Here's my second brush restore project, and I gotta admit I'm pretty pleased with it. My 11 year old grandson helped me with it and is giving it to his dad tomorrow on Fathers Day. We set the knot, a 20MM TGN synthetic, with Loctite clear silicone adhesive and repainted the lettering with two coats of Testor's white model car paint. I hand polished the whole handle with Simichrome polish which seemed to brighten the red up a little. Here's a before picture with the original boar knot. And here's the finished product.
Great restore and a WONDERFUL Fathers Day present!! Even more meaningful the fact that you included your grandson in the project....
Beautiful restoration! What a great project to share with your grandson. I love that three generations of the family are in that brush
Thanks everyone for the kind words. It was a fun way to spend some time with him, and it may end up being his in a few years when he starts shaving. On the Stag I restored I cut off the knot and then drilled out the remaining knot with a Dremel grinding wheel. I did a lot of reading through old posts and found one where a member said he put the knot in a bench vise and cranked it tight until the knot just broke apart. It had a couple responses but that method seems to have never taken off. I tried it and it beats the daylights out of cutting and grinding the knot out.This one broke apart and came right out. My next one is an ER 200 with a large 26MM knot in it. I put it in the bench vise and cranked it until I heard the knot pop, took it out and the whole thing fell out in two pieces. I'm surprised this method isn't used more, because it works great.
I don't have a bench vise or I would give it a try. I also saw posts about steaming the knots out, but have also seen handles crack when using this method. I normally cut it off just above the base then grind it out with the dremel. It is slower, but works. How do you think the Loctite silicon will hold up? I've always used quick set 2 part epoxy when gluing a knot.
I think it should hold up just fine. After it set overnight I tried to pull the knot out by twisting and pulling it and it wouldn't budge, it felt extremely secure. Only time will tell for sure, but if it does come loose I can get it back from him and try something else. I bought some Devcon 5 minute epoxy and I must have got some that wasn't made right or was real old or something, because it set all night and didn't set up. We tried it again and same result. It stayed sticky for hours and wouldn't set up. Luckily, Hobby Lobby gave me a refund, and I had the Loctite silicone adhesive so I thought I'd give it a shot.
I'll have to put this in the out-of-context thread. Although the vice trick is no doubt more fun, it's the vise trick that Tom used.
Vice tricks are a whole different game! Thanks, and the painting was pretty easy. We used a small brush and covered the whole area with Testor's model car paint, waited about 15 minutes then wiped off the excess with a paper towel. After about an hour it was dry enough that we repeated the process. After it had fully dried he polished off the excess with q-tips and Simichrome polish.
Beautiful restore Hoosier and a great story with your grandson helping out. I'll have to keep that bench vice method in mind it sounds promising depending on the handle.
Fantastic....Thats a heart breaker....I think "HT & Grandson Manufactoring" will be getting my brush work in the future...And the Ever Ready handles are just aces....My hat's off to you my friend...and what a wonderful way to bring in 'Father's Day"...Congratulations and
Thanks again for all of the kind words. He's tried the brush and really likes the way it feels. The TGN synthetics are really nice knots, well worth the low prices Tony charges for them.
