rakowski

[terrylmtl]

was looking at rakowski hand made products i looked at a silver tip badger palmwood brush for 75.00 and matching 5/8 thiers issard palmwood straight for 225.00 how are they and how the price

[thebigspendur]

I've never seen one in person but the posts I have seen here have not been favorable.

The problem with handmade brushes (and I know many here have them and love them, I have a couple myself) is that what you are really buying is a custom handle. The badger that goes into the brush is generic silvertip badger. I have never seen a "custom" brush where the business end even came close to the hair on a Rooney best or Simpson super. Now I'm not saying they are bad in any way its just if I'm going to spend the money on a brush I'd rather spend it towards the extra quality on the business end. Of course thats a personal thing. If you want that gorgeous wood handle then go for it. An alternative is to buy just a handle and see if one of the stores like shavemac will fill it for you. That's the best of both worlds but it would not be cheap.

[1adam12]

My very first and only brush is a Rakowski. The first one he sent me got lost in the mail, and he quickly shipped out another one. It was a Kingwood handled silvertip. I bought it on Ebay for $20 plush shipping. The brushed seemed very nice. Then in about 3 weeks the finish started to peel off of the handle. After about 2 months the brush knot fell out of the brush, then started loosing hairs in chunks. Since then I used the handle to practice a CA finish, and then scrapped out the old glue he used in the handle. I put the brush knot back into the brush with some decent marine apoxy. The brush is working fine and not loosing any more hairs. Personaly I think when the first one got lost in the mail he hastily slapped a replacment together, and it was not sealed up properly. It was a really good first brush for what I paid for it, and I am still using it. I am saving up for a shavemac though. Personaly I would not buy a Rakowski again, as there are many other custom handle makers with more experience with shaving equipment. Rakowski is a fine woodworker, but I think he needs to learn more about shaving gear.