# Which snap on combs?



## partial2poodles (Feb 11, 2010)

I just watched the POODLE grooming dvd by Sue Zecco and Jay Scuggs, spokespeople for Wahl, the makers of the stainless steel combs.

They said the steel teeth of the clipn ons are so thin, they are designed to glide thru hair like a real comb. They use the clip ons just as they would shears....they remove length and block in the front and rear....they set the center of the dog .....they set the top line straight and level...they also set in where the mane/crest starts at the withers.

Yes, they did do the top parts of the legs and begun setting in the parallel lines...the lower legs were scissored and the cuffs were scissored. That white puppy of mine that I groomed today took me about 30 minutes. I used the orange clip on on the entire body. I scissored the legs and mosered her face with the #15 setting, also the feet and tail base.


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## BFF (Jun 10, 2009)

The best thing about the combs is that you have the option to really play with it. I just did Zulee today and used the #4 comb (purple) for the body and scissored the legs. I'm still needing to do touch ups and file her nails, but that will be tomorrow. Since we are in Texas and she is black, I wanted a very short trim. I also used the comb in reverse which makes it a little shorter. Now it looks and feels like crushed velvet. I know some people have different ways to get crushed velvet, but this works for me!

You might try a longer comb first. You can always make it shorter. First time I tried a longer comb with a #30 blade, I was a little disappointed it wasn't smoother. I also used the slow speed on my clippers. Perhaps if I used the high speed, it would have been smoother. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't choppy, just not super smooth. Finishing with scissors makes it look like a professional groom.

I say go for it and have fun!


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## WonderPup (Oct 26, 2008)

redcricket said:


> Which blade should I use?
> 
> Should I not even clip the legs and just scissor? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


The metal snap on do best with a #30 blade underneath. They sort of eat 40 blades for some reason :/ 

How you do the legs is up to you of course I like to skim down them just on the ouside with my longest comb and then scissor the legs all over. This makes for a pretty (IMO) blended lamb clip. A lot of my clients used to like this trim  My favorite way to do it was a 2gaurd with a 1 inch leg that was scissored in. Not sure what the 2 gaurd would translate into with the metal combs. As I understand it the combs are numbered differently than the pastic variety? I could be wrong but I am pretty sure a friend of mine told me that though they are similar?


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## flyingduster (Sep 6, 2009)

there is no 'set length' to use; use whatever you want!!!! Seeing you have the whole set, then have a bit of a play. Use a 30 blade underneth, or you can use a 15 or 10 too if you only have them, but don't ever use a 40 (breaks the teeth of 40 blades)

You can use whatever lengths you want, you can even use more than one length on her if you want other bits shorter... lol. And yes you can use them on the legs if you want, I use them on pet dog legs all the time to whack the length off.

Note that snap on combs will ALWAYS need some scissoring to make them smooth. They will never give a smooth cut like blades will and will need a lot of back brushing and going back over them to get them at least even, though usually still in need of tidying with scissors.


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## BFF (Jun 10, 2009)

I don't know why I didn't use the combs to start the legs. It would certainly save me a lot of time and give me a foundation to start from. During her touch up today, I'll give it a whirl.

FD, thanks for mentioning that scissoring is a must for that super smooth finish. Zulee has soft, almost straight hair on her legs. She is from toy breeding stock and never really got the coarse curly hair.

I know someone mentioned using the combs to get a blended topknot too. I haven't tried that yet. I'm needing hers to grow out a bit more.

redcricket, did you do your groom? Can't wait to see pictures!


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## cbrand (Aug 9, 2009)

Bummer.... I wish I had read this thread before I groomed Sabrina yesterday. I had recently acquired some Whal snap-on combs from a friend. I'd never used them before. Unfortunately I used them over my brand new #40. :doh: I didn't notice a problem with the blade, but I'm going to have to go and look at it now.

Normally I shave the body with a #4 blade and then scissor in the legs, front, neckline. While the snap-on was quick, it did not leave as smooth a finish as scissoring and it is shorter than I like. I can see the value of using snap-ons, but are there longer ones? I used something labeled as a #1


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## Aidan (Mar 4, 2009)

This is Vega..done with the wahl snap ons..

I did a "1" on his body and just blended into his legs... i havent touched his legs..i plan on doing that next time.

If I do guard his legs instead of scissoring I use a "C"










This is also Dodger with the same length as Vega on her body. They have completely different coat types so to me it looks different on her.










and this is Dodger done with a "C" on her legs and you can't see her body too well but it was done with a "1" as well.


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## cbrand (Aug 9, 2009)

So just to confirm.... the "C" is longer than the "1"? I like the longer better and that is the look I'm going for.


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## Aidan (Mar 4, 2009)

Yep, here you go cbrand. This is a chart I found of the different lengths..this is for the wahl stainless set.


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## apoodleaday (Feb 22, 2010)

cbrand said:


> So just to confirm.... the "C" is longer than the "1"? I like the longer better and that is the look I'm going for.


Yes, the C is longer than the 1. The E is the longest. I've found that if you use a Wahl competition #30 blade you get the smoothest trim. My blade sharpener said the Wahl #30 is just a tiny bit wider than other #30 blades and is meant specifically for those guards.


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## cbrand (Aug 9, 2009)

Perfect thanks. I think I may even go to an "E" so that I have more room for scissoring.


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## partial2poodles (Feb 11, 2010)

My blade of choice is really a wahl 9 blade...especialyy with thick, course coats. It swallows fur better, leaving less tracking. Therefore, not as much need to follow thru with scissoring


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## redcricket (Dec 5, 2009)

Thanks everyone! I ended up not getting a chance to groom Cricket yesterday! It was such a nice day, so we spent time outdoors grilling and playing with the kids. I'm going to try and get her done sometime this week. I will post pics when I can! Thanks for all of your advice and suggestions!!


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