Thread: Dirty bird dribble port

We have hard water here too, and a dry climate. It presents its own challenges and face lathering was never consistent enough for me. The scuttle answered most of the issues. To be honest though, consider the shipping. Ceramic/porcelain is a challenge to ship, and heavy. I have seen the UK scuttles you mentioned on ebay, and they look very nice, and considered buying one - but the shipping cost and risk wasn't worth it to me. You also have the black/white/ceramic scuttles (porcelain) from Germany close by, and they are pretty much universally praised - though not cheap. One thing you didn't mention is the shape of the lather bowl. The DB is perfect. A major flaw, to me, with most scuttles and lather bowls is having a near vertical bowl wall instead of a sloped wall. I didn't buy a DB lather bowl because it has straight sides. This means that your brush handle is clanging against the wall as you whip up the lather. Do this in the morning and you'll wake the household - though if you have teenagers, it may be a good thing. The webbed sides and dribble hole are interesting, but not enough for me to upgrade. If you have larger hands, or if you like making a nice pile of lather, I wouldn't get anything smaller than the 1.5

Originally Posted by Obelisk

The webbed sides and dribble hole are interesting, but not enough for me to upgrade. If you have larger hands, or if you like making a nice pile of lather, I wouldn't get anything smaller than the 1.5

I agree, the mixing bowl my son has is adequate but I prefer the wider opening of the 1.5 scuttle to mix a good uberlather! Again, the mixing bowl, is fine, you may hit the side with the brush handle from time to time but not a real concern for the lather making ability or breakability of the ceramic bowl.
Double O

Originally Posted by tbaac

Hi, I thought I'd bump this thread rather than starting my own as it involves Dirty Bird's scuttles. I live in the UK and Steve Woodhead has his own pottery business putting out what look to be very nice shaving bowls and scuttles and I was doing a comparison with Dirty Bird's.I notice that the Dirty Bird ones look to be 2 piece (the inner bowl lifts out). Is this the case and is it a good thing?Thanks.

I think the only one that stays as two pieces is the face lathering scuttle as all its there for is holding the brush between passes and keeping the lather warm.

Thanks again everyone.

Obelisk: you suggested to me sensibly that perhaps shipping porcelain across the Atlantic isn't that sensible or economical and then in the second half of your post you gave me another reason to do so! (the curved sides of the bowl).
I got a couple of mugs shipped from the US once and one of them was broken on arrival. Hmmmm.

Thanks. I just get the impression from here, from the video and from Dirty Bird's site that Julie has had a lot of feedback from shavers and has customized her shaving scuttles based on this feedback. The ones available in the UK look nice and look very well made but they don't have all the extras in there related to the handle, curved bowl (I suspect), "no-creep rim" and all the other goodies. Of course none of that is much use if it doesn't arrive in one piece.

Electric razor it is then

Well Obelisk I ordered a berry-on-blue 1.5 scuttle with the webbed pattern from Julie. As you said the shipping was a bit of a downer but I fell in love with the attention that Julie seems to give to detail and to her customers. I wrote to Julie with a couple of questions, she answered within a few hours and we had a discussion over several messages. I asked about damages in the post and Julie was nice enough to say that if I showed her a photo as proof that it was damaged in transit then she'd replace it as soon as possible and that she'd had no problems with international shipments in 4 years.

I wrote to a uk scuttle maker with a question and unfortunately haven't heard back yet. I think that might be part of the reason why Julie's scuttles have more features.

You're getting the exact same scuttle that my son has.....and I look on his with a little envy. It doesn't sound like much, the the rim design lets you squeeze the lather out of the brush without scratching the brush handle. It keeps the lather from getting out - to a point. My older scuttle lets me squeeze out the lather, and I've learned to not scratch the brush handles, but my sons is easier and better. The scuttle holds about a quart of water and keeps everything warm for a long time. Don't be surprised if many of your soaps don't hold up to the heat - but you'll figure it out. Hot tap water is all you need - soak the whole thing in the sink and then just refill with hot water when you make your lather. When I first started using it, it seemed a little odd and fussy, but after a few times, you'll never look back. Julie is definitely special, and it's been that way since she started.

Originally Posted by LegalBeagle

I have the first one that she made. It's located high on the side. It works pretty well, except that I've switched to face lathering rather than scuttle lathering... Now mine sits idle.

I can give it a good home!

Obelisk, obviously my-mileage-may-vary, but could you give a couple of examples of soaps that hold up well to the heat and a couple that don't please? Thanks again.

Edit: Oh, did your son get the dribble port and if so where is it on the scuttle in relation to the handle/spout?

And which hand do you hold the scuttle in? (Or is it too heavy to hold while preparing lather?)