Hello I have a brush that's dead to me. I don't like the feel, too scritchy, and there's like zero backbone. It's a low quality no-name brand, but I kinda like the handle, so I thought I'd revive it with a new knot. First, where do I find a new badger knot that's of good quality? Pref. EU stores. Second, how do I go about this project? It's an faux ivory plastic handle with a pure badger knot. It's not vintage. Thanks.
Shavemac is a good EU based knot vendor as well. http://www.shavemac.com/products/Experts/Shaving-Brush-KNOTS-SELECT.html Good luck and let us know how your re-knot goes
I didn't even know Shavemac provided knots. I've dealt with him before, great shop. Thanks for the hint. Thanks for the welcome, Doryferon
Now we're at it. I notice that Pure Badger is not that expensive, but Finest Badger takes quite a hike up, closely followed by a lesser increase with the Silvertip. I have this Pure Badger now. Cheap stuff, unbranded, from a UK vendor on eBay. It has _zero_ backbone, is too larger (that would be fixable with reducing loft I guess) and it scritches my skin too much, no matter how I use it. Is that Pure Badger behaviour? Would Silvertip be worth it over Finest, since it's rather small increase in price?
It's me again The old knot is now almost gone. Some is left of the glue and a center-pin and I'm curious to whether it has to go or it's not necessary? The glue I can confidently say is removable (by me) but the center-pin seems welded into the handle itself. Also I've measured with my calipers that the width of the hole is 21mm wide going 19mm deep to it's natural base. #01 #02
Great progress so far. It looks like that pin is gonna limit the loft you can set knot at. Its hard to tell from the picture but it looks like it sits pretty high. I'm sure one of the brush restore experts will chime in and know what to do.
That pin is almost (few mm short) from the top, so I guess it has to go. The old knot was glued around it. I think I can drill it out using my bench-drill and a proper drill-bit attached. I'm just afraid I'll ruin the handle if it slips for me. But slow and steady should be possible.
Alright, progress positive! Pin and old glue removed. There's a slight left at the edge that I can't get to with the tools at hand. When buying a new knot, how are they designed? Is the base a hard bit so when ordering 21mm knot it's a tight fit or how? Because then I think I might need to order 19 or 20mm as a hard fit 21mm wont fit in the hole. And also when ordering, say, 21mm knot with 50mm loft, how far down in the handle must it sit? #03 #04
Great job on getting that pin down! As for the knot, yes the base is hard. If the knot is too large you can very carefully widen the inside of the handle with a dremel or other such tool. How deep you set the knot in the handle is completely up to you. If you find that the brush sits too deep for what you want, glue a washer or two in the base of the handle to achieve the desired height. Be sure to test fit before doing any final gluing, though!
I saw that the TGN knots are measured from the bottom of the base (which is 8mm high) to the top of bristles. Not that I'll be getting such one (due to customs) but if I want a 50mm loft on such knot, does that mean I need to order at least 58mm? It's tough to explain but I hope you know what I mean. I might have to whip out my Dremel and sand down the sides while waiting for the knot to arrive. I think it'll be from Shavemac. I believe it's a good quality and best of all - no added customs plus he has a great customer service. No stocks in the company, only a happy customer. This is kinda fun. I had an old brush that I couldn't use and it was too cheap to make money on it. Now the handle gets a new life and I get to try a good badger
I do not like to fool with enlarging the hole in the handle. I would rather trim the glue plug on the knot. A sanding drum on your Dermel should do it, or a belt sander works well too, just try to remove material evenly. If you are worried about loft, you can shave a few mm off of the bottom of the knot. When you glue in the knot, start by using a very small amount of glue, fit the knot and then pull it back out to see how the glue covers the knot bottom, and add more if necessary to get good coverage on the bottom (should not need much on the sides of the knot) That way you will not get excess glue squishing up into the hair of the knot. Good look.
Would it be wise to get the dealer to install the knot? I mean - it's pretty expensive to ruin a Silvertip knot.. If not, I'll follow the advice given - it sounds like care should be taken in consideration when gluing.
Nah, you have done the hard stuff already. Wrap a couple of rubber bands around the knot to hold the hair in place while you work on it. If you have to reduce the size of the knot, just be careful to do it evenly all the way around. Taper the plug just a bit, and when you remove the glue near the top the outside hairs will just fall off. The top of the plug will be below the edge of the hole, so the hair will fill it perfectly, especially after it blooms. Just keep test fitting it till you get it the way you want it. It is almost impossible to ruin a knot (unless you squish a bunch of glue up into it). The reason I would rather work on the knot is that a mistake on the knot plug will not show, but a mistake on the handle is hard to hide.
If that was the hard part, I should be good. It's just when I deal with glue I don't seem to have the best luck in the world.... I always get glue where it's unwanted, like between my fingers or all over the specimen I want to glue. I think I'll go a bit against your advice and sand down the insides of the handle. With the handle held tight in my bench-wrench it should go smoothly. I might be cocky from the experience with the drill but I'll give it a shot. I'll come back here and weep should it go haywire I've had a chat with Shavemac about his knots. He gave me precise specifications for his knots. Each knot is .6mm larger than stated, ie. a 20mm knot requires a 20.6mm hole. And also the knot length stated is meassure hair only and not like TGN where it's including the base. Great to know before ordering.
One thing to consider is that the knot begins to flair out immediately above the glue plug, so while the plug might fit you may not be able to set the knot as deeply as you wish because it will not slide down deeper than the top of the glue plug. You might consider going with a smaller knot so you don't have to sand anything. You will find that the knot just above the glue plug is quite firm, with almost no give at all. The brush in my avatar has the top of the glue plug about 4 mm below the top of the handle, and the hair fills the hole nicely. As for the glue, start out with LESS than you need, then test fit and add a bit at a time until you get good coverage on the bottom, without squishing up the sides of the hole. Better to use too little than too much, after all what is the worst that can happen? The knot falls out and you glue it back in. I know the tendency is to want to put in the largest knot you can, but I have learned that using a knot that is small enough to fit easily is way is the way to go. Good luck.
The hole is 21mm, so from eyesight (will have to measure) I think a 20mm knot a real-estate of 20,6mm will fit perfectly without sanding anything. But is it understood correctly that I only need to glue the bottom? Somehow I thought I had to "drown" the base all around with epoxy?
Try silicone instead of epoxy. This way if you decide you don't like the loft you can remove the and reset it with little trouble. I like to put silicone in the base and press in the knot till silicone is just under the edge of the hole and let it set up for about 24hrs
