Thater 49125/0 (or 4125/0) 22mm help / advice from current/past owners

I am looking for some advice from current or former owners (or someone that is familiar with) the Thater 49125/0 or 4125/0 22mm brush.

I've been looking purchasing the Thater 49125/0 22mm silvertip for a few months now... I currently have 2 brushes:
- Simpson Beaufort 4 pure badger
- old red/cream handled burma shave "natural bristle" that I used to clean my M16 and M9 with before I retired from the US Army - I believe this brush to be a trimmed boar's hair brush.

I hear a lot of good things about Thater brushes and the 49125/0 22mm silvertip caught my attention.

The main reason I haven't pulled the trigger on a purchase yet is because I am concerned that the handle seems to be awfully short or small. I have averge sized hands so that isn't too much of a concern, but I am a bowl latherer - so I am concerned the brush will get lost in the bowl during lathering causing a huge mess with lather covering the whole brush (handle and all).... is this a legitimate concern I should have? or is the handle length not much of a problem?

Time for full disclosure - the "other real reason" for not purchasing yet is, other than dropping a significant chunk of change on a shaving brush, is the fact that SWMBO will not, and consequently does not, see a reason for 3 such brushes when I already have 2 that seem to work just fine... (sound familiar?)

I've got one of the Thaters with the small handle, something like 40mm long. And you are correct, it will fall over into a lather bowl. My solution is to use a Moss scuttle to hold the brush while I am shaving, in between lathering/passes. A coffee cup would serve the purpose. As far as the bristles, they are great and I love the brush. Mine is the 4125/2 I 26mm and the handle is the same length as the one you are looking at. As you can see from the SRD website they also make a longer handle. I have one of those too, a 23mm IIRC and it does not fall into the lather bowl. The 2 bands are great, don't know about the 3 bands.

Thanks Jimmy - I am glad I asked. I am now looking [hard] at ones with the longer handles... now its just a decision between the 2 band and the 3 band...

I've been looking longingly at the 2 bands for a while, and I'm liking the 4292/5 H 25mm (or the 23mm version) a bit too much.... but the 4376/4 23mm is in the running too.

ah - if I could just get them all

A few weeks ago I acquired a Thater 49125/0. The first few times I used it the handle was too short, got covered with lather, was endured but not enjoyed. I mostly face lather from hard soaps. After experimenting thru a number of shaves, I'm starting to really like this brush. I load the brush fairly dry from the puck and only sparingly touch the tips into water when a little more water is needed. This minimum water loading means that the soap stays mostly on the tips and middle of the brush with the handle remaining mostly free of soap. This makes for much more enjoyable usage. The knot size of 22/50 mm is perfect for very controllable face lathering. The brush has very soft tips yet adequate backbone for hard soaps which I prefer. This brush is now becoming one of my favorite brushes.

Napispooler,
I own and have owned a long series of Thater silvertip brushes. All are and have been sweet with superb lather and tips as soft as an angel's kiss. The 4125/0 and the 49125/0 are small brushes with short handles. I, however, preferred the 4125/0 over the other, because the handle was more comfortable. Either way, you cannot go wrong with the Thater brush.

Everyone has their preferences. For me I prefer a longer handle and one that is more ergonomic. When you start getting long in tooth like Obie (har har) you need all the help you can get holding on to the thing. I find the short handles get slippery and can get away from you.

Ah, spendur, my dear friend, but my hands are magical and can handle the long and the short equally well.

Napispooler:

In my personal opinion I've been the owner of two thater's I have to say that the quality of those brushes are top of the tops. In my case I do have pretty big hands and all my brushes are kinda big im talking about Polo10, Rooney stryle 3 Large etc. Now, in regards thater if you compare those with the thater yes, they are a bit bigger but they are not that small. I'm a scuttle lather guy and believe me when I say that thater are not missing in action. You can see them and perform with them.
Feel free to buy one of those brushes, they have the softest hairs available in the full market and no hair loss. In terms of price in my understanding they are not that expensive if compare them with the stupidity high prices of Simpson on this days. I know they are good but the prices are stupid. Thater for me are better quality feel free to get one of those...

I hope this may help.

thanks
Kenneth

well here we are 5 and 1/2 years later... I never did end up purchasing the Thater or a new brush -- until a couple of days ago. I decided on the Steven's Woodworking #3 from SRD - it is currently en route - I hear good things about it - the 26mm knot is quite a bit larger than my 19mm simpson -- and should be very different. Re-reading my OP is alos entertaining in seeing how my technique has changed over the years... I'm a face latherer now...that started when tried Mitchell's Wool Fat and found i could only get it to work on a face lather... then never switched back to bowl lathering... and that old Burma Shave brush... heh.. the knot fell out of it a few years ago -- its long gone.

anyway... thanks for your advice guys.. a Thater is still on my "someday" list.

My only brush is a Thater 4125/3 (28mm 2-band silvertip) and somehow I manage to bowl lather despite the somewhat short handle. :shrug:

Keep your eyes on B/S/T here, and you may find a Thater deal yet.