The Paladin® Buckaroo™ shaving brush handle integrates the upper geometry of our Lotus™ design with stylistic elements novelly adapted from our Buck Rogers™. We created a preliminary CAD drawing for the Buckaroo in early 2019 but didn’t make a prototype of it then. Instead, we stuck to the drawing board and explored modifications that led to the Paladin Samurai™, which in turn served as antecedent to the Paladin Pirate™ last year. But we always intended to come back to the Buckaroo. That finally happened a couple of months ago, and we’re very pleased with how it turned out. Although resemblance to the Samurai is obvious, the Buckaroo is distinctive both stylistically and ergonomically.

Saddle-up Saturday!

Ready to slap leather? We have a few more than thirty 26 mm Buckaroos set for a shoot-out release at High Noon (Mountain Time) on Saturday, July 31. Each has a handle turned from a different material/finish, and each will be the first of its kind. All Buckaroos to be included in this release are set with 2CLNF8 knots. Please note that these brushes will be dropped in the Paladin Brush Shop.

We’ll all be in Colorado through Tuesday or Wednesday, so brushes purchased over the next few days will be shipped from Fort Collins, CO. We’re going to be out of pocket with limited or no internet access much of the time between now and our return home. Please be patient if you post or email questions. 

The brushes to be included can be previewed in our Flickr Gallery by clicking on the links below.

https://flickr.com/photos/141014234@N04/albums/72157711067014593

https://www.flickr.com/photos/141014234@N04/albums/72157711064162472

And here’s a link to the Paladin Brush Shop, where the brushes will appear at their respective release times: https://www.paladinshaving.com/collections/brushes/in-stock.

We haven't had time to look for a new home in Colorado yet. A friend has loaned us an apartment in Lawrence, KS for a couple months. Beyond that, we'll be making it up as we go. Thanks to all for sticking with us through these times of disruption and uncertainty. Trust that we're not going away.

By present count there will be 12 x 28 mm Vesuvius PK-47s, 11 x 28 mm Phantasia PK-47s, 6 x 28 mm Phantasia El Dorados, and 4 x 26 mm Phantasia Chiefs. All of the brushes with handles turned from Vesuvius in this release bear a special engraving on the backside that is a representation of Mount Vesuvius (which famously erupted in 79 AD*) drawn by Cody’s wife Courtney.

Front and back photos of the Vesuvius brushes can be previewed here, and the photos of the Phantasia brushes can be previewed here.

The Vesuvius release will go live at 12:00 Noon Central on Saturday, June 29, and the Phantasia release will follow by two hours at 2:00 PM Central on Saturday afternoon. A separate page under Special Events on the Paladin Shaving website will be dedicated to each of the two releases. Those pages haven’t been constructed yet; however, they will generally follow the layout and functionality of the page on which Paladin Ebonite brushes are offered here.

Here’s a placeholder link for the Vesuvius page, and here’s one for the Phantasia page.

The best strategy for getting a fast start would be to navigate to the page of interest shortly before release time and then refresh your screen repeatedly until the photos populate and live Add to Cart buttons appear.

As usual per Shopify’s standard practice (which we aren’t able to modify), there will be no reservation of a selected brush either in a Cart or during checkout prior to payment.

This will be different than any release we’ve done before. We hope it works out well.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruption_of_Mount_Vesuvius_in_79

All of the brushes in this release have either Disco or Strawberry Amber handles that we saved over the past year or so based on attributes that struck us as exceptional. Accordingly, these brushes are all premium-priced by $20. That might seem steep to some, but we've rejected quite a few Disco handles by reason of unsatisfactory pattern, and the yield on Strawberry Amber (like Bazooka) is really bad (under 50%) due to micro-bubbles that plague that material. We don't plan to re-stock Strawberry Amber.

There won't be any more of these.

We plan to release about 35 brushes at 8:00 PM Central on Tuesday, January 23. They can be previewed here. Please take care to note the various Knot Codes represented in this release (see Knot Notes). We’ve run very, very low on knots. Consequently, we’re now tapping into reserves held either for lean times such as this (the 2CM2L3s and 2CSLD4s) or simply as representative samples (a pair each of 2CSNL2s and 2CLND3s).

New knots are in the works, but we don’t expect to have them for another 2-3 weeks.   

The new brushes can be previewed here. The release is set for 8:00 PM Central on Tuesday, December 19.

We’re dedicating this release to the memory of Hank, the Dark Holler Shop Dog (July 9, 2002 – December 17, 2017). No canine ever had more heart. He was fearless, utterly devoted to family, and unwavering in his commitment to the Border Terrier concept of duty. He will be sorely missed.

Keeping an eye on the perimeter

μολὼν λαβέ

Regrettably, we haven’t had much time to put into this event since announcing it. I had hoped to take more active part in making it fun and interesting. We appreciate those who stepped in and helped take up the slack.

Sincere thanks to all who participated!

What follows is repetition of previously posted discussion related to how the shop works. 

Note that each brush we offer for sale is unique and corresponds to a unique serial number, which appears below and to the left of a brush's enlarged image (and just above its style-name and socket size) in the flickr gallery. At present, we only include front photos in the previews. Back photos are added in the shop when brushes are released.

