Breaking in a NEW Boar brush a little quicker!

Discussion in 'The Brush' started by Ron R, Apr 11, 2021.

  1. ChrisB

    ChrisB Well-Known Member

    Thanks Ron. I think I get this now, the cold water treatment is to expand the ends of the boar bristles. Fridge is downstairs, too far away for these lazy old legs. I will however fully rinse the brush the next three times I use it and then let it soak in cold water overnight with the towel treatment in between. It would be nice to get it a bit softer. I am not too stressed if I somehow mishandle the brush, the nylon handle is already slightly split, so all good.
     
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  2. SterFry

    SterFry Well-Known Member

    It won't hurt the brush at all badger or boar. I use the coolest and lowest power setting. I've never had to use a hairbrush... though sometimes I have to comb by horsehair brushes.
     
  3. ChiefShaver

    ChiefShaver Well-Known Member

    Great write ups. Thank you for this.

    The only thing i do to break in a new boar brush quicker, is to put the brush in a mug with cold water and place it in the refrigerator for 24h. Now i shake out the brush, renew the water and do the same again for 24h.

    After that i find the brush to work very well and i find the brush is completely broken in. Speaking for the smell of a boar knot i find it to be nearly completely gone.

    When you are not happy @Ron R with the results, i would advise you to purchase a Suribachi-bowl with ceramic inlay. Giving the brush after the cold water method a few latherings in the bowl it should be plenty enough. You will notice a huge difference and improvement in performance and smell.
     
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  4. Ron R

    Ron R Well-Known Member

    I'm glade you had good results with your boar brush, The Suribachi bowl would be good for breaking in the boar brush. I had one and found it a little to abrasive for my synthetics so I stopped using it and improvised my own bowl for lathering. But for getting the split ends started on a boar brush excellent idea for a little short period of time.
     
  5. ischiapp

    ischiapp New Product Bloodhound

    Franco Bompieri is the owner of the well know historical barbershop in Milan, Antica Barbieria Colla.
    They sell some very high end products, as in the advertising / interview to StileItaliaTV in 2014.


    Mr Bompieri only speaks about 3 day in cold water.
    All other thing are (created?) by Mr Mark Herro aka Mantic59 in 2017.
    And he used a classic Semogue 1250, with natural Portugese oak handle.


    Maybe an easier way ...
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2022
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  6. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    The easiest way is to let the pig do all the work, and buy a brush that is 90% to 100% tops.

    What causes boar hair to 'flag' and human hair to get 'split ends?' Repeated wet and dry cycles. You can dry it on a towel or air dry. I don't see where it makes a difference. It the prolonged soaking followed by drying that causes the ends to split.

    I would think a soak of at least a couple of hours, followed by a hot hairdryer drying session would give the fastest and best results. Repeat as needed.

    I'll look around and see if I have a new boar paint brush that could donate some bristles for an experiment to see which method is superior.
     
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  7. ischiapp

    ischiapp New Product Bloodhound

    If you do, please let's know about efficiency.
    Not just which result is best (efficacy), but the efforts needed too.
    Mostly, a little better "costs" too much more.

    I've used both. I prefer the simple one. JMHO.
    As lazy people say ... Work smarter, not harder.
     
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  8. SterFry

    SterFry Well-Known Member

    I've actually done some side by side experimenting with that very process when I accidentally bought multiples of the same boar from Maggards. Two had the same process of 24 hour soak, dry, re-soak only one brush was blown dry between soaks and the others air dried. There was a third brush that that was soaked, blown dry and re-soaked, but it was only soaked for 8 hours each time.

    The two that were blown dry broke at the exact same rate, which was considerably faster than the brush that was air dried. They each had 6 cycles.

    In short, in my brief, unscientific experimentation, I found blow drying to dramatically accelerate break in, while soaking for 24 hours did not appear to accelerate break in compared to the brush with 8 hour soak times.
    All were in room temperature water. Brushes were all Omega ProPro.

    So, if you go by soak/cycle count, both brushes blown dry broke in at the same rate. In real world time, the brush blown dry after 8 hour cycles broke in the fastest.... obviously.

    I now wish I'd had a fourth ProPro to compare toweling the tips between cycles, too.
     
    Last edited: Dec 24, 2022
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  9. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    That's about what I figured the results would be.
     
