A Tale of Two Handles but only One Knot = Decision Time

EDIT: The decision was made and shown in post #35.

For some time now I have been dormant on the brush restoration front. This has been due to a large load at work, plus other issues. Recently though I have worked on some requests that were promised earlier to two different owners of brushes and handles. One was repair of two handles that had some flaws upon knot extraction by the owner. Another is a project that is almost complete as of 8/31/2014 awaiting final go ahead from the owner. While these items were, and are, in work and my tools were out, I decided to work on a project of my own that would take use a current production H.I.S. knot from a recently purchased H.I.S. synthetic brush as a donor knot.

A brief history on my involvement with the H.I.S. brush. I was the first individual to discuss the merits of the H.I.S. Generation 4 fiber on various forums starting back in April 2012. This was the first set of fibers classified as Generation 4 (with production going back to 2008/2009 according to the producer FMT Brush / Artist Brushstrokes). At the time Mühle was still producing and selling their V1 STF brush (Generation 3.5) and did not employ this fiber type until late in 2012 in the V2 STF. In September 2012 I decided to "tear down" a H.I.S. brush to see how the knot would work in other handles. That can be seen in the following thread.

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/chopping-a-h-i-s-synthetic-brush-down-to-size.30026/​

The knot used in the largest H.I.S. at that time had a base measurement of 28 mm. Keep this in mind as we will discuss the current knot used in the largest H.I.S. made presently which uses the same size handle as the 2012 model. After taking the current production brush apart using the same method and preparing the knot I found that the knot base had shrunk approximately 1.5 mm and the size of the knot had shrunk slightly. So over the past couple of years FMT Brush / Artist Brushstrokes has reduced the size of the largest H.I.S. knot. Whether this is for cost cutting reasons or quality control reasons is not determined. It is simply a notation in this project. Here is the knot from the current production Beauty Strokes H.I.S 1794 brush.

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At this point I had the knot, and now the fun choices began. I had several handles available from which to choose to from but since I only had one large handled "barber" style brush in my collection, which is the large restored Plymouth named "Mutt" in the thread below, I decided another large handled "barber" style brush that was slightly smaller to be appropriate for my rotation.

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/mutt-and-jeff-2-band-delights.37321/​

After careful consideration across my available stock of handles, I focused in on two. Each were prepared to accept the donor knot and are shown in the images below with the knot resting in place to provide comparison and contrast.

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Candidate #1 is a rarely seen #4 handle and has all the lettering intact and clearly painted. It is an excellent choice. Candidate #2 is a more commonly seen #3 handle that also has all the lettering intact and clearly painted. It is another excellent choice.

Now the question is, which one did I choose to weight down with ballast and permanently attach the knot to?

That will come in a soon to be released Shave of the Day photo.

Thanks for viewing.

 

I like both! Number one calls me. Excellent!

 

They are both great looking handles for that not. I think I prefer the consistent colors of candidate number 2

 

One for candidate #1 and one for candidate #2. Who else will venture a guess?

 

I like the #1

 

I like#2
I frequently set my brush knot up on the counter between passes.the rim( or lip) on#2 could prevent lather from moving down onto the handle.
both are nice though

 

Two for candidate #1 and two for candidate #2. Who else will venture a guess?

 

Oh man, that's a tough choice, but I'd go with the Hegener. The black and white Rubberset would be a perfect candidate for a TGN high grade boar knot, at least in my not so humble opinion.

 

Me? #1.

 

Four for candidate #1 and two for candidate #2. Who else will venture a guess?

 

#1

 

I personally prefer Door #1.............

 

Six for candidate #1 and two for candidate #2. Who else will venture a guess?

 

I like #2. I think the black in the knot give a good contrast to the black in the handle.

 

Six for candidate #1 and three for candidate #2. Who else will venture a guess?

 

I'll start by saying that I have zero knowledge in this area. I love reading the history in your write-ups. I prefer #2, but I think you chose #1.

 

I have to vote #2

And most sadly I have to admit that there is no other reason then "Looks" the band of the knot and the Black on the Rubberset brush really come together..

 

Six for candidate #1 and five for candidate #2. Who else will venture a guess?

 

Were I to choose, I would pick #2.

 

Another Tie! Six for candidate #1 and six for candidate #2. Who else will venture a guess?