This might not be a special useful comparison as one of the brushes is no longer available, but I still wanted to compare these two.
Semogue Owners Club 2-band Finest vs. Semogue SE 2015 2-band Finest The reason for this head-to-head was to satisfy my curiosity regarding the knots of these two brushes, as they look similar – although a comparison of their data show small differences (data at the bottom of the post).
ComparisonI soaked the brushes while showering and then lathered up with Sir Irisch Moos soap. The loading of both brushes took very little time and effort, they picked up soap willingly and quickly whipped up the lather.
First pass: To be honest, my expectations going into this was that the knots would be pretty much identical with none or barely noticeable differences.
Applying the lather in circular motion I could to my surprise feel a different in the prickliness of the brushes, the SOC was noticeable pricklier than the SE 2015 which has no prickliness at all – to my surprise.
The firmness of the knots feels similar and so does the backbone of which both brushes have plenty. They seem to be tied with an equal amount of splay, which to me is just perfect. I have another SOC where the knot is set tighter so it splay less and it is just a little too tight for my preference – these two however
Second pass: For this pass I used painting motions and the splay of the brushes are equal, and the SOC was still noticeable more prickly.
And when I use the word ‘prickly’ it doesn’t mean scratchy, it is a nice massaging feel.
Third pass: Didn’t reveal anything other than experienced above. Tested the backbone and splay a little further but they do feel similar.
Data | SOC
| SE 2015
|
| Hair type | 2-band Finest badger | 2-band Finest badger |
| Handle | Wood, cherry | Resin, white |
| Weight [gram] | 52.8 | 71.0 |
| Knot diameter [mm] | 24.3 | 23.3 |
| Loft height [mm] | 51.7 | 50.9 |
| Total height [mm] | 112.2 | 103.7 |
| Loft/knot ratio | 2.13 | 2.18 |
ResultI really thought the two knots would be similar, but the tips of the SE 2015 are just silky soft and I can’t detect any prickliness at all. It was a surprise, but a nice surprise as I prefer soft tips.
The knot of the SE 2015 should be identical to that of the 2013 LE horn handle and now I will have to compare those two against each other, because I don’t recall the 2013 LE to be this soft tipped.
On another personal note; I really like that Semogue has produced more brushes with the handle design from 2000 model. It is a nice simple design that looks good and feels good in the hand as well; a couple of more brushes with this handle design wouldn’t hurt
Now, which of these to brushes do I like best?
I will call it a tie.
The SOC has the nicest handle in my opinion, but the SE 2015 has the nicest knot by a margin. Overall I love both brushes and I really can’t choose one over the other.
