Thread: Morris & Forndran

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I sometimes wonder if there is anything in this sport that doesn't fall under YMMV ? Lee Sabini (Rooney & Morris & Frondran) said he couldn't access the hair for those wonderfully scritchy Rooney FInests and came out with the Heritage line. I had more than a few of them over the years, still have two. They all had good backbone but none had scritch.

But thinking about it, I had a lot of brushes and wanted to thin the herd quite a bit. So I sold all but a couple of my Finests and some Somerset Simpsons. Scritchy all. Well if I had it to do over ........ but that is not the point.

I told these guys that they were scritchy brushes, and AFAIC they were. But after they received them, and had them awhile, I asked if they thought they were scritchy, and to a man they said not that much, or not at all. This puzzled me. BTW, I didn't get any complaints, they were all happy with the brushes.

Giving it some thought I figured out that me being a guy who can only do two passes, whether straight razor, or DE, or I get irritation, I must have some sensitive skin. So what feels regular to many guys feels scritchy to me.

Good luck with that Polo Andrew .........

Hey Jimmy - it was this one or a Manchurian Simpsons that I was looking at - again, massive YMMV.

The more reading I've done on all these brushes the conclusion I've come to is that there is no conclusion - one man's scritchy is another soft tips, and the brushes vary so much from brush to brush, year to year, that it seems to be a crap shoot in terms of what you get.

The M&F L7 I have I can say, and think it would be a very few people that would say otherwise, is definitely hardcore on the scritch factor. It has backbone as if there a steel rod in it, and the tips really scrub the face.

Now I've been reading about some M&F's being equivalent to Manchurian knots, but then what year? One year they've got scrub, next year they don't. Then there is this whole "gel tip" that I've been reading about with the M&F"s, WTF is that???? haha I was just wrapping my head around "scritch" and now I've got to do, "gel tip".

So it's like honing, the only real test is in the shave, and the only test with this will be in the lathering....figured to get a new one was lucky, the knot diameter and the loft actually match up perfectly with an old post of pixel's I came across, where he grumbled, "If you got a 31mm knot, loft has to be 55mm"...so if Bill said it, should be at the very least interesting.

So my new brand new Morris & Forndran brush finally showed up.

Massive brush, the knot is spectacular, rock solid backbone, and can feel this one will be very scritchy. Can't wait to try this out tonight.

Here's a shot of the M&F Polo 3 standing beside a Simpson's Polo 8 Super Badger, and a Morris & Forndran L7.

Originally Posted by Phrank

So my new brand new Morris & Forndran brush finally showed up.

Massive brush, the knot is spectacular, rock solid backbone, and can feel this one will be very scritchy. Can't wait to try this out tonight.

Here's a shot of the M&F Polo 3 standing beside a Simpson's Polo 8 Super Badger, and a Morris & Forndran L7.

I tip my hat to JimmyHAD, you just can't pin these brushes down, label to label, Blonde, Finest, Heritage, you just don't know what you're going to get.

This brush has the silkiest tips, huge backbone, and touches your face like a Plisson High Mountain White on steroids....which means it ain't for me.

Lee Sabini is like a Unicorn, talked about frequently but never seen...would love to get one with the scritch of that M&F L7 I have.

So I used it the once, going to let it dry thoroughly, then wrap it up and put it away.

Originally Posted by Phrank

So my new brand new Morris & Forndran brush finally showed up.

Massive brush, the knot is spectacular, rock solid backbone, and can feel this one will be very scritchy. Can't wait to try this out tonight.

Here's a shot of the M&F Polo 3 standing beside a Simpson's Polo 8 Super Badger, and a Morris & Forndran L7.

Love those Morris & Forndrans...

I've got four, and would love to add one more!

Andrew now that ain't right to put it away, could be it would fit someone else's face, it's a beauty!. But it's not like you don't have some fine brushes to make do. Tc

I think the biggest issue is the lack of standards. One outfit says super and another finest and another silvertip and another Manchurian and you really don't have any standard reference point.

I can tell you I have about 4 Simpson manchurians which I bought over a four year period and they are exactly the same as far as back bone and softness of the tips. The Thaters I have are about the same as the Simpson manchurians. The Classic two banders I have are also exactly the same from different outfits and bought over several years. It's all pretty consistent.

So I don't think the hair changes from company to company and year to year it's just you don't know what you are getting because of the lack of standards.

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

Andrew now that ain't right to put it away, could be it would fit someone else's face, it's a beauty!. But it's not like you don't have some fine brushes to make do. Tc

It will probably be making an appearance on another section of SRP!!

Coming soon.....

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I think the biggest issue is the lack of standards. One outfit says super and another finest and another silvertip and another Manchurian and you really don't have any standard reference point.

I can tell you I have about 4 Simpson manchurians which I bought over a four year period and they are exactly the same as far as back bone and softness of the tips. The Thaters I have are about the same as the Simpson manchurians. The Classic two banders I have are also exactly the same from different outfits and bought over several years. It's all pretty consistent.

So I don't think the hair changes from company to company and year to year it's just you don't know what you are getting because of the lack of standards.

This is yet another issue that I read somewhere was blamed on global warming. The difference in the coat that badgers in China are developing currently against what they had in the past. The only thing I know about badger hair is that I don't know anything, and must depend on the various manufacturers to name the same thing as the best hair since sliced bread.

Originally Posted by Druid

This is yet another issue that I read somewhere was blamed on global warming. The difference in the coat that badgers in China are developing currently against what they had in the past. The only thing I know about badger hair is that I don't know anything, and must depend on the various manufacturers to name the same thing as the best hair since sliced bread.

All I know is that I'm so very, very sad......

Waited out the auction, waited out the two weeks for delivery, the expectation of having a Morris & Forndran 31mm bulldog steel wool to lather up some MdC Fougere, and it was like brushing soft silky wings on my face, that smelled like Fern....what a complete' buzz kill that was...disappointment level well beyond critical.

Sorry to read your experience. I own a couple of what I like to call legacy M&F brushes, meaning when quality was paramount. I heard Lee wasn't really into it anymore, but I don't know about that, I never had a problem with him.