On this restore, I had to rely a bit on a modeling technique to do it right. How I received the brush, and you can see the imperfections at the top of the handle.... With the knot removed and you can see many "indentations" or what ever the cause was. Also it looked like a one ton press was used to stamp the letters. Too deep to re-paint the lettering as it would look sloppy.... Now for the modeling technique. The best thing that I thought of to help it's looks, was to fill in the bad stamping and crack like fissures on the top with plastic modeling putty.... After sanding the handle smooth with a very fine sanding sponge and on this side, the lettering was actually worn down so much, you would only see for the most part half letters if filled in with paint.... After painting the top half a green color and using dense packing foam to install the knot at it's desired height. And I looked all over for a couple of pennies for a bit of weight, and there were none to be had. So, I used a screw that goes through the middle of the foam, better than nothing.... The finished brush with a pure badger knot installed as that was on it originally....
It's from an old batch of modeling paint by Aero Master Warbird Colors (Acrylic). This particular color is Warpac Radome/Hub Green. I also use Model Master Acryl Paint by Testors.
I've been getting a bunch in the 16mm for boar, which I expanded to 18mm because I had a few of that size knots. With the exception of the Ever-Ready 1, which had an 18mm, but I installed a 19mm that fit perfect. The ones I've done so far in pure badger that usually came in a lot of vintage brushes have been 18mm. Personally, on all the ones I have gotten, they've been in the 16mm-18mm range. One exception is a Barber Shop brush when measuring the knot base, it's 19mm. But it could take a 22mm knot easily and still deciding to change it to a synthetic instead of the original boar. But I also have two brushes that didn't need restoring and it looks like they have 20mm knots, one boar (Made Rite 150), one badger (Erskine K-250).
The colors look retro too! It has the same paint scheme as my uncle's 1955 Chevrolet. Great color choice!
