My New Custom Gen 4 Brush - Added Info On Knot

Well I am the process of developing a couple of new brushes for myself. Here is a brush that I acquired a couple of months ago. It started out life with a 24 mm Boar knot. The knot was was good, but I saw that the Zebra wood handle to have a greater potential and more of a WOW factor than what it had with the original knot. The height and circumference of the handle is the same as an well known handle with a ergonomic grip with the small groove toward the breech.

After some quick measurements I ascertained that the handle could accommodate a knot with a 26 or 27 mm plug so I went to find a Generation 4 knot that would meet my specifications. After the knot was obtained the original Boar knot was carefully removed and the hole expanded to accept the new knot with an acceptable loft.

Tomorrow is the maiden voyage and here is the first photo of what I hope is many to come.

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Thanks for viewing.

 

Wonderful job! Happy Shaving..

 

That looks really good. Very nice brush to use, I bet.

 

Thanks Gents, Tomorrow I will know for sure!

 

Holy moly...

 

Very pretty brush, Gary! If you don't need that Kent Infinity any more....

 

Gary;
Looks good I'm jealous. Congrats.

 

Gary, where did you obtain the knot? Love that very unique handle!

 

I can tell you right now that POS won't work worth a flip. Box it up and send it to me immediately and I'll see to it that it is put in my rotation disposed of properly.

 

I will let people guess at the maker of the knot for a while before answering. Remember it is a Generation 4 knot.

 

Great looking brush!!

 

Ok, I've been guessing for several minutes now. So, where did you obtain the knot?

 

Now let's let some of the others guess. At least maybe a day or so ...

Here are two more views that might help in the guessing department.

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As to the performance. If this were a natural it would be a soap killer. Fortunately it is synthetic so the soap is spared due to synthetic fibers greater lathering efficiency. This has a very nice knot that is moderate to tightly packed at the base which flares out to a very even pattern at the tips. The tips are Gen 4 velvet feeling. The flow through was great and it was easily able to make enough lather for two head passes and three face passes in the bowl. With the mild Aristocrat, I needed that much lather but got a great shave.

 

Ahhh, I see now, based on a certain review from the past. But how did you get a knot from them? Set at a better height than they did, I take it?

 

All the details will come out tomorrow with some interesting information that I acquired along the way!

 

Love that little fella - nicely done

Mervyn

 

Well three folks have figured it out. It is a FS Pur-Tech. There is an interesting set of facts that I will write about later today.

Here is today's shave ...

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Man that brush handle is gorgeous!

 

Wwo that's some handle!..

 

What was very interesting about this brush was that it almost never occurred in this fashion.

I was planning on working with a larger handle than the one that is seen here (which will not be revealed.) I had ordered from Frank Shaving, or more importantly one of the Frank Shaving sellers (Seller A), a 28 mm synthetic knot. I had based this purchase on the Frank Shaving synthetic brush as noted in this thread.

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threa...introducing-the-frank-shaving-pur-tech.33575/

This brush is billed by one of Frank Shaving sellers, note a different seller than the one selling knots (Seller B), as follows:

When I bought mine that was the same description. An F28 knot denotes a 28 mm diameter knot. The knot size at the breech of the brush measured 28.7 mm which at a baseline was close enough to support my original brush plan.

I ordered the "28 mm knot" and waited almost 6 weeks due to an issue between the U.S. and Chinese mail services. When I got the knot I was surprised to find that the knot I received was substantially smaller than the knot in the brush. So I went ahead and placed a case with Seller A. Seller A replied that he had measured the knot and that it was 26 mm at the based and 28 mm at the top of the glue plug. At this point I decided to send the following information to Seller A:

1. The measurements of both the Frank Shaving Brush and a link to the seller of the Brush designated as F28 so that the knot seller had full information.

2. The knot that was sold to me and the advertisement of the knots dimensions.

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Now I gave the knot measurements every benefit of the doubt but in all aspects other than the plug measurement it was falling far short and stated that in comparison to the advertised specifications. The next reply provided me with a level of information that provided the greatest insight into the original Pur-Tech brush. Seller A stated that the handle that I used as a baseline looked like what he called an F30 handle and the knot was 28 mm at the plug. He also wondered why Seller B was calling the Brush an F28 which was one size too low in the viewpoint of the Seller A. At this point I had all the information I needed and closed the case and kept the knot. There was no point in continuing to concern the Seller A with the sale made with me. I had the knot and would find a use for it in another handle.

As we all know knot measurements can be interpreted differently from company to company. With Frank Shaving however, you are either dealing with independent distributors or company employees who act as independent distributors. I do not know which it is but it is clear that I kept the knot so Seller A was out nothing but some critical information that I now can use. It is clear that independently sold knots called 28 mm will actually be 26 mm at the base and somewhere from 27 to 28 at the glue bump maximum. It is also clear the finished brushes called F28 perhaps are F30 with a knot measuring 28 mm base. Here is a difference in the final top down view between the two.

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Why is this important? The larger the synthetic knot, the more difficult it is to keep it manageable from a standpoint of flare and shape. This is why people comparing the "Larger Black FS Pur-Tech 28 mm brush" to other synthetic brushes have noticed substantial differences in performance levels. In fact many users did not like the "larger 28 mm knot found in the black handled brush due to size and tip focus issues. This incidental discussion with Seller A allowed me to realize more of the real operational information on the larger 28 mm brush than I had previously had which helps to explain the sizing issues of the knot.

As to the "smaller 28 mm" knot, from use it has far better control and flow-through than the "larger 28 mm knot" and is much more focused in lather application. In fact in the final configuration of the Zebra Wood brush is close in performance to a brush I tested last year with 28 mm knot with a 55 mm loft. The knot is well focused and the brush allows for soft and gentle face lathering or bowl lathering. Both paint strokes and circular motions work equally well without any "hidden" issues or surprises. The second plan for the knot and the brush worked out perfectly.

So in the end every thing worked out well and a new brush is a member of my shave den.