Thread: Bowl vs Mug vs Scuttle

Just wondering what peoples' preference was. I'm currently using a covered wooden bowl to hold my soap and doing mostly face lathering. However, I've had my eye on the SRD scuttle in midnight black. (Hot lather, yay) I was just curious what everybody else was using.

I use all three. The mug is quick and easy, but not best for whipping up a lather or making up mixtures such as soap and cream, or glycerine, soap, and cream.
Bowls give you more space for brush action. I dribble lather from my mugs into my bowl then mix with or without additions to the soap lather or dollop of cream.
A scuttle is a bowel having a chamber holding hot water to keep the lather warm. It can be used like a bowl, if no hot water is added. Scuttles are usually larger and heavier than bowls. They are usually left on the sink top. They work best if the water volume is large to hold heat. The hot lather may need the addition of more water from time to time. with rewhipping to keep it sufficiently moist. The hotter the lather, the faster it dries. The Chimensch 30th anniversary shave video shows him using a scuttle and rehydrating lather. A bowl is handier and less expensive, if you do not value keeping the lather warm, or do not want to deal with lather drying. The mug is very handy and may be all that you need, if you do not want to mix in additions.

A Moss scuttle is large enough to build lather yet keep it warm. A SRD scuttle to keep the loaded brush warm. Perfection.

I have the large scuttle from Roberts Feats of Clay. I have read people on hear saying that it is very thin and loses the heat too quickly. On the contrary, I think it holds the heat fantastically! For something like $30 you get a large scuttle with a lid. I was a mug user, but not anymore!

I use a scuttle made by Robert Becker.

SRD makes excellent scuttles. My first one was bought there. I now use a Dirty Bird double, It holds 4 cups of water, is 6 inches wide, and is quite heavy. IMHO, bigger is better when it comes to scuttles, especially if you have the room. I like something I can really move around in. I've tried 4 or 5 different scuttles, including R.Becker's feats of clay. They're cheap, so for the money, it's worth it. However, I did find them to be on the thin side. Mine feels like piece of fine china, very thin, when compared to every other scuttle. If the walls are too thin on the outside especially, your going to rapidly loose heat.
There's really no way around that.

My R.Becker is poorly made imo. The lid doesn't fit at all, and has paint from another scuttle on it from a Kiln accident, but R.Becker did give the lid to me for free. I actually put little rubber feat on the bottom of the scuttle to help stop heat loss, but it didn't help. Now it sits in m closet as a backup. Maybe I got a bad one. Everyone seems to love there's, so that's why I bought one. We used to have reviews for every scuttle, but no more. Like we say here, YMMV.

To me, scuttles are about keeping the suds warm for multiple passes when shaving. As a result, I use mine daily. I like the bowls for whipping up suds and uberlathers once the brush is loaded and I like the bulldog mug for keeping pucks of soap and whipping up suds in that with a given puck. All about personal preference. Pick one or pick 'em all.

Have fun

I use a mug.

My Granddad got the shaving mug for his confirmation about 1910 or so. He used it for shaving all his life. I still remember him using it when I was a young boy.
When he died in the 1970ies, I inherited it from him. It is made in Norway by Porsgrund porselen.

Gentlemen:
I predominantly face lather and keep my brush warm in a small Moss scuttle. Occasionally I bowl lather, using the matching lather bowl and then transferring the lather into the scuttle to keep warm along with my brush.

Originally Posted by Otto

I use a mug.
My Granddad got the shaving mug for his confirmation about 1910 or so. He used it for shaving all his life. I still remember him using it when I was a young boy.
When he died in the 1970ies, I inherited it from him. It is made in Norway by Porsgrund porselen.

Had I a story like that I would be using the mug as well. Unfortunately, I distinctly remember my grandfather's & great grandfather's strop (which hung on the wall as a behavioral "motivator" through most of my childhood) and other shaving paraphernalia being sold at a yard sale during my early teenage years before I even started shaving.

I would say I would like to use a multitude on bowls, mugs, and scuttles but SWMBO has taken the thought in her head that she must do everything possible to prevent various acquisition disorders from happening now that I have switched to a straight razor. I'll have to see if I can't get myself a pre-paid debit card, and alternate address to have things sent to.