Plisson Synthetic

...and heat rises.
Guess what direction evaporated water aka steam heads ;)
 
Down, at first, if the steam arm of my coffee machine is going to work properly.
 
Don't want to start WW3 here with all the opinions about how to dry brushes...but here's what I do with my non-synths:

Wash with warm water, wash with cold water, flick 5-10 times, let it sit on the counter. Never had any problems with my boars, badgers and horse.

With the synth I did the same (minus cold wash) and was just surprised, that it wasn't bone dry in ~12 hours
 
borked said:
...and heat rises.
Guess what direction evaporated water aka steam heads ;)
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Thats an irrefutable point - that said thats why I feel it's 6 one, 1/2 dozen the other and like I said if it's an easy thing to do (as it is with my brushes) something unlikely to make things worse. I went to lengths to state I didn't feel it was a MUST DO habit/thing and very much each user to what works best for him.

That all said both our opinions are pretty amateurish, are based on a very small sample size, comparing apples with oranges etc etc etc. Having just checked several of the leading shaving brush makers websites all of them in their brush care blurb/sections do recommend hanging bristles down post shave to dry....so I'd deduce from this that they'd likely have a good reason for saying this.;)

PS. Never fear - I don't think any of us has got much skin riding on this point , certainly I don't - it's just whatever works for the user and if I'm doing what the brush maker recommends all the better but I don't think there's much of a difference either way. :)
 
Nick the Knife said:
Well all my brushes have lil 'super' magnets siliconed to the tips of their handles so I can hang them from my cheapo rack that they reside in. I'm OCD about most things and always rinse out, shake and towel swirl a brush post-use but after the Plisson has been upside down for a few hours the tips are clearly wetter than the rest of the knot.

I'm a firm believer in hanging your brushes upside down post-use. A lot of folks think otherwise but simply put 'gravity don't lie' - and the idea is to get the moisture out of the knot and not up towards the handle so any way you look at it this + gravity has no downside.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying upside down hanging is the be all and end all but I firmly believe it HELPS and so if you can easily do it then it's a no brainer for me.

As far as knots falling out of the Plissons, early on I realised I was going to be using mine A LOT and so I applied several coats of matt varnish (estapol type stuff) to it making sure I went right up and just over the stainless steel 'cup' that I assume the knot is set into. By my way of thinking this made it almost impossible for moisture to get into the wooden handle - barring dropping it or scratching through the now multiple layers.

FWIW I actually prefer the matt finish and it's more grippy - so win-win from a few mins work. Whilst I love the look of wooden handles I'm always concerned about them on brushes as over time it's tricky to keep them from being affected by the omnipresent moisture etc.
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Even though I'm on the opposite side of the OCD spectrum, I really like the idea of these siliconed super magnets in the handle. Got a pic mate?
 
Steam and evaporated water aren't the same thing. At normal atmospheric pressure, steam only exists above 100 degrees. Your bathroom is definitely not that hot ;) Just sayin.
 
alfredus said:
I know I am very late to the show - but this might be of interest:

Yesterday I used my Plisson for the first time and of course it looked dry almost before I cleaned my gear.

In the evening I (actually my wife) noticed, that while the brush look dry on the outside, the inside was still wet! So I got the stand out of the box and hung the brush and of course today in the morning it was bone dry...might be the reason why some of the knots tend to fall out of the handle?
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Never heard of a knot dropping out, unless it was faulty in the first place. Water cannot make them drop out. The seal of glue is so tight nothing can get in there. They make these things to stand the wet.

AS for the Plisson, every brush needs a towel dry first. My synth dries in an hour or two, tops.
 
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Nick the Knife said:
I'm a firm believer in hanging your brushes upside down post-use. A lot of folks think otherwise but simply put 'gravity don't lie' - and the idea is to get the moisture out of the knot and not up towards the handle so any way you look at it this + gravity has no downside.

.
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Gravity has nothing to do with it. Hairs and bristle have a capillary action, so the moisture always wicks to the tip - regardless of which way round it's facing. As for synths, they dry so fast it matters even less.

I always say if makers had meant for them to be placed upside down, they'd put the logos on that way. But they know how these things work. I've never seen any recommendation for hanging, and if there were, why did they put the logos on upside down?
 
MrT said:
Steam and evaporated water aren't the same thing. At normal atmospheric pressure, steam only exists above 100 degrees. Your bathroom is definitely not that hot ;) Just sayin.
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And here I was, thinking only @Marlow watches me facerbate! (closes the blinds)
 
Nick the Knife said:
............That all said both our opinions are pretty amateurish, are based on a very small sample size, comparing apples with oranges etc etc etc.........
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Not really. Capillary action is more powerful than gravity. The rate at which your brush dries will therefore be determined by that rather than gravity. If I could be bothered I'd replicate a study that was done by a dude over at B&B who used to attach it every time somebody would post the hanging beats standing argument. It was exhaustive and thorough and would pass any scientific scrutiny and proved beyond a doubt that it makes absolutely no difference.

Aside from that a brush IMHO looks crap hanging upside down. It was designed visually and otherwise to be standing.

Nick the Knife said:
......Having just checked several of the leading shaving brush makers websites all of them in their brush care blurb/sections do recommend hanging bristles down post shave to dry....so I'd deduce from this that they'd likely have a good reason for saying this.;)
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They also happen to sell brush hangers?
 
