thisISjoel
Member
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2015
- Location
- Australia
Dudes! I got in touch with Larry at Whipped Dog in early December and ordered a 30mm synthetic in the ivory coloured handle. Thanks to Christmas time shipping I only just got it this very day 
I've been using a 24mm WD synth as my daily driver for around 18 months and in that time I have yet to find a synthetic brush that could beat it (omega s brush, maggard 24mm synth, stray whisker 28mm synth). I've been curious about trying the 30mm version for as long as I've had the 24mm so I sent an email to Larry expressing how much I enjoy the 24mm and asked him about the 30mm knot and how he felt they compared. He told me that despite him not changing knot suppliers the fibres in the knots are different, but that he was confident he could put together something that I would be happy with.
Larry suggested drilling an extra 3-4mm to reduce the loft a little and I accepted his suggestion. After lathering with the brush 4 times today (don't go there), 2 x hand lathers and 2 x face lathers, I don't think the extra depth was really necessary. The brush has so much backbone and with the extra depth the splay is virtually identical to the 24mm and the loft is only slightly higher. The knot is super dense, it does splay, but requires a fair bit of force. Pleasantly, the fibres are soft enough that even though the brush is "scrubby" it doesn't feel "scritchy". It's not as soft as the 24mm, but it is so much denser and retains more water.
The extra backbone allows the brush to rip into soap and load enough for a multiple pass shave very quickly. These are my initial thoughts and I expect that after a few more uses I will have a better idea of the properties of the brush and how much I like it. At this early stage though I'm pretty pleased, as I said, maybe it didn't need the extra drilling, but without a point of comparison it's hard to know. I snapped some pics next to the 24mm to compare the size and density.
I've been using a 24mm WD synth as my daily driver for around 18 months and in that time I have yet to find a synthetic brush that could beat it (omega s brush, maggard 24mm synth, stray whisker 28mm synth). I've been curious about trying the 30mm version for as long as I've had the 24mm so I sent an email to Larry expressing how much I enjoy the 24mm and asked him about the 30mm knot and how he felt they compared. He told me that despite him not changing knot suppliers the fibres in the knots are different, but that he was confident he could put together something that I would be happy with.
Larry suggested drilling an extra 3-4mm to reduce the loft a little and I accepted his suggestion. After lathering with the brush 4 times today (don't go there), 2 x hand lathers and 2 x face lathers, I don't think the extra depth was really necessary. The brush has so much backbone and with the extra depth the splay is virtually identical to the 24mm and the loft is only slightly higher. The knot is super dense, it does splay, but requires a fair bit of force. Pleasantly, the fibres are soft enough that even though the brush is "scrubby" it doesn't feel "scritchy". It's not as soft as the 24mm, but it is so much denser and retains more water.
The extra backbone allows the brush to rip into soap and load enough for a multiple pass shave very quickly. These are my initial thoughts and I expect that after a few more uses I will have a better idea of the properties of the brush and how much I like it. At this early stage though I'm pretty pleased, as I said, maybe it didn't need the extra drilling, but without a point of comparison it's hard to know. I snapped some pics next to the 24mm to compare the size and density.
