I've been too cheap to pick up one of those solid clear brushes/handles off of eBay. I've had my eye on them for years, never wanting to spend more than 20 or so on them. I finally found one in the wild for $14 and it is in nearly perfect condition. The knot was a pork bristle that was so brittle it would drop hairs just from a simple pass of the hand. Its an Ever-Ready 934L. I was lucky and the same brittleness of the bristles was present on the old gluey crud the knot was held in with so with almost no cussin', it popped out pretty easily and without any drilling. I ordered a pretty little 20 mm black bristle with white tips synthetic knot from Shaveforge (no affiliation) on Amazon. I've gotten away from the bigger knots these last few years. 24 is huge to me, 20 is about just right. I repainted the inside of the knot cup and epoxied the knot in. I think it looks great!
@battle.munky - Nice Job Bob. I have two handles that need new knots but it hasn't been much of a priority. For the most part I have been using the same 22mm Semogue mixed knot for the last 6 years. It is just about the perfect size for 2 passes.
Thanks all! I didn't know the new synthetics had the variety of colors so when I saw that one I figured it was the one for that handle. @PanChango Thanks Dale, I had a Vulfix 404 Grosvenor with the mixed knot (badger and boar) and it was possibly the best brush I've ever used. It started shedding after about the 4th year and then it was like autumn...all the leaves came off the tree. I just bought several knots so I'll reknot it and a few others I have here in the next few weeks.
I am quite elated to see many folks still here in the forum that were here when I arrived ten years ago. I learned all I know about shaving from y'all. Thank You!
We're glad you are back too Jeffro! If it wasn't for a lot of y'all I'd have had a rough go of it as well. I still have some of those injector blades you gave me
Great job, it really looks nice! I recently purchased a Buffalo clear brush that I plan on restoring though I'm not sure with what type of knot.
The Vulfix 404 is one of the handles I have to reknot. It was my father's brush and sounds like it suffered the same fate as your version. It is super thin with male pattern baldness and loses more hair each time I look at it. My plan was to get one of the Maggard's mixed knot brushes for it.
@battle.munky , that looks great! I also like your choice of knots. I’m also with you on brush sizes.
I just picked up four 24mm synthetic knots from shaveforge.com (unaffiliated). I opted to go bigger since I'll be giving these away mostly. I'm going to keep one of them, the Vulfix 404 handle. I'm really digging the variety in colors of the synthetics. I have been appreciating their performance for a few years now and the colors have made some progress now too. Here's what I'm getting: fox red silvertip (looks like it says) cream white (looks like boar) stone gray with white tips Not sure which one I'm going to use in the Vulfix handle yet. The other 3 handles are those prolific red and white Ever-Ready/Burma shave looking handles. They have an ultra density high mountain white badger knot that I almost pulled the trigger on for that handle but truthfully, I'm completely satisfied with the very much cheaper synthetics.
I think it does too, and I'm not usually a fan of synthetic knots. Just about all my knots are in the 20mm-23mm range. I have one or two 26mm brushes. I don't understand folks who rave about 30mm and up brushes. I mean, for a leg or head shaver, sure, I could understand that; but for the face? Crazy.
Ever-Ready C40. One of the few brushes with a model number that I've memorized. Those things are all over the place.
Thank you ma'am! I've only used it once so far but it's a little stiff. Synths don't really seem to break in so I don't know yet if it'll be my go to or if it'll just be an occasional use item. I figure I'll give it a few more tries before I set it further back in the den.