Pjotr said:
.........It was designed visually and otherwise to be standing...........
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I stand corrected. There is one model I've seen that was designed to be hung. @Mark1966 had an NOS model and then sold it in an attempt to satisfy his never ending lust for vintage BS Simpsons. I guess you could also make a case for one of these: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5-VTG-SH...647?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ede2f269f

Although I would contend that the stand for one of those would restrict airflow.
 
Oh man you guys can be like a bunch of argumentative old women some times - like I said the whole thing is six one half dozen the other, but evidently thats still not good enough. I said gravity wasn't the be all and end all but was a factor - how big or small is open to conjecture by the user.

You want something to refute? Well as stated EVERY brush manufacturer that has brush care recommendations on their website or with the brush SPECIFICALLY states that the brush is to be hung bristles down after use. It's that simple.......now I'm not saying I know more than them, in fact I openly admitted my knowledge is amateurish in comparison. So bar room theories and year 10 physics knowledge aside I'd say it's a very bold move to say one knows more than multiple organisations who've been achieving excellence in their said area for a combined several hundred years. So find me one mainstream brush maker who specifies that they should be stored post use bristles up...

The sticker orientation? Please - one's got nothing to do with the other and putting it forward is little more than absolute guessing. Likewise saying do the co's sell brush hangers (which quite a few of them do, presumably as it's an easy way to mark a generic product up by 1000% simply by putting one's logo on it) is a pointless matter - as it's like saying does the milk company expect you'd store their product in a fridge, given that they don't make refrigeration devices. One's got nothing to do with the other.

I'll say it again I'm sure there's next to no difference which way you store your brushes...up, down, sideways etc. I agree they generally look better visually if stored handle down and I'm sure most people store this way as it's most convenient - and at the end of the day I think thats what it's all about, whats convenient for you.

PS. Hopefully this post doesn't read 'mad' - not meant that way or in a personal manner against anyone - is just a discussion (albeit a trivial and very YKW-ish one) of the pro's and con's of something silly.

I have to say this place reminds me of an old joke,"I went to watch a boxing bout and midway through a game of ice hockey broke out!" - which if you know the nuances of the sports in question is more meaningful but someone starts a thread here on a given subject and it goes completely of track and onto something absolutely different. Go figure. :)
 
I honestly don't ever remember seeing recommendation from any brush maker about hanging upside down. Even Simpson, who's advice is so anal as to avoid spurious warranty claims, don't mention it. they say dry the brush gently and let dry out on the open.

If the high end makers are giving that advice, then I'd ignore it, because it's pointless.

Some people like brush stands, and they can look nice. That's good enough reason for some.
 
Drubbing said:
I honestly don't ever remember seeing recommendation from any brush maker about hanging upside down. Even Simpson, who's advice is so anal as to avoid spurious warranty claims, don't mention it. they say dry the brush gently and let dry out on the open.

If the high end makers are giving that advice, then I'd ignore it, because it's pointless.
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Well the cold, hard fact is its there. Plisson, Muhle, Kent and Vulfix all specifically state on their websites that they recommend the brushes be hung upside down to prolong the life of the brush and avoid water settling in the knot.

And of the major bursh making companies I checked these were the ONLY ones that had ANY handling instructions on their websites for their brushes so it wasn't like others weren't saying upside down - they just weren't saying anything at all e.g Omega, Vie-Long, Simpsons. So if they gave any advice 100% of them said hang upside down! I'd feel thats fairly definitive.

Suffice to say I feel they'd only say this if there was some even marginal benefit in doing so - you and others may feel they're incorrect, hence as suggested users should go with whatever works best for them. :)
 
So vulfix give instructions, but Simpsons don't? Odd, no, given they're the same company.

Besides, there are many reasons they might list instructions. Some people are plain stupid and won't dry out a brush. Some are serial product killers or complainers. I think some are simply covering themselves against stupid warranty claims.
 
Nick the Knife said:
.............I said gravity wasn't the be all and end all but was a factor - how big or small is open to conjecture by the user.........
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Well you said gravity in terms of it's affect on a brush was a no-brainer. But it isn't. The only factor relevant to the drying of a brush is capillary action which is not "year 10 physics or a bar room theory" (and who's being argumentative here?). I'm sure if you ask around at B&B you'll find the study that was done to prove that it makes no difference to the drying time. Somebody could probably spin a PHD out of it but a scientifically valid, simple study proves far more to me than the opinion of manufacturers who are quote happy to feed in to an old wives tale/urban myth as long as it helps sell brush stands. I'm sure they know but can quite validly say that hanging them upside down won't harm them in any way.

In any case, let's just for arguments sake say that it does make a difference to drying time. I've just come back from a very cold and wet Europe where my brush took twice as long to dry. I didn't take measurements or have any written proof of this so consider it a bar room theory if you will, but I don't see manufacturers recommending not to store their brushes in certain low temperatures or high humidities which without doubt will affect drying times. So, how does the drying time affect the longevity of a brush? Barring extreme circumstances I don't think it does.

Maybe when they were still using simple organic based glues it would have but nowadays with the epoxy based glues they use to hold a knot in place it makes no difference if a brush takes two days or one day to dry.
 
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