I am going to fill this knot with a 20mm silvertip that I got from Tony today. I gave him the dimensions and he told me to get this size. My question to all of you is how far should the knot be placed. Right now the shelf is at about 1 inch. The research Ive done has yet to give me an answer. I know the brush handle looks terrible, but I just want something that will be a ferocious latherer. I have a Vulvix 2233 super and it is a little floppy and makes using soaps somewhat of a challenge Does anyone know of anything I can do to make this handle look better?
I would think you could go ahead and take the rest of the cover off. Then sand it a little, stain and varnish it. I have no idea how to fix the cover that is on it now.
I would say sand it back to the base wood and then varnish it. The few wood handles I have done, I have dipped them in polyurathane floor varnish. Once you get the knot just sit it in the hole so see what depth looks best. If you need it deeper you can just drill it out but if it needs to be higher you just need to fill in the hole a little. I like to use what we Australians call Blue Tac. Then you use epoxy glue to both seal the filler and set the knot in place.
I really like them at 50-55mm loft. That is just my personal preference. So I set them so that 50-55mm of the hair is still outside of the handle.
I think you are going to find that 1" is a little deep to set your knot, but of course it is your choice. It is not that it will not work, but setting the plug of the knot that deep will put a fair amount of hair into the hole and could restrict the bloom a little. You don't want it too far out either, but you will probably want to dry fit the knot until you like what you see. I have done a number of them both with restorations and turning new handles. I think I saw that you are in Atlanta and so am I. PM me and I will give you my phone number if you would like to talk, I will be happy to help Will N..
Dry fit with paper/cardboard wedges untill you find a suitable depth and bloom you like. Well thats just what sounds good to me lol but im a newb..just sounds like its practical without being permanent.
Well this is what I did with my Golden Nib Tony knot. I got the 28 mm silver. I tried turning a wood handle that fit my hand perfectly which turned out... "Ok sorta". But i had this great idea. I went to Hobby lobby and got some Oven hardening ceramics clay. I made a large egg shape looking thing a little bigger then my palm then squished it in my hand the most natural and comfortable way that I'd be holding the brush while building lather, then trimmed off excess and smoothed her out. Whamo brush handle exactly formed to my hand. Then i finished it off by forming the neck where the knot would fit in and jamming the knot in the hole I made. Perfect fit, perfect loft, and you can adjust the loft just right, up until you bake it. Luckily the clay I used did not shrink at all in the baking process so everything stayed perfect. Devcon 2 part epoxy 1 hr dry time finished. I will say I was nervous before the knot was in. My handle looked like a black blob. Once I put the knot in and had it on a stand looked great. To really finish it off you could sand it and clear coat it. I didn't bother though looked fine with out it. I really like the way it looks, and so do the women in the household. Infact they don't mind it out on the counter unlike the other lame plastic handle brushes I have. Got a nice modern look to it. I used Kato clay 9 bucks with enough clay for 2 attempts. I suggest using another clay like sculpy or Fimo. The Kato clay took an hour and a half to knead into workable submission. The sculpy and Fimo are SIGNIFICANTLY less tough, like 5 minutes to get workable. Fimo also has a very nice range of colours too. But then again There is nothing like the rich deep hues from a finely sanded, stained and varnished wood. Even if it isn't ergonomic. I planned on posting my brush and picture on another thread also maybe a few handles I tried turning. Maybe next week. Good luck and whatever you do post a picture of your results.
