originally Posted by Knife
Alternatively, another option is to take the associated "lather" bowl, take the isolated soap puck and either melt it down grate it into flakes (like on the keramik website) and push them together into the shape of the bowl, that way the soap conforms to the bowl and such. Add some water and it'll glue itself together! This way your "lather" bowl can be used to house your lonely puck and you can load up your brush and face-lather!
My opinion is that a modern scuttle is better suited to creams, however, you should never lather on top of a cake of soap. That's just a waste. Instead, you load the brush with soap, an then you either move to a lathering bowl or lather on your face.Quote:
Originally Posted by Knife
Which is more economical, cream or soap?
In my experience, a quality, triple-milled soap will far outlast a cream of the same amount.
For instance, Martin De Candre is an extremely hard soap that produces an abundant amount of lather for the little that you use. My large jar should last me well beyond next year, but I also use it in a (growing) rotation of 3 or 4 different soaps.
I've heard that Mitchell's Wool Fat is another hard soap that lasts awhile, but I don't have any experience with it.
Be careful not to write-off creams, though. They have their desired purposes, too! They work well in conjuction with a nice soap to give you a great, smooth lather. Also, they take a bit less time to lather, cutting time off your shave if you're in a hurry (which I can be, some mornings).
You really can't compare them because they are all so different. Castle Forbes for instance requires a pea sized dollop to create incredible lather and it would last a very long time. I think in the end they last about the same comparing equal quality products.
As far as a lathering bowl is concerned, yes modern scuttles lather in the scuttle itself. The small bowls like Oskar sells are to grate soap and load up the brush that way. it's part of his "system".
Veedubb, this is the first time I've heard how to use the older version of a scuttle. Thanks a bunch. Ive actually not bought one in the past due to embarrassment of not knowing how to deal with the holes/shallow platform. ;)
I hope you try one out, they're really wonderful for what they're for.
Something that would really help me decide which scuttle I want is the volume of water they hold. I know its a lot to ask, but can some of you (hopefully one with each type of scuttle) measure how much water it takes to fill the cavity within the scuttle and then how much water the lathering space holds? Some of the suppliers give you lathering dimentions, but the lathering space is not a cylinder so I have no idea of its volume. The cavity is what really matters, the bigger the cavity space the longer it will hold heat.
Someone on the internet measured the Schwarzweisskeramik to have about 4 deciliters in the lathering bowl and 8 in the cavity. If your willing to measure your scuttle, let me know in whichever unit you wish.
Thanks
The Swarzweisskeramik comes with a "soap lid", like this:Quote:
Originally Posted by Knife
http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/1...sskeramik2.jpg
By blix72 at 2011-07-10
I fill mine with a quite soft soap, I have a kg brick of Cella. Amazing Scuttle!
Yeah part of why I want to get the Swarzweisskeramik is it comes with the soap bowl and it matches with the scuttle. I plan on using soap to lather with, partly because I've been using dove soap to lather with recently and I love it so it'll only get better with proper shaving soap. Although I will be experimenting with shave cream. But thanks for that Cella recomendation, I was looking more toward getting a brick type soap so I can do the shavings thing. Bowl shaped shaving soaps seem to me will be more expensive. Getting a brick and producing shavings and generating a home made soap bowl seams more like a labor of love that will add to my straight shaving experience. I looked up the Cell kg brick, 42 bucks. How long does that last you?
Cella soap is soft enough so you can just cut of a piece and press it into the soap lid with no problem.
I use various soaps in rotation, but I'm still using Cella for around 50% of my shaves. I think 1 kg will at least last a couple years, if not longer.
VeeDubb, I agree that it is a waste, but not a terrible waste. Prior to discovering SRP and straight razors, I wet shaved for many years lathering on top of a cake of soap out of ignorance. An $8 puck of C&E soap would last me over 6 months of daily use. That's still way cheaper than the junk in a can:)Quote:
Originally Posted by VeeDubb65
Hey Blix, like I said I want to get the Swarzweisskeramik and on their website all the scuttles look almost identical, but yours looks like it has a bigger "spout." Did you ask for that or is there that much variation with the individual hand thrown scuttles? Or maybe I'm seeing it wrong?
I didn't ask for it, I just ordered a standard XL. I'd send an email to him and ask :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Knife
So it is bigger, I'm not seeing it wrong.
I have no idea, I have only one... :) Certainly looks a bit larger, but the camera angles can deceive us.Quote:
Originally Posted by Knife
Yours looks fine, its just if I'm going to buy one I'd like to know they will be relatively the same, because if theres a great variation in the end product I might not end up with one I like.
Thanks