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  10. huck1680

    huck1680 Great Northern CanUkrainian

    Great thread. I've been making most of my own brushes and using badger knots for the most part. However, lately I've been experiencing a shift in my personal viewpoints towards the "harvesting" of badgers etc. It's disgusting. Caged, abused and unethical in any way shape or form. You can google it if you want. This is my view only. Now I'm ordering boar brushes and that may seem to be hypocritical because boars are hunted and kept as well...but not only are they slaughtered for the hair but for the meat as well. Now, boars worldwide are becoming a huge problem to agriculture, livestock and health. Take a look at Texas which is almost under siege from these critters. In Europe people are being confronted by boars continuously. In my home province of Saskatchewan, wild pigs are increasing at a rapid pace to the point where very shortly, there will be more pigs than people here. So I have no feelings of sympathy for these animals which are now listed as pests (vermin) and can be hunted etc at any time.
    Sorry for the rant, but I think it's time for me to do a bit more than I have been. I will also be re-knotting some of my brushes if possible or simply getting rid them.
    Oh yeah....please have a very Happy New Year and all the best to everyone here.
     
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  11. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    Contrary to popular belief, the bristles used in boar shave brushes only come from the domestic pig. Wild boar bristles are too thick.

    Don't know if that changes your views on anything. Most of us have watched the 'videos.' I certainly have as part of my work on researching the construction techniques and designs of brushes over the years. It's the industry at it's worst. We don't see it at it's best in those videos, for sure.

    I live in the Pacific Northwest, so I see opossums, skunks, and racoons around here constantly. Usually as blood covered mounds on the road, but I digress. I don't worry overmuch. They are nuisance animals, and we've got more than we need.

    This is how the badger is viewed in most of the world. In the U.K., they do or did annual culls to control the badger population.

    If it's a question of ethics, and you justify using boar because it's a nuisance animal, (even though it's harvested from domestic stock) why doesn't the same logic apply to badger?

    We use what we use, and use what we like. We aren't blind to the ethical questions either. One road is a slippery slope to world veganism, and the other isn't.
     
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  12. huck1680

    huck1680 Great Northern CanUkrainian

    Good points. The boar hair from domestic pigs for shaving brushes is new to me. It doesn't change my views on wild boars however, as they are one of the most destructive invasive species in the world. Now in Canada, badgers are, in certain areas and provinces, protected as endangered. They are losing habitat to development and the highway mortality rate is very high...numberwise. They seem to be a larger nuisance in other countries as opposed to Canada. Thanx for the clarification.
     
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  13. Ron R

    Ron R Well-Known Member

    Learned something new every day regardless how significant it is, I was thinking a wild pig would be ideal for a boar brush but it is not. Wild pigs in Canada are not good where a lot of crops like wheat and canola are grown. I knew a person who had a farm with marginal land and he bought some wild pigs in this area & put up 6 ft fences and they still got out eventually and the local farmers who depend on their crops where very upset with him and so he had to cull a lot of them. He was excellent marksman and he put down a lot of them. To count how many are about in winter he places feed a snow covered road in the enclosed area and does a head count and sometimes he has to cull them.
    We do not need wild pigs in Canada IMO and they should of never been introduced because they are not natural for the area for hunters just to shoot and the big boars can not be eaten either because the meat is not much desired , now we need to introduce wolfs back into the system to cull them and to upset ......... the cattle, sheep farmers...........? Crazy world sometimes with idiots making poor decisions on what is good for food production in Western Canada grain belt that helps feed the world.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2023
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  14. huck1680

    huck1680 Great Northern CanUkrainian

    Well put. I saw a billboard in Regina last year giving numbers to call if people had sightings of wild boars. They are making their way south. Sigh. There were people who decided to go into the wild boar meat market and when that didn't work just released the pigs into the wild.
     
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  15. awk-m4

    awk-m4 Well-Known Member

    This is a great thread! I really appreciate the analysis done by Ron R! I ordered a Semogue this morning and I'm hoping it will arrive next week. Looking at the five break in options I think I'm going to start the process with option: 2/- Just use the brush and overtime it will naturally break in. (months of use from what I recall on my 1st boar brush)

    upload_2023-5-12_12-45-14.png

    Paul D
     
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