Have had these brushes for years and I'm now going to restore them. I think I'll look for a brush at a Good as New and restore it first. Failed to upload pictures. Back to the drawing board. Turns out the picture is to large.
I had mine done. it sat in the back of the cabinet, sad knot, but I couldn't toss it. it ess my grandad's, and I had a specially close relationship with him. I had it shined up, coated, and fitted with a custom two band finest badger knot. I use it regularly, think of Pop Dick every time. well worth the cost to me.
No I don't believe you broke any rules. Nice brush! I have photos, however. I'm having trouble posting them.
I'm going to remove the knots today using the boiling water method I read here, although I can't find it now. I will measure the handle and order the knots then remove the paint and decide how to finish them. Larry at http://www.whippeddog.com/products/find/brushes-knots has been very helpful. I assemble golf clubs and I see how some of that experience can transfer over to restoring brushes. This is a great site. Have a good day, and wear Red on Friday to support our troops.
boiling water may well swell and split the wooden brushes I'd rethink that. I could be wrong, but.....
Here is very likely all that you need to do: fill your sink with hot tap water. Soak the brushes for about 10 minutes. Remove brush, shake excess water out. Gather brush firmly in one hand. Grasp handle firmly in other hand. Using a twisting motion, gently, but with gradually increasing pressure, pull. Your knots should pull out easily. Both of your brushes are vintage, wood, and not in the greatest shape. I have found this method to work on every wooden handled brush I have tried it on (10, for those of you keeping track at home). I have even done it accidentally once on my favorite and best condition vintage wooden brush. When they built plastic brushes, they put those knots in for the ages. They can be exceptionally tough to remove. But the wood ones, not so much. They are usually held in with a dollop of adhesive, which is almost always weakened from the expansion and contraction of the wood. Manufacturers didn't seem to use the weird filler in wood that they used in plastic. Lots of plastic brushes say 'set in rubber' but whatever it is, or was, it has turned into substance like porcelain, and it can be hard to get out. I have only seen this kind of fill in one wood brush. Also, these brushes have been soaked and dried hundreds of times. I wouldn't worry about splitting the wood.
I tried this method and it didn't work for me, so I did the boiled water placed brush in a thick glass container and place container in the water turned off heat (propane) covered and let sit for 30 minutes. This worked like a charm.
