Starting my first re-knot

I am re-knotting a brush for my friend Mario. It was his father's. So far, I have Dremeled out the knot & glue, sanded it and epoxied in a couple of pennies, to add a little weight. There are some traces of paint still on it, but I am leaving those (after sanding them as smooth as I could.) I don't want to hide the age of the brush, just make it usable. I will post some pics later, when my hands are less tired.

 

OK, here are some pics. First, just after I removed the knot;

Now, it has been sanded;

 

Nice looking handle. Good work!

 

Good going so far!

 

Thanks. It's a challenge, because the wood was so porous. So far I have sealed it with a coat of Linseed oil & put 2 coats of polyurethane on it. It will take multiple coats, before it is sufficiently waterproof. When it has a few more coats I will post another pic. BTW, the razor in the second pic was also Mario's Dad's. The only marking on it is "made in USA". If anyone here knows anything about it,, I would be grateful for some info.

 

More info on the razor- after a little closer look, I spotted the Gillette logo, but no date code. As for the brush handle, with 8 coats of polyurethane, it is finally close to where I want it to be. A couple more & I can sand it with some micromesh & then it will be ready to knot.

 

Looking good! Keep up the good work!

Great idea, actually. I've got some old, almost hairless, brush lying around. I might try to reknot that one as well...
Where do you plan to get the new knot? And what kind of knot?

• Boar, badger, horse, synthetic?
• Wide, narrow?
• High, low?

Just curious.

 

I will be getting a silver tip badger knot from www.TheGoldenNib.com. I guess it will be medium width- the brush handle has a small diameter-20mm. I will be away for a couple of days, so next week, I will post another pic.

 

Sounds nice!

 

If I might make a suggestion here. Get a battery powered drill, a long, maybe 2 inch wallboard screw, a hacksaw, and a wine bottle cork. Cut the head off of the screw and chuck it in the drill. With the drill drive the screw about 1/2 way into the cork. Turn it on and see if it spins true, if it does, back out the screw, put a little glue on it and drive it back in. Give it some time to set up. You now have a lathe. Try inserting the cork in the brush, if it is too tight sand it down, to loose build up with duct tape, you DO have a roll don' you? Anyway with that setup you can spin the brush and do a much better job of finish sanding. When you get it smooth try 600 grit wet/dry, wet.. Should get a nice smooth satin finish. Have fun.

 

Thanks Terry, I will give it a try.

 

Here it is again, after 11 coats of polyurethane, sanding with micromesh & a coat of finishing wax.

The knot will arrive in a couple of days.

 

Looking good!

 

Hmmmm, That almost looks like a piece of white oak. Nice job.

 

Great name, though the brush is not mine. I have never thought of naming them.

Here it is, with a knot.

 

That looks great! I might be doing mine this weekend because I love the shape and color of the handle, I just can't deal with all the hair falling out. I bought a cheap one so I guess you get what you pay for.

 

Thanks. Let us know if you re-knot your brush (and please post pics.)

 

Could you give me steps on how you removed your knot and then installed the new knot? Or a link to a how-to? Thanks.

 

Hi Richard,
while waiting for Sara's answer, you might wanna take a look at this,
I found this interesting video