The Paladin Shaving Brush Shop, linked here, is hosted by Shopify. Prior to this past May, the Shopify purchasing process included a feature that was supposed to reserve a brush for five minutes to the first customer who carried it into the check-out area. Shopify has eliminated that feature due to attacks by bots that exploited it. Consequently, there is no longer any operative reservation offered by Shopify (either in the cart or check-out) prior to submission of payment. 

When you purchase a Paladin shaving brush, the brush you see (i.e., the one shown in the front and back photos corresponding to its serial number) should be the brush you get. However, when you initially select a brush variant (i.e., style, size, material combination) to browse, there may be one or more examples of that variant available, and the photo representing that variant might not be one of them. When you click on the representative image of a particular variant, you should be carried to a window that 1) shows one brush matching that variant (which might not at that time still remain available for purchase) and 2) also includes a drop-down menu listing all available brushes (if there are any) of the same variant.

To see photos and knot specifications of a particular brush (e.g., one you've targeted based on a preview), you might have to use the drop-down menu. For example, if your first choice would be the 26 mm Butterscotch Sherlock corresponding to 046BT-008-G17, and you've drilled down to that variant (i.e., 26 mm, Butterscotch Sherlocks) in the shop, look for "008" in the drop-down menu. If it's not there, it's already sold. And, unfortunately, even if it is there, it could possibly turn out to be sold. There is, unavoidably, a bit of lag in the Shopify system. Refreshing helps, but it doesn't entirely eliminate the lag.

We're painfully aware that all of this can be confusing, and that trying to buy a brush in one our releases can produce anxiety and frustration, often leading only to disappointment. Those certainly are not our objectives. But the way it works is the best we can do for now. We're committed to making it better when and as we can within the bounds of our resources. One thing we can and will do is create a page with screens-shots that better explains how we understand the shop to work. That's been on our list for quite a while. It still is. Time is always short.

We deeply appreciate the patience and support of all who have stuck with us.

Thank you!

Note that each brush we offer for sale is unique and corresponds to a unique serial number, which appears below and to the left of a brush's enlarged image (and just above its style-name and socket size) in the flickr gallery. At present, we only include front photos in the previews. Back photos are added in the shop when brushes are released.

The Paladin Shaving Brush Shop, linked here, is hosted by Shopify. Prior to this past May, the Shopify purchasing process included a feature that was supposed to reserve a brush for five minutes to the first customer who carried it into the check-out area. Shopify has eliminated that feature due to attacks by bots that exploited it. Consequently, there is no longer any operative reservation offered by Shopify (either in the cart or check-out) prior to submission of payment. 

When you purchase a Paladin shaving brush, the brush you see (i.e., the one shown in the front and back photos corresponding to its serial number) should be the brush you get. However, when you initially select a brush variant (i.e., style, size, material combination) to browse, there may be one or more examples of that variant available, and the photo representing that variant might not be one of them. When you click on the representative image of a particular variant, you should be carried to a window that 1) shows one brush matching that variant (which might not at that time still remain available for purchase) and 2) also includes a drop-down menu listing all available brushes (if there are any) of the same variant.

To see photos and knot specifications of a particular brush (e.g., one you've targeted based on a preview), you might have to use the drop-down menu. For example, if your first choice would be the 26 mm Ivory Lotus corresponding to 066IV-010-F17, and you've drilled down to that variant (i.e., 26 mm, Ivory Lotuses) in the shop, look for "010" in the drop-down menu. If it's not there, it's already sold. And, unfortunately, even if it is there, it could possibly turn out to be sold. There is, unavoidably, a bit of lag in the Shopify system. Refreshing helps, but it doesn't entirely eliminate the lag.

Finally, note that at the time of this posting the brush that appears on the 26 mm, Ivory Lotus variant-page is # 066IV-010-F17, and "010" appears in the menu even though that variant is presently (at the time of this posting) sold out. That's because Shopify will always show one example of each previously released variant. In fact, it will show two (see also here), which might or might not be the same.

We're painfully aware that all of this can be confusing, and that trying to buy a brush in one our releases can produce anxiety and frustration, often leading only to disappointment. Those certainly are not our objectives. But the way it works is the best we can do for now. We're committed to making it better when and as we can within the bounds of our resources. One thing we can and will do is create a page with screens-shots that better explains how we understand the shop to work. That's been on our list for quite a while. Time is always short.

We deeply appreciate the patience and support of all who have stuck with us.

Thank you!

Note that there are three new brushes in this offering: a 28 mm Buck Rogers (height approx. 54.6 m; diameter approx. 40.7 mm), a 26 mm Sumo (height approx. 55.3 mm; diameter approx. 42.3 mm), and the all new 26 mm Cleo (height approx. 60 mm; diameter approx. 39.8 mm). These won't appear in our shop until the release goes live. The Cleo has Cleopatra's cartouche engraved on the backside instead of the usual stuff (see below).  

We'll stand down for about three weeks after posting whatever brushes sell through this Friday (June 16). We plan to be back on track by the second week of July and do two to four releases per month after that. 

Once again, there are quite a few 28 mm brushes in this release. That simply reflects the fact I started turning all 28s for a brief period when it looked we would run out of 26 mm knots before more arrived. I expect we'll have gone through the resulting relative surplus of 28s after this release and one (or possibly two) more. 

We hope to get in one more release within the next week or two before taking off a couple around Cody's wedding. We should be back on track by the first or second week of July.