My Brush Repairs, Restorations & Builds

I remember that little feller. Looks a lot better than it did when I rescued it from a box of old broken and rusted hand tools at the Sale Barn.

 

Still going strong.

Thanks again for donating it.

 

I picked up this small black chubby like brush; thinking it was something else, but it was just an inexpensive brush.



I removed the knot and the mold marks and installed a Maseto synthetic 20mm.




I forgot to include that I inset a 2021 penny and weighted the handle.

And as always ..... more to come.

 

Much better..........

 

Thank you Jim!

Coffee time!!! ...................

 

very cool.

 

Thank you Gary!

 

As with everything lets blame it on Covid .......

A year ago I intended to restore a really nice butterscotchy Simpson Chubby 1, but after I received Envy that was 4mm too small, I was kind of soured about it for a while. I finally ordered a 23mm HMW (High Mountain White) from TGN and am quite pleased with the looks so far.

Before


And after


After first use....


It's a 23mm HMW TGN knot set at 46mm ..... very soft pillow like ...... Lap of luxury.

And as always ...... more to come.

 

I pick this up over three and half years ago in January 2018 and knew I was in trouble even before I bought it.



I saw the horizontal spacing and knew it was separated, but thought I would have no trouble repairing it. The gentleman selling it said his father purchased it when he was stationed in Germany shortly after WWII, which makes sense seeing Dachshaar meaning badger. My assumption is that it a Simpson tulip that was sold in a german store.

I tried to tape securely and bore it out neatly, but didn't work out too well. At this point I got discussed and set it aside for a good looooong time. Eventually I decided I needed to over bore it to accept an insert (a cut down 3/4" copper coupling); leaving it with an internal diameter of about 22mm. Going by the handle height of a little over 46mm, I'd say it's a Simpson Tulip T2. Their's run at 47mm and I had to sand a little at the junction of the gap to glue it back together.



Final results ......

I used the Envy knot I initially purchased for the Chubby 1 and set at 46mm. It's suppose to be 48mm, but using a knot that's undersized at about 19mm in diameter. This T2 has a very nice back bone, but I'll see after it blooms.

And as always ..... more to come.

 

Jody! Initially I felt the same, but with all the trouble I had with the T2, (like a child that needed extra attention), I've really warmed up to it.

 

It's been a long time since I posted on any brush builds or restorations. This is mainly due to preparing for an extended medical leave from work, then recovering from shoulder surgery.
Well I actually have been working on three or four brushes in several stages; one was the one referred in "RIP my favorite brush".

As I received it.


After I removed the Celluloid coating, mounting to stick to preform work on it, filled holes and sanded it smooth.


I initially tried to apply a Spar polyurethane only to have bubble up and look like mold on the base. This was due to the shaving soap that had embedded itself in the wood (evidence can be seen in the third picture of the handle).

I did extensive research in to finding method of removing the tallow (from the soap) embedded in the wood. The simplest method I found was to heat the wood (with a hair dryer) till the fat flowed out of the wood then I would blot it up with talc so as to no push it back in the wood. I preformed the cycling of heating and blotting five to six times before believing I had gotten it all.
Once again I applied a Spar polyurethane only to have bubble up again ..... time for a long break. This was the time that salvaging the knot may be the best course of action. Discouraging as it was the up side was the process did work just I hadn't gotten it all the first time. So four or five more times of heating and talcing then prepping the surface with fine grade sand paper (I even went so far as to seal it with a couple coats of super glue prior to spar polyurethane ........ results ........

Success!!!

I waited a couple days the be sure the finish was still good then applied a total of four coats of Spar Polyurethane to the handle. Turning my focus to the other half and began the clean up of the ferrule. I cleaned the excess glue inside by hand at first then I tried use my Dremel with almost catastrophic results (see this post). Fortunately I recognized the tiny explosive puffs of smoke prior it going into a full on chain reaction and cleaned the remaining by hand. This was all due to the Celluloid that had broken down on the handle material. This could have been real bad.

I then re-built a Hardright brush upside down . I know it doesn't make sense, but due to it's damage it needed to be done this way. Usually I polish the ferrule, but because the knot was still in place I decided to leave it as is. I finished off by re-lettering it.


I re-lettered it in yellow to closely match the color of the original handle. Already for more shaves with @IAmTheJody

And as always ...... more to come.

 

Excellent. Good choices.

 

Nice job Keith. I did a similar job in which a dog destroyed the plastic/bakelite and teeth marks on the wood. I had to paint the handle after many holes filled in with Plastic Wood.

 

nicely done Keith..

 

Good job.

 

Thank you Doug!