Thread: Mystery possibly solved

Some time ago Sharptonn (Tom) surprised me with a great little palm sized bowl with a scored interior that I've used to grate stick soaps into and use when face lathering or as a rest for a soapy brush between passes. I've always wondered what it was originally designed for.. It's a nifty little accessory and I've just used it however it fit into my daily routine.

Earlier this week, I was at the North Carolina State Fair, stuffing my face with delicacies like fried Oreos and corn dogs, looking at livestock, and watching my grandson enjoy the rides when my wife dragged me into the "Arts and Crafts" area to look for new coffee mugs. What should I discover in my bored wandering, but this small wonder, exactly the same size and general construction as my other bowl, but with a set of instructions. I believe this may have been the original intent for the Asian bowl I've been using for shaving! I saved $19, since I already have one!

It's a suribachi bowl used for grinding wasabi, sesame seed, or other things such as garlic. They're supposed to make a good lather due to the texture, but I've also heard the texture will wear the brush excessively. Not sure about the wear thing, but it has made me second guess trying one.

There's all kinds of them at amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Cera...%2C226&sr=8-15

I've got one too, Harold. And it works great for lathering.

Haven't seen any problems with it wearing down a brush, though. Pete, got the first one. He's not having any problems either.

Great for soap samples.!!

Yup. Pete showed his and I got all excited (as-usual) and ordered a half-dozen, kept one and sent the rest around.
They were really cheap on ebay before they started charging tax.........
Love the thing. Great for samples, cream in tubes, etc. Cannot tell any wear on my brushes?

@ outback: nice Wolf razor!

Good to know about the wear.

When I was looking at these I found a thread on another site where someone had "tested" the brush wear and it showed some pretty significant damage. It kinda looked like the tester had used a really heavy hand, so I was a little suspicious of the results. If you guys haven't had any problems I'll see if I can find a small one that will fit my stand. I need a new bowl anyway, the horn one I have looks nice, but is starting to de-laminate.

I suspect most of us have several brushes we alternate and don't use the suribachi bowl every shave.
That being said, I suppose anything can be run into the ground.

Besides, how you gonna get new brushes when yours doesn't wear-out?

I have been lathering with a brush and mug for almost 50 years and have never had a "brush wear" problem except for a brush that came as part of an Aramis Christmas gift set , long ago. It gave up after about 5 years.

Now that I have significantly more than 1 brush, I expect they'll last almost forever...at least my forever

Wonderful for samples. I use the one Tom sent me at least once every couple weeks. It just works!

Originally Posted by JellyJar

Good to know about the wear.

When I was looking at these I found a thread on another site where someone had "tested" the brush wear and it showed some pretty significant damage. It kinda looked like the tester had used a really heavy hand, so I was a little suspicious of the results. If you guys haven't had any problems I'll see if I can find a small one that will fit my stand. I need a new bowl anyway, the horn one I have looks nice, but is starting to de-laminate.

Soak it in neatsfoot oil, sounds like its drying out.