Thanks gents. I have become pickier over time about what I restore for myself and this one goes from butterscotch in soft white light to burnt orange in darkness with flash. Really neat coloration and swirls.
I have seen that one many times and each time I would look over a the WONTSHED and finally I pulled the trigger and restored it.. The older butterscotch Bakelite brushes like yours are well worth repairing because the stabilized cracks become part of the story of the brush.
I'm of the same mind Gary re: the "imperfections" that appear sometimes in the old brushes, and in the old butterscotch in particular. The cracks in that old Baton were a bit of a gamble admittedly, as I wasn't sure just how deep they ran until I got the old knot out and began to enlarge the bore, but fortunately they weren't so deep as to present any real structural problem. The darkening around the various cracks reminded me strongly of the handle on one of the old Schick E2 razors I picked up that has a couple of dark, somewhat linear "inclusions" in the butterscotch coloured bakelite handle that I quite liked the look of. The Made Rite 750 seems to me be an absolutely iconic Made Rite shape, and I've found a couple of them so far - the one I posted earlier has the wonderful speckled and somewhat swirled effect with the dark & light shades while the other is quite uniform in it's "butterscotching". They're also smaller than the Baton and so I'm leaning towards the 22/23mm knots as well. That's not a subject I've seen discussed much, but some handles seem to my eye to call more strongly for a certain "balance" aesthetically in terms of the relationship between the size of the handle and the knot, while others seem more flexible and can go in either a traditional "restoration" direction or in a more "custom" or "modified" sort of modern re-interpretation. But I'm an ol' gearhead too, so maybe that's just how I see 'em! Good fun at any rate, tinkering with the old brushes. Keep up the great work and the titillating posts as well!
As Steve @oscar11 and I once discussed, restoring is an art form that is different from going with all new components. Each method (all new or restore) has some challenges that are the same but some are different as well. Keeping the brush aesthetically pleasing given that you have greater limitations is part of the challenge of the restore. Both new and old if done well makes the audience drool!
30 November Shave A good shave but the Quattro Soap tended to dry a bit in use. 2 pass DFS using the Long Handled SA and the Big Ben on day number 3.
Because of guys like us (I presume that's why), I've noticed the prices on even well-shot brushes at antique shops have spiked right along with razors, sometimes even more so. Good to see finds can still be had.
