The first Horse hair brush that I had purchased was a Vie-Long Sardinero 13800. After less than a month it had developed a doughnut hole the size of Texas...okay, maybe not that big, but as you can see from the pics, bad enough. I had wanted to re-knot this almost immediately, but I decided to spend my money on a Semogue boar instead. Well it has just bugged me for this brush to be sitting in a drawer, so I felt the time had come to get a knot for it. I had purchased a knot that was too small, so after talking to Gary (GD Carrington), I decided to go with a 22mm knot based on the size of the opening. Well here are the before and after pics. I have to laugh, as I had no idea this thing would bloom as large as it did. I have not used it yet, but it will get the inaugural shave tomorrow.Sorry for bad quality of this image but I was so upset by the doughnut hole, I really did not care if it was in focus or not.Another angle of that large doughnut holeThe knot easily came out after following Gary's steaming method.New 22mm TGN Super Silvertip Pre-BloomThe knot after the building a lather, allowing it sit all day, and then rinsing tonight.The mushroom head of this crazy thing....it's huge.
I now have eight; four Semogue boars, three badgers that I have restored with TGN knots, and the Vintage Stanley Home Products badger which is like the brush my father had (my brother has the original). I still have three more knots I need to use, so I better purcahse a few more handles
Well, I've had 4 glasses of wine, so it does in my world . You just need to experience a paradigm shift. Oh well, time to go help my kids with their math homework.
That's the ticket! Now your getting addicted! Soon ordinary household items in the store will begin to look like potential brushes. You have done some nice work there. Now, lets talk about that bloom. A bloom like this occurs like that when the knot base is close to the end of the handle when set. This will be a little soft and will more than likely develop a slight level of mush as it ages. You will learn as you go, that the bloom can be controlled by how deep the knot base is set in the handle. This will be better at bowl lathering and face painting (that does not mean you can't face lather with it ) because the hairs will be "wild" and cause a mess if you face lather. These are the types of brush patterns that cause the major players in the brush game to warn, use paint strokes and less circular motions. However, the blooms of this nature create in my opinion the most beautiful of brush displays. As you have displayed, this is the "money shot" that gets a lot of people stoked. Since you have this one in your arsenal, the next step is to try to make a brush with a similar or the same knot at a much lower loft and you will see how the performance changes. Backbone versus bloom has been argued and discussed as long as brushes have been made. Again, nice work. Now you are a member of the brush collective. Resistance is futile, your destiny is to restore and make brushes!
