Thread: Thebigspendurs Weekly Shaving brainbuster #12

Good morning shaving fiends.

I’ve been staying over at the ranch lately because Jethro blamed me for the whole incident and is forcing me to work off the debt so he can replace old Diablo. I told him to just sell the strops on Eboy but he has no computer and even if he did he wouldn’t know how to use it besides he ain’t got no electricity anyway.

So I woke up early in the morning to go fetch my prize steer General Beauregard so he could visit the ladies at the ranch and I hear Festus a whooping and a hollering. It seems he looked out from around the haystack where he was with that damned goat doing well, err.. you know what I mean and I guess he saw that mangy badger near the haystack with his family and a bunch of friends almost daring him to come out. So Jethro hears the commotion and runs and grabs his Louisville Slugger and sneaks up behind the badger and whacks him into next July. His buddies ran off. Unfortunately Jethro doesn’t see none too good. Unfortunately he failed to see the 500lb Black Bear that was stalking the Badger and was planning on a Badger meal which was just stolen from him. I guess he decided a change of menu was in order. The last time I saw Jethro he was running into the National Forest with that bear chasing him.

Well, I tried to organize a search and rescue party but Cletus was working at his forge making some expensive Damascus straight razors he ordered from China to sell to the members at SRP and Festus had some unfinished business with that goat so I had to go myself. I never did find him but the next day the Sheriff drove him home. It seems he outran the bear right into the next county.

So the question for this week’s shaving brainbuster involves that badger. Jethro is going to make some badger brushes from the hair on that huge male badger. So the first question is, since Cletus says Boar is far better as a shaving brush than badger should Jethro even bother. So which is better and why?

Second, how many 28mm brushes in the pure, best and silvertip category do you thing he can make from that badger and what distinguishes the grades (so jethro knows how to price them).

Be sure to check back on Wednesday for the answers. I understand those badgers that ran off have a score to settle and I for one am not sticking around when they return especially if that bear comes back too.

Oh and Auntie says your all invited over next Sunday for some Badger Stew and Dumplings.

Question:

1. Which is better and why?
This is debatable as some prefer boar hair brushes they believe that they produce a lather quicker due to thier stiffer bristles. However it is usually agrred upon that badger hair is better due to its unique ability of water retention.

2.How many brushes can you make from 1 badger and what are thier grades?

Pure-This is the most common hair on a badger covering around sixty percent of its body. It is coarser than best or super and costs less due to it being easily obtained.

Best-This is a slightly softer hair found only on about twenty three percent of the badger body. It is slightly more expensive and can be eithier dark like the pure hair or lighter almost like super.

Super(silvertip)-This is the most expensive and rare hair found on the badger these hairs appear blond or "white tipped" naturaly and have a fuzzy quality to them that allows them to hold and incredible amount of water resulting in quick lathers and a soft feeling while lather is being applied.

It should be noted that only European hog badgers are used in brush making they are usually 28in long.

As far as making brushes it really depend on how tightly compact you make the knot. The more compact the better the knot but the less product (and therefore sales/profit).I would wadger you could get at least three bakers dozens out of it probably:

8-9 best

23-24 pure

and 5-6 silvertip

European badgers are NOT used in brush making. It's illegal to use them, in fact. The trapping, killing and trade in European Badger products is strictly prohibited in Europe. So the most common badgers brushes are from the Chinese Badger (meles leucurus), found most often in northern China. The Hog Badger (Arctonyx Collaris) is not at all European--it's in SE Asia, and not hunted for anything. The European badger is Meles Meles.

As for badger hair retaining water better, well, that's actually not very good for lathering. You want the water in the lather, not the hairs of the brush.

Long live the boar!

Thanks Jim I'm not the best at zoology I was just trying to get across that the american badger wasn't used and the smaller more weasel like badger overseas was I had no idea there were so many different sub-species

...hey I stated that opinions differed I own a couple boars myself (though my tweezerman is still my main one for now) and was impressed at how they lather I just prefer the softness of badger on my face. Yeah yeah I know you question then why use a tweezerman? A: I'm broke naturally

There's 8 types and 4 sub families.

Badger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I didn't know a skunk was considered a badger too :P

Asiatic stinkbadgers are of genus Mydaus but are instead placed on Mephitidae.

To answer your question I prefer boar thus far. Hands down I took liberty of ordering some boar #21047 FTW!

Originally Posted by mbwhoosh

Thanks Jim I'm not the best at zoology I was just trying to get across that the american badger wasn't used and the smaller more weasel like badger overseas was I had no idea there were so many different sub-species

...hey I stated that opinions differed I own a couple boars myself (though my tweezerman is still my main one for now) and was impressed at how they lather I just prefer the softness of badger on my face. Yeah yeah I know you question then why use a tweezerman? A: I'm broke naturally

Yeah man, I know...it's all a matter of taste.

The only reason I know about the badger stuff is there was a stink about some makers using illegal badger hair in their brushes on one of the other forums. You learn a lot when badger-nuts get together!

Originally Posted by SiRed8

There's 8 types and 4 sub families.
Badger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I didn't know a skunk was considered a badger too :P
To answer your question I prefer boar thus far. Hands down I took liberty of ordering some boar #21047 FTW!

You got all that info quick as heck yet I give you all the tools to answer the movie quiz and you don't even put a guess in

Originally Posted by JimR

Yeah man, I know...it's all a matter of taste.
The only reason I know about the badger stuff is there was a stink about some makers using illegal badger hair in their brushes on one of the other forums. You learn a lot when badger-nuts get together!

Are there any protected boar types?

Nah, they do a pretty good job of protecting themselves.

if i read the above post correctly, he said that a skunk was in the badger family. i hope that we do not ever have to make brushes out of that, it may look pretty, but how about that odor?

Originally Posted by 59caddy

if i read the above post correctly, he said that a skunk was in the badger family. i hope that we do not ever have to make brushes out of that, it may look pretty, but how about that odor?

Actually skunk hair doesn't smell. They spray from anal glands. Skunks actually make good pets once those glands are removed. Auntie has one that roams around the cabin and really is very friendly.