Member
MD Eastern Shore
As many of us know, the L7 shaving brush is virtually synonymous with the Morris & Forndran brand. Because the L7 is so closely associated with Lee Sabini and Morris & Forndran, we are delighted to offer the L7 as our inaugural December Brush of the Month.
So what is the Brush of the Month? Very simply, the Brush of the Month is our way of saying Thank You to all our loyal patrons (and patrons to be) for your support of the collaboration between Morris & Forndran and Brad Sears ShaveWorks. Our plan going forward is to select a different brush each month that will be offered at a 10% discount for the duration of that month.
Presenting the L7 as December Brush of the Month coincides with the addition of the formerly special order L7 Bi-Colour to the Custom Morris & Forndran catalog. Currently offered in Lee Sabini's hand-tied Finest and Super Badger, there is a possibility of adding Blonde Badger, which we hope to confirm later this week. Finally, we have a limited supply of Ebonite that can be discussed with any who have an interest.
Back to the L7 story.
As with many of the Rooney/Morris & Forndran brush designs, the genesis of the L7 is not widely known. To remedy that--and other--questions, Lee Sabini tells us he is engaging a professional writer to tell the story of his brush making career from when he bought R.A. Rooney & Sons, Ltd. to the present day. We don't yet know when it will be ready; but Mr. Sabini has shared some basic information with us--and graciously allowed us to pass some of it along to you here and, in broader scope, on the Morris & Forndran page of our website. Anyway...
While at Rooney, Mr. Sabini designed the L7 by mating the collar of the much longer "Victorian" shaving brush with another Rooney design called the "Prince," a design first offered as a hand-turned brush in about 1910. The first L7's were turned on 1970's-era Colchester "Chipmaster" duplicating lathes which, by the 2000's, were nearing the end of their useful lives. The need to replace the aging Chipmasters with modern CNC lathes was becoming increasingly obvious. To facilitate that transition, Mr. Sabini engaged an outside consultant, with whom Rooney had had an ongoing relationship, to create CAD drawings of the L7. These CAD drawings, in turn, allowed the consultant to transfer and refine the G-code for Mr. Sabini’s design onto a small CNC lathe for test purposes. Under the code name "Mandarin," the consultant made test runs of about 30 Mandarin/L7's before submitting the test handles and finished "G-code" to Rooney.
(According to Mr. Sabini’s records, some of the test L7 handles were later sent to a button making factory in the UK that Rooney had contracted with for L7 production runs in 24mm and 26mm sizes. Mr. Sabini tells us he still has a work order for at least 150 26mm L7’s from that factory; however the work order(or orders) for 24mm L7's has(have) been lost; so the exact number of 24mm L7's produced by that factory is currently unknown.)
After Rooney was sold, Mr. Sabini retained rights to all Rooney shaving brush handle designs, including the L7. He later used several of those designs when he resurrected the Morris & Forndran brand.
Since 2016, L7's have been turned on a manually-controlled Powermatic 3520 wood lathe in the more popular 26mm and 28mm sizes. "Hand turning", as Mr. Sabini calls it, is naturally more time-consuming, with more piece-to-piece variability, than the previous CNC-made Rooney and Morris & Forndran brushes. However, as with handmade clothing, we have found that many discerning members of the wet shaving community appreciate the ability to specify the brush they want knowing their L7, filled with Lee Sabini's hand-tied 2- or 3-band badger is truly one of a kind.
Brad Sears ShaveWorks is honored to continue the L7 lineage as the only currently authorized maker of the L7 and all other Morris & Forndran shaving brush handles.
We hope you have enjoyed this short piece about the L7. You may see more about the L7 and the new L7 Bi-Colour on our Custom Morris & Forndran page. And if you care to order an L7--or any of our bespoken shaving brushes--it will be our privilege to be of service.
Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Safe, and Prosperous New Year,
So what is the Brush of the Month? Very simply, the Brush of the Month is our way of saying Thank You to all our loyal patrons (and patrons to be) for your support of the collaboration between Morris & Forndran and Brad Sears ShaveWorks. Our plan going forward is to select a different brush each month that will be offered at a 10% discount for the duration of that month.
Presenting the L7 as December Brush of the Month coincides with the addition of the formerly special order L7 Bi-Colour to the Custom Morris & Forndran catalog. Currently offered in Lee Sabini's hand-tied Finest and Super Badger, there is a possibility of adding Blonde Badger, which we hope to confirm later this week. Finally, we have a limited supply of Ebonite that can be discussed with any who have an interest.
Back to the L7 story.
As with many of the Rooney/Morris & Forndran brush designs, the genesis of the L7 is not widely known. To remedy that--and other--questions, Lee Sabini tells us he is engaging a professional writer to tell the story of his brush making career from when he bought R.A. Rooney & Sons, Ltd. to the present day. We don't yet know when it will be ready; but Mr. Sabini has shared some basic information with us--and graciously allowed us to pass some of it along to you here and, in broader scope, on the Morris & Forndran page of our website. Anyway...
While at Rooney, Mr. Sabini designed the L7 by mating the collar of the much longer "Victorian" shaving brush with another Rooney design called the "Prince," a design first offered as a hand-turned brush in about 1910. The first L7's were turned on 1970's-era Colchester "Chipmaster" duplicating lathes which, by the 2000's, were nearing the end of their useful lives. The need to replace the aging Chipmasters with modern CNC lathes was becoming increasingly obvious. To facilitate that transition, Mr. Sabini engaged an outside consultant, with whom Rooney had had an ongoing relationship, to create CAD drawings of the L7. These CAD drawings, in turn, allowed the consultant to transfer and refine the G-code for Mr. Sabini’s design onto a small CNC lathe for test purposes. Under the code name "Mandarin," the consultant made test runs of about 30 Mandarin/L7's before submitting the test handles and finished "G-code" to Rooney.
(According to Mr. Sabini’s records, some of the test L7 handles were later sent to a button making factory in the UK that Rooney had contracted with for L7 production runs in 24mm and 26mm sizes. Mr. Sabini tells us he still has a work order for at least 150 26mm L7’s from that factory; however the work order(or orders) for 24mm L7's has(have) been lost; so the exact number of 24mm L7's produced by that factory is currently unknown.)
After Rooney was sold, Mr. Sabini retained rights to all Rooney shaving brush handle designs, including the L7. He later used several of those designs when he resurrected the Morris & Forndran brand.
Since 2016, L7's have been turned on a manually-controlled Powermatic 3520 wood lathe in the more popular 26mm and 28mm sizes. "Hand turning", as Mr. Sabini calls it, is naturally more time-consuming, with more piece-to-piece variability, than the previous CNC-made Rooney and Morris & Forndran brushes. However, as with handmade clothing, we have found that many discerning members of the wet shaving community appreciate the ability to specify the brush they want knowing their L7, filled with Lee Sabini's hand-tied 2- or 3-band badger is truly one of a kind.
Brad Sears ShaveWorks is honored to continue the L7 lineage as the only currently authorized maker of the L7 and all other Morris & Forndran shaving brush handles.
We hope you have enjoyed this short piece about the L7. You may see more about the L7 and the new L7 Bi-Colour on our Custom Morris & Forndran page. And if you care to order an L7--or any of our bespoken shaving brushes--it will be our privilege to be of service.
Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Safe, and Prosperous New Year,
