I had to get mine direct from mfgr as I never could find it here locally and got tired of looking.....i wasn't real happy with how long it took to get to me but it got here http://www.maasinc.com/
I have seen some Flitz in those stores. I recently put a Penworks Xtra Dense Finest knot (these are 20% denser) in some random PVC piping thing and it's a wonderful brush. It's not the prettiest, but it is seriously amazing. It's denser than my Rooney 1/1! The loft is set at 45-47mm. It's got as much backbone as the Rooney and is softer at the tips
I have a question about drilling out the old knot. Does the drill unseat the old knot's glue, and it pulls out, or do you have to drill past the old glue? How do you get out all the old glue without enlarging the hole in the handle? Do the hardware stores sell any type of marine epoxy remover (like they sell superglue remover), so you can get out the last pieces of glue without damaging the handle? This seems like a great project. I'd like to try it, but I'm worried about ruining a serviceable handle in the process. Thanks.
I had to drill past the glue in the one that I've drilled out thus far. Some knots might just come out, depending on how they were set.
That's what I did with mine too. Just filled the hollow below the old knot with marine epoxy. It's nicely weighted that way.
Heads up to both of you the thread is a tad old Most people sweat by The Golden Nib. There are other suppliers but from stories of others they go back to TGN and buy from them.
I've done a few restores of solid handles.. pretty easy to do. Right now I have three hollow handles to work on. When you epoxy them do you fill the hollow handle? How much epoxy do you use? I was considering adding some lead shot to resin and laying a bed in the handle first; partly to fill in some of the hollow handle and give the knot a base on which to sit, but also because the hollow handles are so light and I prefer some heft to the brush.
Mike, I used loctite as the filler in my brush, ghetto measured it with a tape measure to the specified loft I was looking for, I did have to do some sanding to get to +/- 1mm but it worked.
Loctite? I use blue and red loctite all the time, but never as a resin or epoxy substitute? Which loctite product are you using?
Loctite Quick Set I think we are probably using the same product? The Loctite Quick Set can be used for a filler and it is water resistant... I've done 2 brushes with it so far and no problems.
I'll look for it.. The loctite I have are both small bottles that are each used about a drop at a time.. It would take a case of bottles to try to build that stuff up. Put it on my Home Depot shopping list...
If you find it and go ahead and use it, make sure you wait at least let it set 24 hours before you set the knot. You should be able to get within +/- 1 mm of loft you're looking for too, just sand down the excess or add more when you set the knot.