Show us your boars!

I don't have a collection, only the one SOC in Cherry. My first boar brush, which is about a month old now and I'm absolutely loving it!
It's completely changed how I make a lather - I thought I pretty much had it sorted with my badger brushes but this one has shown me what loading a brush really means.
Might end up getting the Ash handle too...

View attachment 27123
That's some hair do! :)
 
Cheers, folks!

Great lineup...any preferences?

Yes, the ones I reach for most frequently are the unknown Chinese knot in the Gan Village Green black handle which I absolutely love, the Semogue 1305 which I find just better than all the other Semogues and the Omega 10098 which is just too big, it really is, but it's a lovely brush to use regardless.

The Ever Ready at the front (just behind the bog plunger) is a nice vintage brush, but not one I use regularly. The other little one, the Omega 10015, is just beginning to break in. The blonde Semogues really are nice, but I just prefer the lowly 1305 for some reason.

The 1305, the knot in the black Gan Village Green handle and the Omega 10098 all just worked from the off with no breaking in. I fell for them all just straight away. The 10098 (the big one right at the end) doesn't really need any soaking either, just drop it in the water while you pre-wash and it's all good to go ...
 
...I can understand how all of these grab you. I also really like the 10098 even though it really is so big...before this thread I did not realise how much passion there is for boar brushes. I did think that I had too many boar brushes now I can see I do not have enougth :)

I think the attraction to boar is, firstly, you think they'll be all scratchy, yet once soaked they're really soft and smooth, and load up soap something wonderful; secondly, you click with a knot really very quickly as it works for you or needs breaking in. The ones that need some time become great friends, but the ones that just work from the off are always the first to be picked.

I never got that from badger ... and the damn things kept biting me! Seriously, I'd lather up with a badger and an hour later, a lump would appear! Seems the hair would catch in a follicle and cause me to swell up. Hateful things, badgers!

That was my move to synthetic and I didn't think I'd look back, but curiosity got the better of me and I looked at horse and boar. Horse, hmmm ... not suitable for my style and tangled up a lot. Boar, I just got on with straight away - my first was a 10098, which I subsequently sold, regretted it, bought another and carried on as if nothing had happened.

Yeah! Boars really are great brushes!
 
I don't have a collection, only the one SOC in Cherry. My first boar brush, which is about a month old now and I'm absolutely loving it!
It's completely changed how I make a lather - I thought I pretty much had it sorted with my badger brushes but this one has shown me what loading a brush really means.
Might end up getting the Ash handle too...

View attachment 27123

Haha! Crazy hair!

Yeah! These brushes do that ... wonderful when they let their hair down :D

Do indeed get an ash as well. Once you have one, you have to have two ... then you have to have the 1305, just for comparison. I have the 1250 and the 1800 also in my list. The OCs are slightly bigger in the handle than the rest of the range. The 1305, a banded boar, makes for a lovely change.
 
I think the attraction to boar is, firstly, you think they'll be all scratchy, yet once soaked they're really soft and smooth, and load up soap something wonderful; secondly, you click with a knot really very quickly as it works for you or needs breaking in. The ones that need some time become great friends, but the ones that just work from the off are always the first to be picked.

I never got that from badger ... and the damn things kept biting me! Seriously, I'd lather up with a badger and an hour later, a lump would appear! Seems the hair would catch in a follicle and cause me to swell up. Hateful things, badgers!

That was my move to synthetic and I didn't think I'd look back, but curiosity got the better of me and I looked at horse and boar. Horse, hmmm ... not suitable for my style and tangled up a lot. Boar, I just got on with straight away - my first was a 10098, which I subsequently sold, regretted it, bought another and carried on as if nothing had happened.

Yeah! Boars really are great brushes!

...yes... I am also smitten with my boar brushes. I still use my badgers but not very often these days and do enjoy my sole synthetic especially when I am pushed for time. I prefer though the face feel, scrub and back bone I get from my boars. I also face lather and like to use circular motions (exactly what Simpsons tell you not to do with their brushes). The boar brush I enjoy the most and indeed my favourite brush bar none is the Omega Proraso. The fact that it cost me all of £7.50! also gives me a warm fuzzy feeling...
 
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...I can understand how all of these grab you. I also really like the 10098 even though it really is so big...before this thread I did not realise how much passion there is for boar brushes. I did think that I had too many boar brushes now I can see I do not have enougth :)
I too did not realise how much love there was for the humble boar brush and am really pleased with the response to this thread and it just fills me with joy knowing that there are so many boar brush fans on the forum, truly fantastic brushes that keep changing and getting better with each use. Thank you all who posted :)
 
Haha! Crazy hair!

Yeah! These brushes do that ... wonderful when they let their hair down :D

Do indeed get an ash as well. Once you have one, you have to have two ... then you have to have the 1305, just for comparison. I have the 1250 and the 1800 also in my list. The OCs are slightly bigger in the handle than the rest of the range. The 1305, a banded boar, makes for a lovely change.
Oh.....and you should add an 830 to your list!!
 
Do indeed get an ash as well. Once you have one, you have to have two ... then you have to have the 1305, just for comparison. I have the 1250 and the 1800 also in my list. The OCs are slightly bigger in the handle than the rest of the range.

I second that. Here are my three Semogue boar brothers:

bauernhof2.jpg


Left to right: The 1800, the 1250 and the 1305. Of those, the 1250 is my favourite (actually my favourite animal hair brush overall!). The stiffer 1800 doesn't really work for me, even after several uses and two or three dozen test lathers to break it in it still seems to eat lather. The 1305 is very soft and tends to spread very wide after a while. The 1250 is just perfect, it keeps its shape, does its job, feels nice and has never given me any reason to complain. :)

If you don't like wooden handles, get the 820 instead of the 1250, or the 830 instead of the 1305, as those have the exact same knots respectively but with acrylic handles.

And speaking of the SOC in ash: Yes, go for it, @RCH ! ;) It fits the colour of the bristles very nicely. Here's mine in an old SOTD:

rdt170408.jpg
 
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I second that. Here are my three Semogue boar brothers:

bauernhof2.jpg


Left to right: The 1800, the 1250 and the 1305. Of those, the 1250 is my favourite (actually my favourite animal hair brush overall!). The stiffer 1800 doesn't really work for me, even after several uses and two or three dozen test lathers to break it in it still seems to eat lather. The 1305 is very soft and tends to spread very wide after a while. The 1250 is just perfect, it keeps its shape, does its job, feels nice and has never given me any reason to complain. :)

If you don't like wooden handles, get the 820 instead of the 1250, or the 830 instead of the 1305, as those have the exact same knots respectively but with acrylic handles.

And speaking of the SOC in ash: Yes, go for it, @RCH ! ;) It fits the colour of the bristles very nicely. Here's mine in an old SOTD:

rdt170408.jpg

The Ash one does look lovely - I think everyone is right in saying that it's a bit of a slippery slope! I did look at the 1250 too as I quite like the undied bristle. Maybe that's another one for the future.

One thing I do like is the fact that the handles are a decent size (and a really good shape) and you don't have to pinch a stubby handle when you're using it - that always got a bit annoying.

I wish that I had really experienced the boar brush when I first started but I think that I did what most people do and get sucked into the badger world and think that the most expensive must be the best. You live and learn!
 
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