This little beauty was picked up out in the wild for almost nothing. I went with Gary's method of steaming to remove the knot, and it worked beautifully. I will post once I clean it up and also once I receive the knots (should be here on Friday).
Okay...I made a mistake, but I can salvage it, I think. After these pics I wanted to clean up the glue that was left in the brush. I pour some boiling water into where the knot was, scraped out and continued this process. I did this for about an hour but there was still some glue in there. So I took a cotton ball, soaked it nail polish remover to dissolve the glue, which is did, BUT it also removed all of the black from the inside of the handle. After that happened I was worried that the nail polish remover would cause damage to the brush, so I quickly washed it out in warm soapy water. I am guessing I can just paint the inside of the handle black again or should I use some other product. I did polish the handle up with Flitz lazt night and it looks nice.
As you say you should be able to save that. Nice brush choice . Cant wait to see the finnished article.
I would think that if nail polish remover removed the black from the inside it was probably just paint to begin with. probably just painted so that you wouldn't just be looking at the knot and glue. Painting the inside black again isn't going to affect the brush at all.
O.K. first here are some things you should tell me before going any further. 1. What size is the hole? Is it 20 mm, 21 mm? 2. What size is the knot that you have ordered? 3. When will you receive the knot to measure it? There is no use in doing any more work until these three can be definitively answered. Relax ...
1. What size is the hole? Is it 20 mm, 21 mm? The hole size is 19mm. 2. What size is the knot that you have ordered? 18mm, as that was the size of the previous knot that I took out. 3. When will you receive the knot to measure it? Should be here Friday or Saturday
Beautiful handle and well done getting the old knot out. Is Gary's method spelled out here in the Den somewhere? I have several vintage handles that need the knots removed. I'm sure a little black paint will fix it right up. Is there a maker name on the handle like EverReady or MadeRight? What hair type did you use Bagger,Boar,Horse or Synthetic?
Good now stand by until you receive the knot. If the knot sizes large like 18.5mm you might have to do some Dremel grind with the sandpaper bit to get the knot to fit. If it fits with clearance, then you will want to paint the inside of the hole with good flat black paint such as Rust-Oleum® and let it sit until completely dry (48 hrs even) to make sure that when you apply the epoxy it will not bleed into the paint. Remember to surround the hairs with a paper towel and then masking tape over the paper. Do this before you work the epoxy so that you will avoid touching the hairs. Then use good two part epoxy like JB Weld on the bottom of the handle and knot plug. Do not use too much epoxy or it will overflow. Insert and gently twist the knot around a couple of times to make sure that the epoxy has made good contact. Gently remove your "paper and tape protector" and quickly make sure that the knot is truly vertical from all angles. Let it cure for 24 more hours before use. Enjoy!
Here is the removal documentation. Understand this works best for acrylic and thick plastic handles due to issues of warping with thinner plastics and cracking with woods. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/a-transformation-from-potential-to-performance.28978/
Here is what can happen with thinner walled or plastered up plastic handles versus thicker acrylics. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/win-some-and-lose-some-restoration-story.28372/ http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/lets-go-with-the-winner-a-restoration-story-continued.28380/
I am now out of the soft cast, but I will not be able to pull and tug and manipulate handles and tools for at least a week. However, I can still serve in an advisory capacity.
Can always count on you Gary for support I steamed another brush tonight as well, that awful Vie-Long Horse hair whose knot just fell apart after a month. That knot came out even easier than the Fuller. I did a measure of the Fuller again tonight while I was measuring this. The Fuller's hole opening is actually 21mm, while the knot that was in it was 18mm. This Vie-Long has a 22mm opening and the knot that was in it was a tad over 19mm. I have both 18mm and 20mm knots on the way (two of each). I am thinking of using an 18mm knot in this handle as well, as I want a shorter loft, or would you advice using the 20mm.
You will more than likely find that rather than being on the plus side of the measurement, the knots will be on the lower side of the measurement. 18 mm being 17.5 mm and the 20 being 19.5 mm. With that being said, I would not put an 18 mm into a 22 mm hole. You would have to compensate with a lot of epoxy and the knot will not "feel right" because it is too sparse for the handle. You can now make the correlation with one of the problems with the Vie Long in the first place. That original knot should have been around 21 mm to properly fit in the handle and provide sufficient density. Put the 20 mm in the Vie Long or better yet, when the knots come in see if the 20 mm will fit into the Fuller. If the 20 mm fits in the Fuller and is pleasing, I would use that combination and then find a 21 to 22 mm that will better suit the larger hole of the Vie Long. You can then hold the 18 mm (as I am doing with one) until an even smaller handle comes up. If you are hunting for a 21 mm, I may be able to find good source depending on hair type. PM me on that because it may take a little while to obtain. An aside on the Vie Long, I have looked at some of the other forums and have found in my opinion, an unacceptably high rate of failure due to knot issues, glue issues, etc. in the past year or so. They make nice looking handles, but it seems that something is amiss. I have read too many complaints of within a month or two of use doughnut holes developing, large amounts of hair falling out etc. Either the knots are knot packed tight enough with enough hair, which this one seems to suffer from on visual inspection, or they need better glue/epoxy or both. One recent restoration on another forum showed two rather new Vie Longs that were clumping out in chunks due to bad glue. The recipient of those handles (not me) did a wonderful restoration job with TGN knots and they looked better than ever and with good plugs and epoxy should stand the test of time.
Amazing coincidence, I just found this exact same brush today. I had the same model nylon before (handle molded in red, not amber) and enjoyed it a lot.
