They posted a video on their Instagram page the other day, showed a bunch of girls in their factory hand tying knots. I wouldnt have believed it either until I saw the video. I would have guessed that only European brush makers hand tie their own knots and even then, probably only a few of them. (Muhle, Simpson, Semogue)
Just looked for it, couldn’t find it, but I am kind of Instagram stupid. Even if they were to claim it, I don’t believe it for a second. They sell case lots of badger knots by the hundreds for $6 a piece. Even Nike and Apple cant get slave labor to be that efficient. Hand assembled? Sure. Hand tied? Not buying it.
I am not saying you didn’t see it, or even saying they didn’t say it. I am saying that it is not possible to sell the quantity of knots they turn out, and hand tie them. Or semantics are in play, and there is some human involvement, but it is not the hand tying we think of when we think of Simpson, or Shavemac, etc... Plus, why would they? There would be no point. They are good knots to be sure, but not THAT good. Plus, the Chinese aren’t stupid. If the market will bear $100+ for a “hand tied knot”, why would they sell it for $6, and not $50, or even $20? What is the name/spelling of their Instagram account? I would like to see the actual video. Edit: I found them. Are you referring to this? https://instagram.com/p/BdADOnKAD5V/
They are really good brushes, my friend. All of the different ones I have tried have been good, but the badgers I have tried have been really, really good for the price they charge.
After doing a little looking, Paladin actually has their knots hand tied in China. But looking at batch notes from their web page, they changed some specs in the process on one batch which raised their per knot price by $20. So there is definitely a process and quality difference between higher and lower end knots, even when they are made in China. https://www.paladinshaving.com/pages/knot-notes
Not trying to stir the pot, but lets be honest these are not high end brushes. That said if the knots were absolutely garbage, the handles look great and I'd re-knot it. If I were looking for a better quality brush, I'd be looking for a custom brush on etsy. That's still affordable and made in north America. Don't buy a Kia and expect a Porsche.
Last I knew even the nicest brushes need to source their badger hair from China. They may hand tie them in house, but I don't think they have Badger farms at Simpson.
"And these are our most special knots. Human hair, harvested from workers who have dropped dead of exhaustion or who chose 'alternative' means to end their employment..."
I'm working on a new brush I'm going to hand tie ... made from my cats whiskers. It's going to take some time in gathering resources.
I am aware where the hair comes from, was commenting that they aren’t tied in house as I had thought.
Not trying to be snarky, but who turns your handle is kind of irrelevant if you have them put a cheap knot in it, which is how most of them (Etsy brush makers) are sold if you don’t specify. And all they are doing is putting a Yaqi (or whatever) sourced knot into their handle. Don’t get me wrong, I have bought a lot of brushes on Etsy, but I am shopping there for the handles, not the knots.
I think the knots are generally comparable to TGN or even a little higher end than that. Probably not quite Envy, but right in the ballpark. Very well worth what they are selling them for.
I wasn't trying to be funny, I merely addressing the few people going off on how awful Yaqi was. I remember they started at $7 - $9 when they first started selling them. I'm not saying they're junk, neither are they high end; there will be good one and bad ones. I like the looks of the Sagrada, but there are a lot of brushes I like that I don't buy due to I'm too busy enjoying restoring them.
I would guess it was one of these that is being referenced: https://www.instagram.com/p/BcQ133nAedv/?taken-by=yaqibrush https://www.instagram.com/p/BcQ1xh4AHOf/?taken-by=yaqibrush or https://www.instagram.com/p/BcQ1pQGAcsw/?taken-by=yaqibrush All three have incomplete clips of knots being hand tied.
